Chicken and Rice Soup

There is nothing better than a big batch of soup on a rainy or a cold day. Chicken noodle or chicken rice is always a hit in our house. If I have egg noodles it will be chicken noodle, if I don't it's chicken rice. Sometimes it turns out to be just chicken and vegetables. Anyway you make this it is delicious and super easy!

What you need:

6 cups chicken stock

2 cups cooked chicken

1 medium onion

3 stocks of celery

5 medium carrots

1 cup rice (sometimes I use brown rice, lately I have been getting organic jasmine rice. It's very good)

2 tbsp butter or oil

salt and pepper

What to do:

 Dice all vegetables into about the same size pieces and saute in the butter or oil in a large stock pot (the pot you will be cooking the entire soup in) until tender. Add salt and pepper.

While the veggies are cooking shred the chicken into bit sized pieces. This is another use for the rotisserie chicken that I keep in the freezer!

When the veggies are tender add the rice to the pot. Cooking the raw rice directly in the pan will give it a toasted flavor which is very good in this soup.It only needs to cook for a couple of minutes.

Finally add your stock and the chicken. Let the soup simmer for about 30 minutes, just until the rice is tender. It can certainly cook longer but it doesn't take very long. 

 Season again with salt and pepper. Serve with a sandwich or some crusty bread! ENJOY!

Beef Stew

This recipe is a perfect go to meal. The veggies and meat can be put into a large freezer bag and put into the freezer for an easy week night supper in the crockpot or you can put everything right into a large dutch oven and put it in the oven for a lazy weekend meal. However you do it, it is slow cooked perfection!

What you will need.

2 lbs of beef stew meat (you can buy the already cubed kind or you could get a roast and cut it yourself)

8-medium carrots

1/2 stock celery

1-medium onion

2-cloves garlic

6-medium red potatoes

3 cups beef stock (I used the boxed stock this time because I had it in the pantry)

4 tbsp butter

4 tbsp flour

salt and pepper

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup frozen corn

What to do:

Chop carrots, onion, celery, garlic, potatoes and put into a large crock-pot and season with salt and pepper.

 Season the meat and combine it with the veggies in the crockpot. 

Take 2 of the cups of beef stock and pour over everything in the crock-pot. Turn on low and cook between 6 and 8 hours (until meat and veggie are very tender). You could also have it on high and it would take about 4 hours. When everything is finished cooking turn the crock-pot down to low.

In a large pan melt the butter and mix in the flour to make a rue (the thickener) cook the butter and flour mixture for a minute or two to cook out the flour taste.

Take all the liquid out the crock-pot and stir into the rue in the pan. Whisk everything together and add the remaining cup of beef stock until it becomes the consistency of gravy.

Add gravy back into the crock-pot with the meat and veggies and add the peas and corn.

It only needs to cook for a few more minutes, just until the corn and peas are thawed and cooked through. Serve with a nice hearty bread and ENJOY!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

This recipe I am very happy with. After searching on Pinterest for dinner ideas, I came upon many different broccoli cheese soup recipes. I wasn't particularly happy with any one of them, but they all had some good elements. Some used too much milk/cream which I thought would be too rich, some used only stock which I thought wouldn't be rich enough. I think I came up with a pretty good combination and a great soup. Being a cheese based soup I also though that it wouldn't work as well being reheated. I was wrong, the last time I made it I kept it in the fridge and it lasted a good couple days (it would have lasted longer but it was so good we just ate it). Thursday was the perfect day to make a big batch.

What you will need:

2-broccoli crowns

3-celery stocks

3-carrots

1-small onion

1-clove garlic

32 oz chicken stock (this time I didn't use my homemade stock, I used a boxed stock that I had in my pantry. 32 oz is an entire box) 

3 cups sharp Cheddar cheese (you could use any kind you like)

4 tbsp butter

1/4 cup flour

1-can evaporated milk 

salt/pepper

What you do:

 Chop up all veggies, set aside the broccoli. In a large stock pot melt butter and cook celery, carrots, onion, and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook veggies until tender.

 Add the flour and coat the veggies, (this is what will make the soup thick) cook for just a couple minutes. 

 

Add the stock and evaporated milk, cook until it becomes thick and season again with salt and pepper. (If you salt and pepper every layer of what you are making it will taste very well seasoned) At this point I took an immersion blender to smooth everything together. This step is not required but it just makes a smooth soup.

 

 After I blended everything I added the cheese and broccoli and let everything simmer together on the stove top for a few hours.