mom's chicken noodle soup

the first picture of this recipe is too disgusting to have on top, so i thought i'd start with a picture of the finished product, because doesn't it look good? let's get started!

my friend kara and her whole family were sick one day last week, so while i was at the grocery store i bought homemade chicken noodle soup fixin's. i hope they appreciated it, because i sure thought it was good. so here's what you need: 2-4 chicken breasts, bones and skin on, 1 chopped onion, 1-2 potatoes, 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, a package of egg noodles, chicken bouillon, and water.

start by boiling the chicken. you put the chicken in a (big) pot and pour water on top of it. make sure the water is higher than the chicken breasts. add a tablespoon of salt (or however much you want, really) and skim off the fat with a spoon,
then add your diced onion and let it boil together for an hour.time for vegetables. check out this carrot! have you ever seen a bigger carrot? it must have been 18 inches long. nuts.
anyway, peel your carrots, and cut off the ends. then slice into....slices. i'm good with words, no?

it's been an hour, remove your chicken from the water and set aside to cool,

and add your carrots to the chicken-water. oooh, doesn't that sound appetizing? i should write my own cook book. "chicken water". yum.use a potato peeler (or a knife, if you're handy with a knife like my mom) to peel your potatoes, then wash and dice into bite size pieces.
and add them to your pot.
chop up some celery. i despise celery, so i rarely put it in. but the recipe calls for it, and it adds something to the soup (something disgusting, that is), so here it is. chop up some celery.
now that your chicken is cool(er), remove the skin. mmmm, chicken skin. delish.
so that it looks like this!
now peel it off the bones, and shred it or cut it into smaller pieces.
and add that in too. oh, and add in some chicken bouillon here too. 2 cubes or 1 tbsp. of granules.
now cook and simmer for at least 30 minutes.

ten minutes before you're ready to eat, bring it to a boil.
and pour in half a package of egg noodles. my mom makes homemade noodles that are AMAZING, and i've done them once or twice, but using egg noodles is a real time saver. and let's face it, we all like timesavers, right? some day i'll post the recipe and pictures of the noodles.

or not.
cook and stir for however long egg noodles need (ten minutes if they're homemade, about 7 if they're egg). serve in a bowl (or a plate...duh, how obvious can i be?), and enjoy!

perfect for the crisp, fall days that are coming our way.

mom's chicken noodle soup
2-4 chicken breasts, bones and skin on
1 diced onion
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1-2 potatoes, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 cubes or 1 tbsp. chicken bouillon
1/2 package of egg noodles

place chicken in a large pot and cover it with water, adding salt to taste. bring to a boil, skimming off fat. once all the fat is gone, add in the onion. boil together for an hour. remove chicken to cool, then add the carrots, potatoes, celery, and bouillon. remove the skin from the chicken, dice the chicken into bite size pieces, and add to the soup. cook together 20-30 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are soft(er than raw). when you're ready to eat, bring the soup to a boil and add the noodles. cook for 7-8 minutes. serve with celery salt and saltine crackers (or a slice of homemade bread, if you're feeling ambitious). this freezes really well, by the way, so make plenty and freeze the rest!

meatloaf

i am having photography woes. since i live in a condo, my kitchen has no windows, so it's dark. there are lots of lights but for some reason, my pictures all come out looking so dark. i can't use the flash because it puts a weird glare on everything and it all looks distorted. so i guess you'll all have to live with my dark photos for now. sorry everyone.

so let's get started. you'll need a pound of ground beef, a packet of lipton beefy onion soup mix, ritz (or saltine) crackers, an egg, salt and pepper, and bbq sauce. some people probably like to use an actual onion instead of a packet of dried onion soup mix, but i despise chopping onions, and well, beefy onion is so good.
put six crackers in a ziploc and smash with a rolling pin. you could use bread crumbs, but why would you when ritz crackers are so buttery and delicious?

now start by cracking an egg into a mixing bowl.
and mix it up with a fork.
then add your ground beef,
your soup mix,

a tablespoon or two of bbq sauce, salt and pepper, and your crackers. i forgot my crackers. don't worry, they're coming up and i will add them, but i wanted to tell you here: add your crackers. don't be dumb like me and forget.
now stick your hands in, and mix mix mix! i use both hands and squish it all up.
i know some people don't like touching raw meat. i love making meatloaf, simply because i get to get my hands really dirty. squish everything together, make sure it's all combined really well.
like this.

now wash your hands. i wash them like seven times because i don't want to get any of that raw meat anywhere. plus your hands get really disgusting.i love this soap.
now form your meat into a loaf. i sort of put it into a ball and then kind of smash it down so it's even-sized. if it's too ball-ish, the middle won't get cooked well enough.
wait. what's this? shoot. i forgot to add my crackers. i knew there was something wrong with this loaf of meat. ugh. so i added my crackers, re-mixed, re-washed, and re-formed. then i stuck it in the oven at 375* for 30-45 minutes. each loaf is different so check it every so often. you may even want to cut it down the middle to make sure it's not pink at all.
look at that. a loaf of meat. with fat on the top. delish.
don'tcha just feel like white trash eating meatloaf? i know i do.

serve with a baked potato (with cheese and steamed broccoli, yum!) i love A-1 sauce on mine too.
and there you have it. classic, easy meatloaf.

meatloaf

1 lb. ground beef
6 ritz crackers
1 tbsp. bbq sauce
1 packet lipton beefy onion soup mix
1 egg
salt & pepper to taste

mix up your egg with a fork. then add the rest of the ingredients and combine well with your hands. form into a loaf, and cook at 375* for 30-45 minutes.

jewelene gurr's chicken pillows

my friend jewlene (did i spell that right?) gurr made these for my family once in high school and i loved them. now that i know there is cream cheese in them, i like them a little less. i don't really like cream cheese--i hate how recipes do that to me. i like something until i find out what's in it and then it's ruined. ugh. anyway, let's get started.

you'll need a package of chicken, 8 ounces of cream cheese, 1/2 of an onion, 2 packages of crescent rolls, a package of stuffing mix, and butter.

start by boiling your chicken, 30 minutes or until no longer pink.

while that's cooking, crush your stuffing with a rolling pin. it's best if it's crushed really small, but that's very hard to do, so just do your best and crush as best you can.
now put a few tablespoons of butter in a microwave safe bowl,and cook for about 30 seconds, until it's completely melted.

pour your stuffing mix out onto a sheet of waxed paper.

put your cream cheese into a mixing bowl. it's easiest to mix if it's softened, so take it out of the fridge an hour or so before you're ready to mix.
now shred your chicken into the bowl,
and add the diced onion.

mix together well. you don't want big clumps of cream cheese in your pillows.
here it is all mixed up:
now open your package of crescent rolls,
and roll them out (on a clean surface, please).
separate one of the triangles, and put a small amount of the chicken mixture at the big end.
then roll it up, like this:

make sure the ends are closed off. they should look something like this when you're finished:

once you're finished with that part, take one of the pillows and coat it in butter--make sure it is all covered.

then coat it in stuffing mix. i like to press down and get the stuffing really stuck in there. to me, the stuffing and roll are the best parts.
see? like this.
then put it on a foil-lined cookie sheet. i line everything with foil when i cook. it makes clean up sooo easy.
see? here's the first pan full. actually, it was my only pan full because i only did half of the recipe. but most people can eat at least two of these, so if you're serving more than 4 people, i'd definitely do the full thing. now pop them into a 375* oven for 15-20 minutes. they should be brown, not doughy at all.
now for the topping. put a can of cream of chicken soup into a sauce pan, then add a can full of milk.
like this.
now mix together with a whisk over medium heat until it's hot and bubbly.
take your chicken pillows out of the oven,

and cover with the sauce.
they're kind of a lot of work, but they taste good, so it's worth it every now and then. enjoy!

gurr's chicken pillows

1 package of chicken
8 ounces of cream cheese
1/2 of an onion
2 packages of crescent rolls
a package of stuffing mix
butter
cream of chicken soup
milk

boil the chicken 30 minutes or until no longer pink. soften a package of cream cheese, and put into a mixing bowl with the shredded chicken and 1/2 of a small onion (diced). put a small amount of the chicken mixture onto the larger end of the roll, and roll up like a pillow. make sure the ends are closed off. coat the pillow in melted butter and then crushed stuffing mix. bake at 375* for 15-20 minutes or until browned. serve with cream of chicken soup mixed with one can of milk on top.