Chicken Noodle Soup

Well, it's cold and snowy today and I'm out of money.  I blew all my personal money on clothes the day after Thanksgiving.  So here I am at the house after two very stressful days at work and I'd love to make some comfort food.  I looked around my cupboards and freezer and I have all the things I need to make Chicken Noodle Soup.  So here goes!  The prices may be a little off because these are left over things and I don't have the receipts handy.

Ingredients:

2 Large bone in chicken breasts         4.00
1 large onion                                       .30
4 celery ribs                                        .40
3 large carrots or 1 C baby carrots      .40
12 C homemade chicken broth           free!
1 bay leaf                                            .10
2/3 bag of wide egg noodles                .75
3 tsp chicken base                               .30
    (or 3 chicken bullion cubes if you prefer)
salt, pepper and all purpose seasoning to taste

Directions:

Fill a large pot with the uncooked chicken breasts and water.  Roughly chop 1/2 the onion, two celery ribs and 1/2 your carrots and add to the pot.  Add bay leaf.  Cook the chicken slowly over low heat for 30 min.  If your chicken is frozen (like mine was) then it will take 1 hour 15 min to poach. 

While the chicken is cooking, slice the remaining onion, celery and carrot into bite size pieces.  The first set of veggies will be thrown away, this set will go in the final soup.  Once the chicken has cooked through, remove the breasts and let them cool on the cutting board.   Strain the cooking liquid to remove the veggies and chicken bone but reserve the fluid for your soup.  This is your homemade chicken broth!  Woo hoo. Return the broth to the pan and add enough water to make 12 cups.  Stir in the 3 tsp of chicken base or bullion to add extra flavor.  Add the raw sliced onion, carrot and celery to the broth. 

In a separate pot heat water for the pasta.  When it reaches a boil add the egg noodles and cook for 5 min.  then strain and add to chicken broth.   Once chicken has cooled then remove from the bone and chop or shred the meat into bite size pieces.  Add to the broth and vegetables.  Taste your soup and add salt, pepper and all purpose seasoning to your liking.  If it's a little bland add another teaspoon or two of chicken base.

I was able to make 4 dinners for $1.57 a meal.  This is a great dinner on a cold night with a hot roll fresh from the oven.  It's also a great meal to have in your freezer for those days when you don't feel well.   Make sure you bring one to a friend when they catch a cold! 

This is what we'll be having for dinner. I hope you give it a try.  If you are very brave you can make your own noodles.  I have not been very successful at this...I am much better with yeast breads.   But if you are adapt at noodle making let me know your tips and tricks.

Christie aka Keeza

Turkey Pot Pie

I hope you all had a great holiday!  This is my mom's famous chicken pot pie recipe and I am using it with my turkey leftovers from Thanksgiving.  It is a great meal to bring to someone who's had a baby or surgery.  It's a great one dish meal. 

Ingredients:

2 boxes of ready made pie crusts           3.96
1 stick margarine                                     .16
1/2 onion chopped                                  .15
2 ribs celery chopped                              .10
2/3 cup flour                                          
2 1/2 C chicken broth                             1.00
2 C skim milk                                           .50
4 C cooked and cubed chicken or turkey  3.88
3 C veggies of choice                                .98
  (for convenience I use frozen mixed veggies)


Directions:

Saute onion and celery in the stick of margarine in a large pan on medium heat.  Once tender whisk in the 2/3 C flour.  Once mixed slowly whisk in the chicken broth and milk.   Let mixture thicken stirring occasionally.  Add salt, pepper and all purpose seasoning to taste.  Turn off heat and stir in veggies and cooked poultry.

Unroll two of the ready made pie crusts and line two 9 inch pie crusts.  (even 10 inch works well if you can find them)  Cut off the excess dough from the edges.

Fill each crust with about 4-5 cups of filling.

Top with second crust and cut off excess around edge of pie pan.  Press edges with the tines of a fork to seal and cut 4 slits in the top of the crust to vent.

At this point you have two pies.  I cover one with foil and label with directions.  Place this one in the freezer or give away to a friend.  Cover the edges of the other pie and bake 425 degrees for 30 min. 

Once baked it came out like this.

When ready to cook the frozen pie defrost in the fridge for two days.   Next cover the edges with foil.  Bake 425 degrees for 40-50 minutes.  It takes longer to bake the pie when it is cold from the fridge, but it tastes just as good.

I made two pot pies for $5.37 each.  I had left over filling which I put into a container and froze.

One day I'll warm this on the stove top and pour over biscuits.  Or if you'd like this just needs to be thawed and poured into a pie crust for an instant pot pie later. 

I hope you like my mom's recipe as much as I do.  I get lots of compliments on this one.

Christie aka Keeza

Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches

On Saturdays I love to have something home made, but easy for lunch.  Now that the weather is getting colder this would be awesome after you shovel the driveway!  It's easy enough that once assembled my husband can heat one of these sandwiches for lunch on the weekends that I work.  They are best in the oven, but can be microwaved if you want to take one to work.  Just make sure to take it out of the foil before nuking!

Ingredients:

6 Ciabatta rolls                                   2.50
3/4 lb sliced deli roast beef                 5.62
1/2 onion sliced                                   .15
1/4 cup sliced pickled banana peppers   .50
6 slices provolone cheese                  1.18
8 oz sun dried tomato pesto                 1.98
  (I found mine in the pasta aisle by the Alfredo sauce)

Directions:

Slice the Ciabatta rolls on a large cutting board.  Spread 2 Tablespoons of sun dried tomato pesto on the top of each roll.  On the bottom bun place 3 slices of roast beef and one slice of provolone.

Next put sliced onion and banana pepper on the sandwich. 

Carefully assemble the sandwiches and wrap each one in foil. 

Now it is ready to bake if you are eating them for lunch or dinner.   Put the remaining sandwiches into gallon size freezer bags and freeze. 

When you're getting close to the weekend, put desired number of sandwiches in the fridge to thaw.  Then bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  If you'd like to microwave them be sure to remove foil and place sandwich on a microwave safe plate.   Here is the finished sandwich.  Yummy!

The sun dried tomato pesto gives this sandwich a lot of flavor.  You wont need any mayo or mustard.  Other toppings that freeze well are olives, jalapenos and roasted red peppers.  I made six sandwiches for $11.93 or $1.99 per sandwich. 

Enjoy!
Christie aka Keeza