Quick and Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

I consider myself very very lucky that I live so close to work and get to go home at lunch most days. With it getting colder I have started craving soup at lunch and today was no exception. I had made up some homemade chicken stock last weekend...but that didn't really turn out as I had hoped. Add that to the failed recipe pile! But that did mean that I had some shredded cooked chicken that I needed to use. I also happened to have some carrots, celery, chicken stock and noodles on hand...so I pulled together a quick and easy chicken noodle soup! This actually took very little time and it was great because I got to add as much or as little of the ingredients as I wanted. I also used the Trader Joe's delicious chicken stock which was super thick and creamy after it had gotten cooked through the whole recipe - so it made a think broth which I loved.

 

 

Quick and Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

 

• 2-3 cups chicken broth
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 1 Celery stalk, diced
• 1 1/2 cups egg noodles
• 1/4-1/2 cup shredded, cooked chicken

 

Bring stock to a slow boil in a pot. Add celery and carrots and cook for about 10 minutes or until slightly tender. Add egg noodles and boil for time on bag (around 8 minutes). After noodles are done cooking, add chicken pieces and cook for another 2 minutes or until the chicken is heated through. Season with salt and pepper.

 

 

 

 

CHEERS!

Funfetti Cake Truffles

Now starts the holiday baking season for me. My family is having our Christmas celebration this weekend in Indianapolis so I am trying to pull together some yummy cookies for the occasion! One of the things I've been making for the past year are cake truffles...people call them all kinds of different things...cake pops, cake balls, cake truffles...I go with truffles - makes them sound fancier :) I have made these with all homemade ingredients - cake and icing - and have made them with the box mix. I have to say there isn't much of a taste difference here...so if I'm short on time I just use the box cake mix and ready made frosting.

I do want to put in a shout out here for the Ghiradelli chocolate candy and dipping bars. We ordered these from Amazon after realizing that chocolate chips are NOT good for melting (the chips are made to withstand high heat so they are still in shape when baking in cookies!). We got one white chocolate bar and one double chocolate bar...they worked SO WELL. The chocolate stayed smooth and liquid for a long time so we didn't have to reheat at all during the process.

Funfetti Cake Truffles



• 1 box funfetti cake mix
• 1 can frosting
• 1/2 bar of candy & dipping chocolate bar (or 1-2 bags of candy melts)
• Festive sprinkles

Bake cake according to directions on the box. Let cool completely.

Once cool, tear the cake into small pieces and - using your hands - incorporate the entire tub of icing. You should get a mixture that is sticky and able to roll together into balls. Roll small balls of the mixture and place onto a baking sheet. Once the baking sheets are full, put them into the freezer for about 20 minutes. Towards the end of the freezing time, start melting the chocolate.

Ready one or two baking sheets covered in wax paper to put the finished truffles on. When ready, remove the balls from the freezer and dip one by one into the melted chocolate. Place finished truffles on the prepared baking sheets and sprinkle with decorations. Let the chocolate harden and store in an airtight container.

CHEERS!

Cheddar Ale Soup

I've been looking for a cheddar ale soup recipe for years. There is a local brew pub that serves a DELICIOUS soup with the most amazing soft pretzel on the planet. This weekend I decided to try out this recipe from Fake Ginger, a blog that I have recently stumbled across and really enjoy! What originally drew me to the recipe was the pretzel bowl...genius! The soup was delicious too :) Pretzel bowl recipe coming soon...

Cheddar Ale Soup

• 1 lb sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 2 cups of milk
• 1 cup of your favorite beer (we used Capital Brewery's Oktoberfest)
• 4 strips bacon
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce (we didn't have any bacon or Worcestershire but I feel like these would've added to the deliciousness!)

Dice bacon and cook in dutch oven until crisp. Discard all bacon and grease except 2 tbsp of the fat. Cook the onions, carrots and celery until soft - about 20 mins. Add the garlic and cook until just fragrant. Pour the flour in and mix so the veggies are coated. Cook for about 3 minutes. Add the beer and cook for 3 minutes. Add the Worcestershire, milk and broth. Simmer for 10-12 minutes until thickened.

Use an immersion blender (or pour into a regular blender) and puree the vegetables. Take the soup off the heat and add the cheese in batches making sure it all melts. Season with salt and pepper - top with bacon pieces.

CHEERS!

Source: Fake Ginger

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Here is another recipe from our crazy Thanksgiving holiday dessert list! Pumpkin cheesecake. Yum. This cheesecake came out so light and fluffy - almost like a mousse. This recipe got so many compliments it is definitely going in my dessert arsenal!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

photo source: foodnetwork.com

For the cake

• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 pounds cream cheese at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
• 6 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 tsp salt

For the Crust

• 5 oz. graham crackers, broken into crumbs
• 3 tbsp. sugar
• ½ tsp. ground ginger
• ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. ground cloves
• 6 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine all dry spices with melted butter and graham crackers. Push the crumb mixture onto the bottom and up the sides of a springform pan, making sure to pack tightly. Bake for 15-20 minutes (until lightly browned) and set aside to cool.

 Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. While the water is heating, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add sour cream and mix until incorporated. Add pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, salt and spices until JUST combined. Pour the mixture into the springform pan.

Place the springform pan into a roasting pan and place in the oven. Add the boiling water to the roasting pan until the water comes about halfway up the sides of the cheesecake pan.

Bake until the outside of the cheesecake sets but the center is still loose, about 1 hour 45 minutes. Turn off the oven and open the door briefly to let out some heat. Leave the cheesecake in the oven for 1 more hour, then carefully remove from the roasting pan and cool on a rack. Run a knife around the edges, cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.



CHEERS!



Adapted from: Food Network Magazine and Annie's Eats

Carrot Cake

For Thanksgiving my family went a little overboard on the desserts. I'm not saying it's a bad thing - there were just a TON of desserts. I'm going to post a couple of favorites from the meal over the next few days. The first one is carrot cake. I never thought I was a fan of carrot cake but this recipe is so yummy and with all the spices it tastes just like fall and the holidays. This is also a pretty easy recipe - that uses ingredients you probably already have on hand for the holiday baking season.

 

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

 

picture credit: Cook'sIllustrated.com

 

For the cake:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purposr flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 pound carrots, peeled
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup vegetable oil

 

For the frosting:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 1 Tbsp sour cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar 

 

 

Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Flour a 13 x 9 baking dish and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt & set aside. Shred your carrots - you should end up with about 3 cups - and set aside.

 

In the mixer, cream the sugar, brown sugar and eggs until combined. Once combined, tuen mixer to low and in a slow, steady stream add the oil. Once all the oil is added, turn mixer to high and beat until smooth. Remove bowl from stand mixer. Add carrots and dry ingredients - mix by HAND. DO NOT OVERMIX or the cake will be tough. It is ok if there are streaks of flour in the bowl.

 

Pour batter into baking dish - bake 35-40 mins.

 

Frosting:

Mix sour cream, cream cheese, vanilla and butter until combined and smooth. Add powdered sugar in stages until fully combined. Spread on cake once the cake has fully cooled.

 

 

 

CHEERS!

 

 

Source: Cook's Illustrated

Beef Stroganoff

Here's another keeper! This recipe was passed on to me by P's mom and it is the most delicious stroganoff recipe I have tried. And it is also SUPER easy. This last time I made the dish was about the third time that I have tried it and it turned out amazing. Don't be fooled by the picture - it's impossible to get a good picture of beef stroganoff!

Like I said in my last post...winter is the time for comfort foods - and a time for my thighs to start hating me :)

Beef Stroganoff

• 1.5 pounds beef stew meat
• 16 oz container of sour cream (low fat is fine)
• 1/2 pound sliced mushrooms
• 1 package beef stroganoff mix
• 1 small can of cream of mushroom soup
• 1 onion, diced small
• Egg noodles

Heat olive oil in a dutch oven. Brown meat and onions - add salt and pepper to season. Pour meat and onions into a crock pot. Add sour cream, stroganoff mix, cream of mushroom soup and mushrooms to the crock pot. Mix all ingredients together.

Cook on low for 5-6 hours (until meat falls apart). Turn to keep warm setting and bring a pot of water to a boil. Season with salt and cook noodles. Serve stroganoff over noodles.



CHEERS!