FAVORITE RECIPE FOR THE WEEK!
A version of CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP
(from Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, pg. 466)
4 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tsp. fresh basil or 1/2 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. fresh oregano or 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 bay leaf
1 10 oz. pkg. frozen mixed veggies
1/2 cup pasta of choice
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 14-1/2 oz. can diced italian tomatoes
In large saucepan combine broth, onion, basil, oregano, pepper and bay leaf. Stir in veggies. (I usually add celery and more diced carrots.) Boil; stir in uncooked noodles. Boil; reduce heat. Cover; simmer 8 minutes or till noodles are tender but still firm and veggies are crisp-tender. Discard bay leaf. Stir in chicken and undrained tomatoes; heat through.
HINT: I usually cook a whole chicken in the crockpot. When I de-bone it, I have enough chicken for at least 2-3 meals and the flavor is wonderful. Just throw in some veggies, salt, pepper, garlic and onion with 2-3 cups water. Then, when strained, you have your broth too!
3 comments:
OK, so I'm domestically dumb. Do you throw the whole chicken, veggies and water in the crock pot at the same time?? And the leftover juice is the broth & veggies for the soup? How big of a crock pot do you need for this?!
Yes, the whole chicken, some celery leaves, a cut up carrot and half an onion, along with the seasonings. (Veggies are optional, they just make the broth have better flavor....) Cook on low 8-10 hours or high 5-6 hours, or until chicken starts to fall off the bone. (This makes it easy to de-bone.) I frequently will put it in before I go to bed and it's done when I wake up in the morning. I usually discard the veggies and start with fresh, but I guess you could throw those into the soup as well. (I usually use my yucky veggies for the broth...) When you strain the soup (& you need a fine, wire strainer), you will also have to skim the fat off the top, else your broth will be fatty. When you debone the chicken, just take the good meat and leave the skin and all the yucky stuff for the trash. I try to keep bags of this kind of chicken in the freezer for meals like chicken potpie, enchiladas, casseroles, etc. It's MUCH cheaper than buying breast meat all the time and really has great flavor. Also, you can freeze the broth. I have a decent size crockpot, but not huge. (I don't know the actual size.) I usually buy a chicken for around $3 and can get several meals out of it. Like I said, much cheaper than buying breast meat...a little more work, but well worth it.
Terri,
Thanks so much for explaining that...I, too, was confused but so excited to get a recipe for cooking a whole chicken. I have recipes that I've bought rotisserie chickens for, from the deli at the grocery, but that can be very expensive...7-ish dollars! Yay! I'm going to cook a chicken tomorrow. You're the best!
Post a Comment