In-a-Pinch Chicken Noodle Soup

The stomach flu has been going around like crazy up here, and in the last week, my two kids and my nephew (we're watching him for a week), have all been taking turns throwing up. Fun. Anyways, yesterday I needed chicken noodle soup and realized that we were out of the canned stuff and I really didn't want to haul kids to the store. I also didn't want to make a really involved recipe, so I tossed this together on a whim, and it turned out really good! Todd proclaimed it one of the best chicken noodle soup recipes he's tried. I figure I'll write it down for the next time I need a quick batch of soup!

Ingredients:

15 c. chicken broth (I used 4 c. of reserved water from boiling the pasta, 11 more cups of water, 7 1/2 t. herbox chicken granules and 7 1/2 T. chicken flavored "Better Than Bouillon")
3 cups of sliced or diced carrots
5 stalks celery, sliced or diced
1 yellow onion, diced
5 large cloves of fresh garlic, pressed
2 c. (dry measurement) mini pasta shells, cooked until "al dente", rinsed, and drained
2 cans of Costco chicken breast, drained and shredded (this came out to about 3 c. if you wanted to use regular shredded chicken...the cans just made it really easy and fast, and when I was already dealing with so many germs, I didn't want to add raw meat on top of my ever-growing list of "things to sanitize")
Black pepper to taste (I gave about 15 cranks of our pepper grinder)
2 T. Italian Seasoning

Directions:
-Boil pasta in 2 quarts of water 6 minutes or until al dente. Drain, reserving 4 c. if you want it to use for making broth if using bouillon. Rinse pasta with cold water to stop cooking, drain, and set aside.
-While pasta is cooking, chop celery, carrots, onion, and garlic.
-Add broth (or water if using bouillon) to the same pot used to cook the pasta (use a large pasta pot...this makes a TON of soup)
-Add carrots, celery, onion, garlic, bouillon (if using water instead of prepared broth), ground pepper, and Italian Seasoning. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes.
-While vegetables are boiling, shred chicken. Add chicken to vegetable mixture and boil for an additional 5-7 minutes until carrots are tender.
-Remove from heat and stir in noodles, adjust seasonings as desired.
-When this is too hot for my kids to eat, I throw in a small handful of frozen peas to their bowl to cool it off and add some more veggies. Great trick for any soup...you can also use frozen mixed veggies, frozen corn, or frozen carrots.

Easy White Chicken Chili

We love this recipe! It's easy, tasty, filling, and healthy! 1/2 c. only has 1 Weight Watchers point, so I can have a big bowl for really low points/cal/fat.

This is a lighter recipe, so I like to stir in a couple of TBS of fat-free sour cream (I only like the "Naturally Yours" brand...it looks like a cow pattern on the outside) to make it richer with hardly any added calories or fat. I also prefer mine without cheese (strange, since usually I love anything with cheese) and with a few baked tortilla chips crushed and stirred into it. I also usually substitute black beans for half of the white beans.

White Chicken Chili:

2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed

15 oz (one costco can, or equivalent amount) cooked white meat chicken

1 can diced tomatoes (the normal size...14 oz?)
1 onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 can chopped green chilies
2 cloves garlic
1 can chicken broth
1 t. cumin
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1/4 - 1/2 t. chili powder
cilantro to taste...I always add probably at least 1/2 cup

Toppings:
additional chopped cilantro
low-fat sour cream
shredded cheese (low fat or, in moderation, full fat)

Saute onion, pepper, garlic, and green chilies until onions and peppers are soft (no need to use oil...the liquid from the chilies works just fine). DON'T let garlic burn...use medium heat.
Add all other ingredients and simmer 10 minutes. Top with sour cream, cheese, and cilantro.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

For my sisters Birthday dinner she requested my homemade chicken noodle soup. So of course I did that, but at a restaurant a while ago I had some really good chicken and wild rice soup and I wanted to see if I could find a yummy recipe. I found one, and made it along with chicken noodle soup for Aprils birthday. It was so yummy. My brothers loved it as well. This soup has almonds in it and I would forget that when I would take a spoonful. So when there was something crunchy in my mouth I thought maybe the rice hadn't cooked but then I remembered it is the almonds. So if you don't want something hard and crunchy in your soup leave those out. This recipe also makes a huge pot, and I was able to put some in the freezer for another day. I will let you know how it handled being frozen. Hope you enjoy this yummy soup!!


Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
I found this recipe on mykitchencafe

½ cup butter
1 finely chopped onion
½ - 1 cup frozen corn (or ½ cup chopped celery, if preferred)
½ pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
½ cup carrots, sliced
¾ cup all-purpose flour
6 ½ cups chicken broth (can use 7 bouillon cubes plus 6 ½ cups water)
2 cups cooked wild rice
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon curry powder
½ teaspoon mustard powder
½ teaspoon dried parsley
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup slivered almonds
2 cups nonfat half-and-half (use normal half-and-half if you prefer, but you won't believe how delicious this is with the nonfat variety!)

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, corn, chicken and carrots and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and sauté 3-4 more minutes. Then add flour and stir well. Transfer mixture to large pot. Over medium heat, gradually pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly until all has been added. Bring just to a boil and then reduce heat to low and let simmer.

Next, add the rice, salt, curry powder, mustard powder, parsley, ground black pepper and almonds. Allow to heat through and then pour in the half-and-half. Let simmer 1 to 1 ½ hours. Be careful not to let the soup come to a boil or it won't thicken properly - let it simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally.

My Favorite!!

This is my most favorite soup ever!!!

Cheesy Creamy Vegetable Soup

1 quart water
3-4 medium potatoes diced
1 c. Chopped celery
1 c. chopped onions
4 chicken bouillon cubes
Combine above ingredient and cook 5 minutes.

Then add
1 package frozen vegetables –broccoli, cauliflower, carrot blend
Cook 5 minutes, then add
2 cans Cream of chicken soup
Stir well, add ½ pound of Velveeta cheese, cubed.
Let cheese melt and cook until veggies are tender.
Serve!!

Hint: best to let stand one day and then reheat

I made this for super Saturday lunch and it got rave reviews!! I made it the night before. Then put it in a Crockpot and into the fridge. I pulled it out like 3 hours before serving and heated it up in the Crockpot!! So yummy!

Taco Soup with Black Beans

This is one I got from my local grocery store. It's more like a chili, whereas my other recipes were more of a soup. My kids ate it up at the store so I figured it was one to keep.

Taco Soup with Black Beans

1 lbs. ground beef, browned and drained
15 oz. can black beans, rinsed
15 1/2 oz. can red kidney beans, rinsed
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
12 1/4 oz. can corn, undrained
1 pkt ranch dressing mix
1 pkt taco seasoning
1 small onion, chopped

Combine all ingredients in crock pot. Cover and cook on low 4-6 hours. Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream and corn chips.

Side note, I cooked my onions up with my hamburger since I was browning a large batch of hamburger for multiple dinners, and I made my black beans in my crock pot and boiled them with onion and garlic.