Crock Pot Healthy Chicken Noodle & Vegetable Soup

     

     It seems that ~ at least in this part of Pennsylvania ~ we are in that phase of the year lightened by the combination of the season of Spring and Daylight Savings; We are ready to cookout daily, walk our dogs after dinner, and ditch our sweats and hoodies so we can don our shorts and tees.

     This weekend's Phillies' games, Friday and Saturday, were Exhibit A and B in drawing the mid-spring conclusion that: yes, the sun is shining, but it sure can still be a bit chilly out there.

     That being said, good old -fashioned soups in the crock are... well, still fashionably in season. At least for another two weeks or so.

     With summer ahead, bringing melting temperatures that will have us going sleeveless, turning on our ACs, and jumping into swimming pools, now may be the time to whip up an easy crock pot soup that keeps the body in mind:  Healthy Chicken Noodle & Vegetable Soup.

     Here you go:

     Chicken broth  ~ four cans of low sodium & fat-free
     Garlic cloves ~ one, finely chopped
     Celery ~ three stalks, chopped, with four or five leaves for  
                    garnish
     Carrots ~ four carrots, peeled and chopped
     Dill weed ~ teaspoon
     Pepper ~ teaspoon
     Chicken breasts ~ three whole
     Whole Wheat Egg Noodles ~ one package of Healthy Harvest 
                    or equivalent
    
      Turn crock pot on high. Pour into crock cans of chicken broth..  Cut up garlic, carrots, and celery and add, with leaves, to broth.  Add dill weed and pepper and let slow cook for four to five hours.

      At the four to five hour mark, bake the chicken breast at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  While the chicken is baking, boil a pot of water and cook noodles according to directions (about seven minutes).

     As the noodles are complete, add them to the mixture in the crock.

     When the chicken is cooked, remove from oven, let cool ten minutes,  then slice into chunks.  Add to crock for two more hours to the soup in the crock.  Turn to warm setting. Enjoy!

    Have a wonderful Monday :)

   

Pinteresting & Gardening

Ok, so I am officially on Pinterest.

I am not so sure what exactly it is all about, but ~ at the urging of my best friend ~ I created an account and started to play around with pinning. And re-pinning.

It took me a bit to get even a basic understanding, but by the end of the night, I created three boards on which to pin. 

One, I practiced "pinning" by creating a place for one of my favorite artists' paintings of angels and such, William Bouguereau.

Two, I took some recipes off this blog and "pinned" them to a board called Cabin Chat Cooking.

Three, I started a board to pin different types of flowers for my summer garden that I am creating at the cabin in a few short weeks.

The key here ~ I should say, keys here are these:

1)  I never really gardened before, but the cabin needs one and is the perfect place to grow one.

2)  Since I have no gardening experience, so I put it out there on FB so I could get pointers, tips, advice, direction.  Believe me, I did.

3)  I learned a few things, but mainly that I want to plant perrenials that deer won't eat.  Deer are abundant in that neck of the woods, and I would like to find a way for them to co-exist peacefully with my flower garden.

That being said, I am now pinning perrenials that deer won't eat to my Flower Garden board if you are at all "pinterested" in recommending a type of flower that fits that category. Looking for lots of color :)

Have a wonderful Monday.

Matzo Ball Soup

      I never heard of Matzo Ball Soup until about a month ago.

     I decided to get my son a driver instructor so that he could get his license without having to wait for a month, so I drove him to the testing center on a Monday, the day that it is closed.  The instructor told me he would need about two hours, and that I could go shop and eat in the shopping center across from the course.  He highly recommended the soup at a place called Ben & Irv's.

     I took his advice, and, when the waitress listed the soups of the day, she said something which I didn't quite make out.  I asked her to repeat the name of the soup, which she did, but I still didn't catch what she saying.  So, I ordered it.

     When it came, I was kind of fascinated by this big bowl of soup with carrots and celery and a big giant ball in the middle.  I consumed every drop, then went off to shop.

      My son passed his driver's exam the next day, and I went on a mission to find the recipe for Matzo Ball Soup.

     Here it is:

     Chicken Consomme (four cans, I used Manischewitz variety)
     Three carrots (washed, peeled, and sliced)
     Three stalks of celery (washed, sliced and with leaves)
     Matzo Ball Mix (I used one box of Streits, both bags.)
     Vegetable Oil (half cup, as called for on matzo ball mix.)
     Eggs (four, as called for on matzo ball mix.)
     Dill weed, one tsp.
     Pepper, one tsp.
     Crackers
     In a crock pot set on high, pour four cans of chicken consumee and four cans of water as instructed, along with  chopped celery, leaves, and carrots.  Add dill weed and pepper, stir, then place lid on crock. 

    After about four hours, make the matzo balls.

    Crack four eggs and add one half cup of vegetable oil in a bowl, then mix.  Add one box (two bags) of Matzo Ball Mix and mix well.  Let sit for 15 minutes and, while waiting, boil four quarts of water in a large pot. After 15 minutes, wet hands and roll balls into about the size of meatballs.  (Depending on size, you will make about twenty balls.) Place in boiling water, put lid on pot, and turn on low for 30 minutes.

     Remove matzo balls from water after 30 minutes and add to crock pot.  Leave on high for another hour, then turn to low or warm.  Serve with any kind of matzo soup crackers. (I used Manischewitz Garlic Tam Tams Snack Crackers.)

     Enjoy ~ and have a wonderful weekend :)

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Bring On Baseball

     My very first memory of going to a Major League Baseball game comes the summer after second grade.
     I was seven years old and the fifth child of nine children.  My dad stashed six of them in the station wagon one July summer night, and we set out to old-time Veteran's Stadium in Philadelphia to a double-header against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
     I don't remember too much about the game, but I remember my mom stocked a giant cooler full of Cokes, homemade hoagies, and boxes of Tastykakes.  I also remember that we sat in the second to last row from the top of the stadium, where it felt like you might fall out of your seat everytime fans erupted into applause.  I don't know who won what game that night, but I sure liked the music spontaneously playing from an organ that was somewhere in the stadium.
     Over the years, as a youth, I admit I wasn't much of a baseball fan.  Even though that hot summer night with my dad, siblings, and Mike Schmidt is forever etched in a category called "perfect memories", baseball and me had a very distant relationship in my early years.
     I blame much of that on my inability to play softball, which I guess is sort of the female version of the game.  There are differences, naturally, but the basics are there:  the bat, the ball, the glove, the bases, and all the same positions.
     I never did quite find the position that suited me.  I couldn't pitch accurately.  I didn't like being crouched as a catcher.  I did ok at first base, but never seem to know where to throw the ball if I was any other position on the infield.  In the outfield, I felt too far away from the action, and, whenever, a ball did happen to come my way out there, I had long since stopped paying attention to the game.
     Eventually, lacrosse became the spring sport I got hooked on.  I like the running around, the checking, and the ability to redeem any mistakes I made within seconds or minutes ~ as opposed to waiting three or four games before I had the chance to make up for a fielding error.
     But the leisurely pace of baseball, like softball, was exactly the reason I didn't like it when I could still physically run around without serious issue ~ and the very reason I love it now.
     The start of baseball season heralds in a seven-month period of sunlight, barbecues, swimming pools, hot dogs, thunderstorms, ice cream cones, and changing channels on the TV to "check the Phillies game."  If it's slow-going, you can turn it back to Bones.
     But if it's reaching an inspiring comeback run or a crowd-pleasing batting spree or even staving off an oppponent whose bats have suddenly come alive, then the channel stays for the duration of the game, right down to the final inning.
     So, bring on Major League Baseball ~ and have a wonderful season-opening day!