Recipe: Cheddar Soup

This is one of my Mom's favorites and a favorite at the tea room that she used to own. Its creamy and so good!

Ingredients to serve 8
1/4 cup of butter or margarine
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/4 cup flour
1 and 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 quart chicken broth
1 quart half and half
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
2 and 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a heavy sauce pan over medium heat. Saute in the melted butter, the onion, carrots, and celery (I chop these in a food processor) Saute until soft.Gradually stir in the flour and cornstarch.Reduce heat to low and gradually stir in the chicken broth and half and half. Continue cooking and stirring until thickened and smooth.Stir in the baking soda and grated cheddar.Stir until cheese is melted.Add salt and pepper.Enjoy!Note: Be sure to use half and half, not milk.When you add the flour and cornstarch to make the roux, it will quickly thicken, so be sure to stir.

Cooking Ideas--Crock Pots and recipe for Creamy Chicken a la Crock Pot

I love to cook in the crock pot. I especially love that it takes minimal effort and that I can walk in the door after work and VOILA! Dinner is done!

As I was perusing the web, I found this website about this woman who cooked with a crock pot every day for a year....wow, that is a lot! She has even been on the Rachel Ray show and is now coming out with a cook book. The link to her blog is http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ and you will find a world of 365 crock pot recipes to try! I will also try to post a few of my favorites as well. I have a crock pot cook book that is pretty good however it has like 10 recipes for chili and 8 recipes for vegetable stew, etc...its kind of a conglomeration of recipes that people sent in and sometimes you have a few too many choices...like which vegetable stew recipe do you follow...and actually, my recipe for vegetable stew is this...throw every vegetable you have in the fridge and pantry in the pot and add some meat! (How is that for fancy?) Add some broth of some sort and let it stew and meld and become one...yummm!

One of my favorite recipes in the crock pot is to just take chicken breasts and cream of mushroom soup and pour it over it and add a can or so of water. Let it cook the normal 6-8 hours and the last 20-30 minutes you add a block of cream cheese and some sour cream...it becomes this wonderful chicken with this cream sauce that you want to lick the sides of the bows for...not that I have EVER done that. I love that Creamy Chicken! (for 4 people I would use 4-6 chicken breasts and 2 cans of cream of mushroom...cream of chicken works as well and so does the fancy versions of creamy soups like the cream of roasted chicken and garlic mushrooms...or whatever.)

If you have never been a crock potter or do not have one, I suggest you go to the local discount store and buy you a good but cheap one. I think I got one for $14 once and it worked great! The best thing is coming home to a meal that is warm and ready to go when you walk in that door, just pull up a plate and eat! It also doesn't heat up the whole house if you live in a warmer climate and that is a nice bonus to us Texans when it 102 degrees in July with the heat index of 1 gazillion.

Recipe: Southwest Chicken Salad

We had this at a ladies function at our church a few months ago and it was great! This is my friend and workout buddy Angie's recipe....

Southwest Chicken Salad Romaine

Heads of Lettuce 1-2 (depending on size)
2-4 Grilled Chicken Breast
3 Roma Tomatoes - chopped
1 Red, Orange and Yellow Bell Pepper - sliced or chopped
1/2 bunch Cilantro chopped (not too fine)
1/2 cup Shredded Parmesan cheese
1 can Black Beans - rinsed and drained
1 small bag Frozen Corn - thawedTortilla Strips - you can buy them or you can fry strips of flour or corn tortilla in oil
Southwestern Caesar Salad Dressing - Look for it at HEB/Grovery Store (you can also substitute with plain caesar dressing if you need to)

You can layer salad or toss all ingredients together just before serving. Tip--add romaine lettuce after tossing the other ingredients so that it will stay crisper.

She served this is a large clean bucket and it was so festive!

I hope you enjoy it! Its a great salad meal...one of those yummy salads with enough stuff it in so you feel like its a meal and not just rabbit food!

Recipe: The Ultimate Chicken Noodle Soup

I made this soup tonight...doesn't it look YUMMY!


This is a take off of Tyler Florence's Ultimate chicken Noodle Soup Recipe. I watched his show on the Ultimate Chicken Noodle Soup and decided I would make my own version. This is what I did...

Ingredients:
2 small onions diced ( I use sweet yellow onions, like walla walla, or 1015)
10 button mushrooms
1.5 cups of carrots chopped into rounds
3 boxes of low sodium chicken stock
3-4 cups of cooked chicken ( I use white meat)
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon of Mrs Dash
1 small bag of cheese tortellini
1 cup of chopped up fresh spinach (frozen would work just fine)
2 Tablespoons of butter

Put butter in large soup pot and melt on high, when almost melted, add onions. Store onions until they are translucent and starting to caramelize on the edges, add carrots, stir and let them cook and caramelize a little as well. Add the mushrooms and stir. Add Salt. pepper, and Mrs. Dash. Add in chicken stock and set to high temperature so it will boil. Add in the chicken and spinach and stir. Once the soup is bubbling, add the tortellini and boil for about 10 minutes (or whatever package says). Add more salt & pepper to taste. If the soup is too thick, just add some water or broth until its the consistency you like. Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes or however long you like. Serve with crusty bread and enjoy!

I think adding some fresh herbs at the end would also be a nice touch, like some basil, but I didn't have any!