Cool weather has settled in and I’ve had a pot of soup on most days. Today I felt like some simple, quick chicken noodle.
Easy Chicken Noodle Soup
electric pressure cooker (instant pot, multi-pot, etc), blender Continue reading
Chicken thighs, that is. Not as photogenic as a whole bird with a crispy skin but the stores sell thighs in family packs that are often pretty cheap. We toss them into the freezer – still inside the store packaging – and take them out as needed. We use them primarily as food for the pets but we eat our share.
Boil them in plenty of water with carrots, celery, and onions to make a nice batch of stock. Once you have boned the chicken pieces you have a good start on any number of delicious dishes.
We really like chicken pot pie so that is my go-to dish. I make a batch of pan biscuits separate from the chicken and veggie filling and combine them in the same pan when the biscuits are just beginning to brown. This eliminates the soggy dough syndrome where the tops are browned but the bottoms are not yet done.
Buttermilk Pan Biscuits
5 T butter
21/2 c flour
4 tsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
2 c buttermilk (or more, as needed)
Melt the butter in a suitable pan, I use a hotel pan that’s 12×91/2 inches but the size is not that important- the smaller the pan the taller the biscuits. Combine the dry ingredients and stir in the buttermilk and then plop the dough mixture atop the butter and smoosh it out as evenly as you can. Bake in a 450 oven.
You can score the unbaked dough once it’s in the pan to make piecing it onto the filling easier for the finish. Of course you can skip topping the filling and serve as you would any biscuit but what is the fun in that?
Make plenty of broth because it will make a fine bowl of chicken noodle soup.
That pet food I mentioned? I take some of the broth and use it to make rice and then combine the rice with the chicken skin and some of the meat, well chopped, and roll portions up in plastic bags after it cools and freeze them.
They store well and are easily thawed. Mrs J mixes some of it with dry food to add some flavor and the pups gobble it down. It adds some fiber to their diet, too.
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St Francis sent a crew down to Texas with pet food and bedding to help out with the Harvey effort. They brought back some cats and dogs to help make space for the influx the shelters down there were experiencing. These were animals that were in the shelters pre-Harvey. This is one of those – he has since been adopted out to a family with two boys who seem thrilled to have him.
Sliders-to-be! I’ve had the best luck by starting these on a bed of thin sliced onions. A mandoline is perfect for this. I add a wee splash of olive oil to the onion pile before laying the on the patty. Cook on med-low until the onion browns a little then flip it over. Give it a minute then add cheese and a pickle slice or two.
The swallowtail caterpillars are busy on the parsley. I framed this shot to get the most caterpillars I could in it, there were a few more on the plant. I don’t begrudge the loss of the parsley because I like the butterflies they turn into.
Random chicken noodle soup. I add a little sesame oil and a dash of Chinese five spice to give it a little Asian flavor. I love love love to dip the grilled cheese into the broth – Heaven!
Random shelter kitteh – this is not one of the Harvey rescues – they were still in quarantine due to a treatable but highly contagious skin condition. This handsome boy is named Netsi, he was born in June and is available, hint hint.
This is Riley, a girl born in May. Like Netsi, she is waiting for a human to call her own.
Random ribeye. Classic steak and potato dinner with a side of roasted sprouts. The steak was cooked sous vide and finished in a smoking hot cast iron pan.
Mrs J took some leftover cauliflower in cheese sauce for her lunch break at the shelter. The residents of one of the houses appear to appreciate her thoughtfulness.
Mmm… chimichanga platter! These are pretty much proof that deep frying makes most stuff better. These are chicken with peppers, cheese, and yellow rice on a plate with various salsas and a dollop of refried beans.
This is Penelope, a 7 month old kitteh who is ready to go. Very friendly, loves her some scritches and belly rubs.
Calzone! These are basically pizzas folded over in the manner of an empanada, and then baked. This one has sausage, mozzarella, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and olives. I went with a marinara dip instead of putting the sauce inside the calzone. They were brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with kosher salt before baking for 15 minutes in a 400 oven.
This is Blue Harper, a one year old female. She has the same coloration as our Toby – gray and white.
Chicken noodle soup made with extra wide noodles. These are leftovers from a whole chicken I cooked in the pressure cooker. It was a fast cooked chicken but I think roasting is the way to go. We ate half of it hot from the cooker but I refused to take any photos because it just wasn’t pretty enough to bother.
The mini sweet pepper bushes are producing scads of small peppers. A while back I dropped a few into a refrigerator pickle I have going with cherry peppers and they did very well. I started a new pickle with these, equal parts white vinegar and sugar with a half teaspoon of salt per cup of solution.
Made a big pot of chicken noodle soup the other day, and baked a loaf of white bread to go with it. Crackers are good and all but wouldn’t you rather dip a nice warm slice of bread into the broth?
Here’s a pretty kitteh. Biscuit was sent home with a family but they brought her back after a couple of days. Mrs J says she hasn’t a clue as to why other than they just changed their mind about wanting a cat. Shame, she seems well socialized though is not much of a lap kitty. She likes to play feather on a string and all the other usual games.
Here’s a nice cheesesteak sammich with a few of those little peppers. I used a little different method on these. Usually I just cook the meat with just salt and pepper but I used a simple marinade on the thinly sliced strips today: Olive oil, soy sauce, some A-1, black pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Not a huge difference but it turned out well enough to go ahead with a marinade the next time, too.
“Nothing says loving like something from the…” Wait! Wrong jingle!
Oh well, nothing says lunch like soup ‘n sandwich. I fixed this plate for Mrs J, she hasn’t had one of the new! so cool! tasty! inside out grilled cheese sammiches yet.
Method and materials are the same as the post from yesterday: Sourdough garlic bread, muenster cheese for the inside, and shredded Swiss cheese for the outside crispy layer.
The soup is nothing special, a chicken noodle made with wide noodles, snow pea pods, shredded cabbage, grated carrots, sliced celery and some green onions. It was OK, but the star here was the grilled cheese.
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