What I Whipped Up Wednesday

I had intended to write and post this on Wednesday.  However, it being my first week back to work, I just didn't get around to it.  So now it's Sunday and you are getting this post.  Deal with it.  I think you'll get over it.

Last weekend I spent lots of time in the kitchen.  Muffins were my first project I tackled.  I froze them all, and have had one or two here and there for breakfasts this week.  My opinion is still in favor of the chocolate ones, but not so much the other two.  I might try to use the ingredients from the chocolate recipe and change it up with some different ingredients and see what I get. 

My second cooking adventure revolved around chicken. I had 3 lbs. to work with. First, I froze some with a delicious dry rub that my hubby makes. It's deliciously tasty and very easy. It makes a lot, so we always have a container of it handy.

1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup salt
2 T. black pepper
2 T. onion flakes or salt or powder
1 T. paprika
1 T. garlic salt

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Use on your favorite meat.  Store in an air-tight container.  Makes about 1.5 cups.

It was a chilly day here last Sunday.  Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup sounded fabulous, so that is what I whipped up next.  This is my own little version.  Here's how I did it.

Start with some celery.  Chop it up.  This is 4 stalks.  It was kind of a lot, but I like it that way!

Next, chop up some carrots.  This is about 1 cup.  See my chopper there in the picture?  Love that thing.

Onions are next.  Chop those up too.  I would have used white or yellow, but all I had was red onion.  It works.  This is about 1/4 of an onion.

Now I know this is angel hair pasta, and not your egg noodles that one would typically use.  But I was going for healthy, and these are organic and while wheat. 

My pictures are out of order, and I'm having issues moving them around.  Anyhow, after the veggies are chopped, throw them in a pot with about 6 cups of water.  You can't see them, but there are also 4 chicken flavored boullion cubes in there.  You can certainly just use chicken broth too.

I broke up my pasta and measured it.  I put in 4 oz.  Do you like my super-duper old-fashioned food scale?!

The entire time I was chopping my veggies, my chicken was cooking.  This is a bean pot.  You don't know what one is?  You don't have one?  You NEED one.  They are the best.  I cooked my chicken in the microwave for about 12 minutes.  Came out perfectly done and moist.  Then I used my salad chopper to chop it up!  So easy.  For the soup, I used about 2 cups of chopped chicken.

Ok, so veggies and broth are boiling.  After about 10 minutes at a medium boil, I put in the pasta.  After about another 5 minutes at a medium boil, I put in the chicken.  And my secret ingredient:  poultry seasoning!  About 1 teaspoon.  I let that boil a few more minutes, and it's ready to go! 

Here's the finished product.  So YUMMY!

With the rest of my chicken, I made chicken salad. 

Ok, for those of you who need directions and amounts:  About 5 Tablespoons of mayo and 1/2 t. of onion salt.

About 1 cup chicken, 2 celery stalks, 15 grapes cut in fourths.

Mix it all together!  Now I forgot to add the slivered almonds.  Then I thought maybe they'd get soggy, so each time I had a serving, I just added some.

I hope this gives you some good recipes for chicken!