Crock Pot Chicken and Soba noodle soup

This week I feel like I we are living off of soups! My son came down with the flu and I think the rest of us are starting to get a little hint of hint of it also.  So with that said my remedy is well I'm sure you guessed it is Soup!  I made a chicken soup for the gang in the crock pot( which is my all time favorite way to make soup) and I realized that oops! I'm out of the long spaghetti so, as I'm on a scavenger hunt in my pantry I passed the soba noodles and I thought "I can just break these up a bit and toss em' in"  and sure enough it turned out to be incredible! Just because the soba noodles do not become super soggy like the pasta does, the soba noodles can stand up to a hearty soup and stand out in it as well!.  Soba noodles are actually a from buckwheat so it gives less carbs and more protein.  This soup is super hearty and just down right delicious! 

Happy Eating from my kitchen to yours! 

What you Need:

Crock Pot

6 cups chicken stock (if you want you can add 4 cups chicken stock and 2 cups water if you don't have enough stock)

2 cups of chopped baby carrots

3 stalks of celery chopped

1 large onion chopped

1 green bell pepper chopped

2 chicken breasts 

1 table spoon of dried basil

1 table spoon of dried oregano

1 table spoon of dried parsley

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 lb dried soba noodles 

How to:

Add all ingredients to crock pot except for soba noddles they will go in 15 minutes prior to serving, Turn crock pot on high for 6 hours. 

Before serving you want to shred you're chicken breast so that the chicken will be bite size and nicely combined in the soup.

Break the soba noddles apart and add them to you're soup 15 minutes prior to serving. 

Crock Pot Tortellini Soup

My best friend and I have talked every single day since we have been in 9th grade and that's just the way it is! We make each other laugh so much that it's literally depressing if we can't talk daily to one another! my husband calls her my other half! lol! and her an I tend to agree with that statement! So a few months back her and I were on the phone and she told me she was making tortellini soup for dinner and I asked her how to make it and I said mmm... that sounds delicious! I made it the following day, and immediately it became a twice a month thing because my family begs me to make it.

Enjoy this recipe! it's absolutely delish and your sure to go for seconds!  From my kitchen to yours Happy Eating! Also check out her blogspot as well so that you can laugh just as much as her and I do! 

http://busymee.blogspot.com/

 What You Need:

1 Bag of fresh tortellini (any kind will do I used cheese and spinach)

2 Cups of fresh spinach

1 onion chopped

2 cups of baby carrots chopped

4-5 stalks of celery chopped 

4 cups of beef broth (or you can use chicken, or a vegetable stock)

29  ounces canned diced tomatoes  

1 tbsp of dried basil

1 tbsp of dried parsley

1 tbsp of dried oregano

1 tbsp of dried garlic

Salt and Pepper to taste

How to:

Place all the ingredients in the crock pot except the tortellini's, they will go in before you are about to serve. 

Turn crock pot on high for 4-5 hours and cover. 

Before serving add the tortellini about 15 minutes prior to eating. 

Serve and Enjoy! 

Caramel Apple Cupcakes (A sweet Fall Treat!)

So I'm going to tell you guys that I have a HUGE! sweet tooth! however; I'm not really into baking so much, but during the holidays and fall I feel so inspired to do so.  I want to be able to make memories with the family and let the kids get messy, and have them addicted to everything pumpkin and apple at this time of the year like I am.  So of course around this time I break out the flour and sugar and get to it!  Today my parents came over for dinner and I thought it would be a really nice idea to bake these cupcakes and have them decorate with us, and that we did!  We actually had a blast and sugar is always a great bribery tool to have the kids eat their dinner also!   So here they are my caramel apple cupcakes! I'm sure you all will love them just as much as we did!  from my kitchen to yours! Happy Eating! 

The fam decorating the cupcakes...what's my baby doing? "look mom no hands!" lol! 

Adapted from: www.yourcupofcake.com

What You Need:  

Apple Cake:

1 box white cake mix

2 tsp. cinnamon or apple pie spice

3 eggs

¼ C. butter, melted and cooled

¼ C applesauce

1 C. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 ½ C. peeled and chopped apple

This recipe makes about 20-24 cupcakes

Caramel Buttercream: 

1 C. butter, softened

2 Tbsp. caramel sauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

3-4 C. powdered sugar

How To:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners.

2. Sift cake mix and cinnamon in to a small bowl and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, combine eggs, butter, applesauce, milk and vanilla extract together.

4. Stir in cake mix until smooth.

5. Stir in chopped apples.

6. Fill cupcake liners ¾ full and bake for 17-22 minutes of until an inserted knife comes out clean.

7. Butter cream: Beat butter for 1 minute. Add caramel and vanilla extract and continue to beat. Slowly add powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.

8. Pipe butter cream onto cooled cupcakes and top with melted caramel.

Tip:  Let the cupcakes completely cool before you add the frosting otherwise the frosting will melt 

off the cupcakes. 

Creamy Vegetable soup (hold the cream)

This week has been pretty trying; the kids got some sort of a stomach bug and they have been on the ever so wonderful (BRAT) diet for the past week.  For those of you who may be unfamiliar with it it's a variation of bananas applesauce rice and toast. Anyhow, the kids tummy's were still a bit sensitive so I wanted to make them a really healthful yet tasty meal that would be easy on their belly's.  This is how I came up with this fab soup and it was something that the entire family enjoyed, including the baby!  I hope you all enjoy delish dish! Happy Eating!!

Ingredients:

2- 32 ounce box of chicken stock (or if your a vegetarian you can certainly substitute this will vegetable broth)

4 cups of water

drizzle of olive oil

10 garlic cloves

baby carrots chopped

2 onions chopped

1 zucchini chopped

1 yellow squash chopped

4 stalks of celery chopped

2 cups of raw broccoli

1 yellow bell pepper chopped

1 table spoon dried parsley

1 table spoon dried basil

salt and pepper to taste

4 cups of brown rice

Heat the pot that you will be making the entire soup in on medium.  Drizzle your olive oil on the bottom of the pot. Then add onion, garlic, carrots, zucchini, squash, yellow bell pepper, celery and let them caramelize (this should take about 5-8 minutes.)  After the vegetables have caramelized add your chicken stock.  Next add broccoli  dried parsley and dried basil and salt and pepper.  Cover pot and turn stove on high for about 20 minutes and let all the vegetable get happy together (this process makes vegetable tender) .  Lastly add the brown rice about 40 minutes before serving

(Tip) You may need to add more water to soup while the rice is cooking, keep an eye on it to make sure the rice does not absorb all the liquid, I had to add about 4 cups of water during this process.