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. 

Tabbouleh Salad

Lunch is by far my favorite meal of the day! it's actually the only meal during my day that I can sit alone and chew and digest without having to share, or clean up a spill and break up a fight between the little ones, if you have kids you defiantly know where I'm coming from! eating in peace is a hot commodity!. Today was a bit different though; I decided to whip myself up some Bulgar rice and I was going to have a some chicken on the side (boring! I know!)  so I said to myself "I know there has got to be a way where I can jazz this up!" and low and behold I came across tabbouleh salad which I love, love, love! I hope you all enjoy it just as much as I did! and for the weekend try to make a little extra! it's great for snacking!  Happy eating from my kitchen to yours!

Adapted from: Ina Garten 

What you need:

1 cup bulgar rice

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)

1/4 cup good olive oil

3 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup minced scallions, white and green parts (1 bunch)

1 cup chopped fresh mint leaves (1 bunch)

1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley (1 bunch)

1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and medium-diced

2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

How To: 

Place the bulgar in a large bowl, pour in the boiling water, and add the lemon juice, olive oil, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Stir, then allow to stand at room temperature for about 1 hour.

Add the scallions, mint, parsley, cucumber, tomatoes, 2 teaspoons salt, and the pepper; mix well. Season, to taste, and serve or cover and refrigerate. The flavor will improve if the tabbouleh sits for a few hours.

Shepard's Pie 

Today was a real busy day, I went to my women's group meeting at church and that takes a good 2 hours of my morning and then I had to hit up the grocery store thereafter.  That is when I realized that I hadn't even taken anything out for dinner!  So I decided that I would pick up some ground turkey and a sack of potatoes and shepherds pie immediately came to mind.  This shepard's pie is a bit different than the traditional though,  It is a bit more healthful and it doesn't weigh you down when you're done.  This is a super quick meal to make and you can even opt to make this ahead on the weekend and pop it in the oven on you're busy weeknights.  Happy eating from my kitchen to yours! 

Making the Potatoes what you will need

• 1-1/2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, diced
• 3/4 cup fat free chicken broth
• 2 tbsp fat free sour cream
• salt and pepper
• paprika

The filling

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, diced
• 8 oz mushrooms, diced
• 10 oz frozen mixed vegetables
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 cup fat free beef broth
• 2 tsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp of Italian seasoning 
• salt and pepper

Boil potatoes in water until cooked and soft. Drain and mash with chicken broth, sour cream, salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 400°.

In a large saute pan brown meat. Season with salt and pepper. When cooked, set aside on a plate. Discard any fat in the pan, add oil, onion and garlic and saute on medium heat about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and celery and saute another 3-4 minutes. Add flour, salt and pepper and mix well. Add frozen vegetables, beef broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, thyme, chopped meat and mix well.Simmer on low about 5-10 minutes.

Spread the meat mixture on the bottom of a 11x7 glass baking dish. Top with mashed potatoes, using a fork to scrape the top to make ridges and sprinkle with paprika. Bake 20 minutes or until potatoes turn golden. Remove from oven and let it cool 10-15 minutes before serving.

Note:  Feel free to substitute the ground turkey for any other kind of ground meat that you may prefer. 

Lemon Chicken with Broccoli

Chicken and broccoli happens to be one of my favorite take out foods! However;   I find that most times there is way to much salt added and it's also way to oily.  So I decided that I would make my own take out for dinner! It's clearly less expensive, I made it quicker then if I placed an order from the Chinese restaurant, it's healthier and it's budget friendly as well.  My family really enjoyed this and I hope yours will too!!  Happy eating from my kitchen to yours! 

Delightfully adapted from WW 360

Ingredients

	2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
	1/2 tsp table salt, divided
	1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
	12 oz uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast(s), thinly sliced
	2 tsp olive oil
	1 1/2 cup(s) fat-free, reduced sodium, chicken broth, divided
	2 tsp minced garlic
	2 1/2 cup(s) uncooked broccoli, small florets
	2 tsp lemon zest, or more to taste*
	2 Tbsp fresh parsley, fresh, chopped
	1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Instructions

• On a plate, combine 1 1/2 tablespoons of flour, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and pepper; add chicken and turn to coat.
  
• Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, turning as needed, until lightly browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes; remove to a plate.
  
• Put 1 cup of broth and garlic in same skillet; bring to a boil over high heat, scrapping up browned bits from bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. Add broccoli; cover and cook 1 minute.
  
• In a small cup, stir together remaining 1/2 cup of broth, 1/2 tablespoon of flour and 1/4 teaspoon of salt; add to skillet and bring to a simmer over low heat.
  
• Cover and cook until broccoli is crisp-tender and sauce is slightly thickened, about 1 1/2 minutes. Stir in chicken and lemon zest; heat through.
  
• Remove skillet from heat and stir in parsley and lemon juice; toss to coat. Yields about 1 cup per serving.

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.