Saturday, May 22, 2010

Katy's Cheesy Chicken and Veggie soup






Ingredients


3 quarts of water

12 chicken boullion cubes

1 onion diced

1 cup of celery diced

2 bags of California mixed vegetables-broccolii, cauliflower & carrots

1/2 pound of butter

1 cup flour

1 jar cheese whiz

3 cooked chicken breasts diced

1 cup frozen peas- optional

Directions

Bring water and chicken boullion to boil in large stockpot. Add diced onion, celery and California Vegetables. Simmer until vegetables are soft. In another small sauce pan, melt butter, remove from heat and whisk in flour. heat on low 1 to 2 minutes whisking the whole time. whisk Flour- butter mixture into soup one spoonful at a time, over low heat until soup is thick and creamy. Stir in jar of cheese whiz until fully blended into soup. Add diced chicken and peas. * Freezes well, but don't reheat on stove, soup burns easily. Reheat in microwave only



I am not sure what the nutritional values are on this, I know it makes a lot of soup. It is extremely important to add the chicken or the soup is too salty. As a post op RNY Patient, I can only eat about a 1/2 cup.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Chicken and Dumplings and Chicken and pasta alfredo

Chicken and Dumplings
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4 boneless chicken breasts
6 cups of water
5 chicken bouillon cubes
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can corn- drained
1 can green beans drained
1 can carrots drained
1/2 bag of frozen peas
1 can of refrigerator biscuits
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I used my large electric frying pan, I placed chicken breasts{mine were still frozen} and water and bouillon on a low boil for about 10 to 15 minutes. when chicken was cooked through, i removed it from poaching liquid and cut it up into bite sized pieces. I put it back in the poaching liquid, that had reduced by about 1/2. I added the soup, and all the vegetables.  I cooked it on low for about 10 minutes, and then added the canned biscuits to the top of the mixture, I turned it down to medium and cooked it for about 15 more minutes. The biscuits puffed up and doubled in size.  If you prefer your biscuits browned, you could bake them first and then spoon the chicken mixture over the top.   It was yummy!!!This made about 6 to 8 servings.
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Chicken and pasta Alfredo
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2 to 3 boneless chicken breasts
1 small onion diced
2 tablespoons of crushed garlic
1/2 bag of peas
1 1/2 cups of pasta
1 jar of bertolii Alfredo sauce
2 chicken boillon cubes 
Water
1 to 2 tablespoons of butter
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Once again I used my electric skillet.  I added the chicken breasts, and onion and garlic to pan. I added the water and cooked on medium until almost all the water was gone. I removed the chicken from pan, and cut it into bite-sized chunks. I added the butter to the skillet and added the the diced chicken back.  I added the peas, about 4 to 5 cups of water, the bouillon and the pasta.  I cooked it stirring occasionally until the pasta was cooked through and most of the water was gone.  I added the Alfredo sauce and stirred it all together.
Delicious!! about 5 to 6 servings

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

american chop suey Or Surprise!!

1 1/2 pounds of hamburger
2 small onions- chopped or diced
frozen or canned veggies of your choice
3 tablespoons of garlic
soy sauce
"knorr" Lipton sides- Teriyaki noodles- 2 envelopes
3 cups of water
***Mandarin sauce-{Panda express brand is great!!}Berretts choice
***hot sauce- {Salsa Picante Tapatio}_ my choice. He likes Sweet and I like a little spicy!!
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sweat onions in small amount of oil.  Add Hamburger.. brown for a few minutes before adding garlic.  When hamburger is almost done, add a couple dashes of soy sauce and veggies of your choice.  Finish browning hamburger.  Add 3 cups of water and Teriyaki noodles.  Cook for 6 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Serve with mandarin sauce or hot sauce your choice!!
One of Berrett's favorites!!
I call this American chop suey or surprise, because I use hamburger as the meat, and The surprise is I use different veggies everytime.  Usually frozen peas, corn and carrots.  I also have added mushrooms, Cabbage, Snow peas, celery... Whatever I've got!!

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Chicken- stuffing and vegatables crock pot style

1 bag frozen carrots
2 small onions diced
3 tablespoons of diced garlic
6 to 8 boneless chicken breasts
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
1 package of dry italian salad dressing
1 small can of mushrooms- drained
1 can of green beans drained
1/2 bag of frozen peas
1 box of stuffing mix
1 2/3 cups of hot water
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 stick of butter or margerine
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Line crock pot with liner
Layer carrots and onions and garlic in bottom. In bowl mix 2 cans of mushroom soup with italian dressing mix. Mix in can of mushrooms. Place one layer of chicken breasts on top of carrot/onion/garlic mixture. Spoon spoonfuls of mushroom soup mixture on top of chicken.  Add any extra layers of chicken. Spoon the rest of mushroom mixture over chicken.  Add green beans and carrots on top of chicken.  Sprinkle the dry stuffing mix on top as last layer.  Dissolve chicken boillon in hot water.  Pour water mixture over the top of the stuffing, trying to moisten all of stuffing.  Dot top of stuffing with dabs of butter.  Cook on low- 8 to 10 hours.  I like to start it on high for 2 to 4 hours and then turn it down to low overnight.   I will probably serve this with garlic mashed potatoes.  Use whatever vegetables and creamed soups that you like!!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Swiss steak and Vegetables

2 cans golden mushroom soup
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
worshtershire sauce
1/2 bag of baby carrots
5 small red potatoes cut into bitesize pieces
3 small onions diced
3 small zuchinni sliced
1 can of mushrooms
3 tablespoons of garlic
9 cubed steaks- seasoned with salt and pepper
garlic and herb seasoning
1 dry packet of italian dressing mix
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Line crock pot with liner.  Layer potatoes, and carrots in bottom. Cover with half of diced onion and  all zuchinni slices.  In another bowl, mix cans of soup together.  Add packet of italian dressing mix, and dashes of worstershire.  Mix... Pour half of mixture over vegetables.  Layer cube steak on top, pour other half of soup mixture on top of that.  Drain mushrooms of juice, layer on top of last layer along with the rest of the onion and garlic. Sprinkle with garlic and herb seasoning.   Add a few more dashes of worsteshire. Cook on high for 6 to 8 hours.
*** I know I am spelling worstershire sauce wrong!!!
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This turned out Oh so yummy!!! I did thicken it slightly when I got home with a paste of Flour and cold water.  Berrett seemed to like it except he thought it had to much black pepper.  My husbands Oh so bland taste buds!!

stuffed green peppers- crock pot style

4 large green peppers
2 large cans of crushed tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
3 small onions diced
1 can mushrooms
1 packet spaghetti mix
1 1/2 pounds of hamburger
1 shredded zuchinni
4 tablespoons crushed garlic
wheat pasta
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Line crock pot with liner. Slice off tops of green peppers, removing seeds and ribs as much as possible. Dice available pepper from "lid". combine with shredded zuchinni, 1/2 of onion and hamburger.
In seperate bowl, mix tomatoes, garlic, the rest of the onion, mushrooms, tomato paste and cans of tomatoes.  Add Spaghetti seasoning.  Add a few spoonfuls of tomato mixture to hamburger mixture, just until slightly moist.
pour 1/3 of tomato mixture into bottom of crock pot. Nestle peppers upright in sauce. Stuff peppers with hamburger mixture. Pour reserved sauce over all.  Cook on high for 2 hours and then lower temp to low for 8 hours.  Serve with wheat pasta of choice.
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Turned out slightly watery.  Not sure if it was the canned tomato's or the water from the Bell peppers. Next time I will add more tomato paste and another packet of spaghetti seasoning.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Salsa chicken

Chicken breasts- I used boneless frozen ones
1 jar of salsa

I dumped the chicken breasts in my crock pot- { i used a crock pot liner}
and poured the salsa over the chicken.  Cooked on High for 8 hours, Shredded the chicken, put some of the reserved juice in the shredded chicken.  I served this on whole wheat tortilla's with Shredded Cheese. You can make your own kind of Chicken tacos, topping of your choice.
YUMMY!!!!  AND EASY!!!!!
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I made this again last night.  I added a extra jar of salsa, so two jars with about 8 large Chicken breast's{frozen}
and a can of drained Corn. Also 1/2 a packet of taco seasoning{mild}. This morning I shredded the chicken and added the rest of the taco seasoning and a small can of tomato paste to make it slightly thicker. I will cook it on high for an hour to melt the tomato paste.  It seems to taste just a bit better!!!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Lemon and Garlic Chicken with California Vegetables- Crockpot style

6 boneless chicken breasts
2 to 3 tablespoons of oil
2 to 3 tablespoons minced garlic
1 small onion diced
2 tablespoons butter
12 to 14 mushrooms sliced
4 lemons-[3 sliced into 1/4 inch slices]
garlic and herb seasoning
1 bag of frozen California medley vegetables {broccoli- cauliflower- carrots and zuchinni}
1 1/2 cups of water
4 chicken bouillon cubes
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Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in large skillet. Saute onion, garlic and mushrooms until tender.  Line Large 6 1/2 quart crockpot with liner.  Layer onion, garlic and mushroom mixture in the botton of the crock pot.  Layer 1 1/2 of the lemon slices on top of onion mixture.  Brown chicken breasts a few at a time, sprinkled with garlic and herb seasoning.  Adding oil and butter as needed. Lay browned chicken breasts over lemon slices. Sprinkle crushed bouillon over chicken. Place the rest of the lemon slices over the chicken. Empty bag of vegetables over chicken and lemon. Squeeze last lemon over all.  Add water to crock pot and throw the squeezed lemon rinds on top of veggies.  Pour drippings from frying pan over all. Cook on low for 8 hours.  Serve with rice or thin spaghetti noodles. I imagine you could thicken the liquid in crockpot with cornstarch or flour and serve over chicken and veggies. I am in the process of making this right now. I will let you know how it turns out!!
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Next time I will peel the lemon... The lemon rind made this slightly bitter.  Or I will just use lemon juice.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Creamed peas and red potatoes

Ingredients
1 pound bag of red potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
1 small onion diced
4 cups of soy milk
6 cups of water
6 chicken bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons minced garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste
Italian seasoning to taste
2 cups of Wondra flour
3 cups cold water
1 1/2 bag frozen peas
1/2 cup instant potato pearls
1 jar of french onion dip
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Line crock pot with crock pot liner.  Place potatoes, onion. soy milk, 6 cups of cold water, chicken bouillon, garlic and salt, pepper and Italian seasoning in crock pot.  Cook on low 8 hours.  I mixed  1 cup of flour and  11/2 cups of cold water with a fork in a small bowl and slowly added to mixture.  I waited about 30 minutes and it didn't seem thick enough.  I added the rest of the flour and water, and it still wasn't thick enough.  So I added the potato pearls and tasted it.  It was lacking something.  All the recipes I read on line added sour cream or cream cheese to recipe.  I didn't have either, but I did have french onion dip.  I added that and it was "oh so yummy"!!!   It made a lot Of Creamed peas and potatoes.  I use a 6 1/2 quart  slow cooker and it makes a mountain of food.  I plan on freezing some of it.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Tater tot casserole!!! Number two!!

Don't put the former recipe in the crock pot. Needed to be cooked in a casserole in the oven!! Oh well!!

Crock pot Tater tot Casserole

2 pounds of hamburger
2 stalks of celery
1/2 large onion chopped
2 cups of water
2 tablespoons worshtershire { I know I spelled that wrong}
2 tablespoons of chopped garlic
2 cans cream of mushroom and garlic soup
1 can cream of celery
2 cans of green beans- drained
1 cup of soy milk{ you can probably use regular}
Greek Seasoning
Pepper
1 bag tater tots
2 cups grated chedder cheese
6.5 slow cooker
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Spray slow cooker with Pam.  I started the meat the night before, as I didn't have time to cook it in the morning and didn't want to bother browning it at 11:00 pm at night. so I placed it in crock pot frozen in one solid block. Threw in the onion, celery, garlic and some of the Greek seasoning.  Covered it with about 2 cubs of water, put the lid on and cooked it on low overnight. About 7 hours later, I got up Chopped up the cooked hamburger into bite size chunks, added back to crock pot. Added all the soups, green beans, rest of Greek seasoning, The soy milk, and pepper. Mixed that up. Added the whole bag of tater tots, mixed it up and covered it with the cheese. I plan on cooking it on low for 8 hours.  I will let you know how it turns out. This is an experiment after all!!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Home made Chicken noodle soup

3 large boneless Chicken Breasts
12 cubes of chicken bouillon
1 can Cream of Chicken and Herb soup
1 large onion diced
4 stalks of Celery diced
1 bag of frozen carrots
2 tablespoons of crushed garlic
12 to 14 cups of water
1 bag of frozen corn
1 bag of frozen peas
2 tablespoons of Greek seasoning
salt and pepper to taste.
Frozen or dried egg noodles- 12 oz
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I tried out a crock pot liner for the first time and loved it!! It worked really well for my soup and virtually no clean up!!
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Place Chicken, Celery, onions, Carrots, Boillon, Cream soup,  garlic and enough water to cover into crock pot. Cook on low for 8 hours. Remove chicken from broth and dice into bite size chunks. Put back into soup. Add peas, Corn, salt and Pepper and greek seasoning to soup. Cook on low for 1 hour. Add Noodles, cook on low for 30 min to an hour. Depending on how long it takes for noodles to cook.
I used my 6.5 Crock pot and this made 12 servings.  Quite hardy and filling.  You could add potatoes at the beginning instead of noodles at the end.  Or even quick cooking rice at the end.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

3 new soups!!!

Hamburger Vegetable Italian soup
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1 1/2 pounds of hamburger
1 whole yellow onion diced
3 garlic cloves diced- or 2 tablespoons of crushed garlic from a jar
1/2 a head of celery diced
8 carrots diced
6 potatos diced
2 zuchinni sliced
2 yellow squash diced
1 envelope of liptons onion soup
1 large can of V8-[46 fl oz]
3 cups of water
Italian seasoning
Salt and Pepper
1 small bag frozen peas
1 small bag frozen corn
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spray crock pot with Pam.   In Frying pan brown, Beef, onion and celery along with garlic. I did'nt use any oil I just sprayed my frying pan with Pam.  Drain Beef mixture. Add to crock pot. add all veggies except peas and corn.  Add V8, water and seasonings. Cook on high for 6 to 8 hours. Add peas and corn cook for 30 min. to another hour on low.
{This freezes well, and tastes extra yummy topped with Parmesan or shredded cheese.}  
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Tomato Bisque with meatballs

1 large jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
2 Jars of water{ from empty sauce jar}
1 box of beef stock
diced onion
3 healthy tablespoons of crushed garlic[less if not a garlic fan]
1 bag of frozen Italian Meatballs
Italian seasoning to taste
1 envelope of spaghetti mix
2 to 3 cups of cooked macaroni
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mix sauce, water, beef stock, diced onion, garlic, Italian seasoning in sprayed crock pot.
whisk in envelope of spaghetti seasoning.  Add frozen meatballs-{ I microwaved mine as directed on package and cut them into 4ths, easier to eat}
cook on low for 8 hours. [ This thickens the longer you cook it.  If you want it to be thicker, add a cup of uncooked pasta 1/2 way through. It will become mushy and break down but it really does thicken the soup.]  Add cooked macaroni 30 minutes before serving.  If you are going to freeze any of the soup, don't add macaroni.  Cook that each time you serve it and add as needed to individual servings. The pasta gets mushy when frozen.  I have also added cooked cheese filled ravioli in the past.  Once again don't freeze  with pasta in soup.Oh and a great topper is garlic croutons, or good old crushed saltines.
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Creamy potato soup
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8 chicken bouillon cubes
10 cups of water
1 envelope of lipton onion soup mix
1/2 head of celery diced
1 yellow onion diced
2 tablespoons crushed garlic
6 to 8 potato's cut into bite size chunks
pepper
2 cups of milk[I used Soy}
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup wonder flour[ I like this for soup, it doesn't lump}
instant potato's,{ not sure of amount, in process of making this.. I will just add a 1/4 cup at a time to thicken soup at the end.}
Shredded cheese, bacon bits, diced green onions and sour cream- optional
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spray crock pot with Pam. Add bouillon, water, soup mix, garlic, onion, celery, potato's and pepper. Cook on high for 8 hours. Melt butter in microwave, whisk flour into butter.  Add milk to soup mixture. Add flour butter mixture to soup in tablespoons slowly, stirring all the while. Cook on low for 30 more minutes. Add instant potato's as needed to thicken soup. Serve with shredded cheese, bacon bits, green onions and sour cream as desired.
{I am not sure how well this will freeze, I will let you know. I am in the process of making it right now for the first time}.