Homemade Chicken Noodle O's

After eating my dinner this evening, which is not worthy of discussion, (it was an english muffin veggie burger...yuck) I looked at my options to see what I could prepare for tomorrow's lunch. Usually, my next day's lunch is left-overs from my cooked meals from the night before, but because my dinner tasted like a chewy cardboard sandwich with ketchup, I vowed never to repeat it...especially for leftovers! Normally, this step of thoughtfully looking for something to cook up comes before eating dinner, but after a long day and a long work-out, I don't think my brain was functioning properly and it just needed dinner fast.

I peered in the fridge at all of the sad, wilted veggies and thought they would be much happier in an afterlife of soup. Also, just hearing the talk of people being sick when it is cold and wet outside makes me want to make some good 'ol homemade chicken soup. Why didn't this idea come to me when I was making myself dinner? As I was preparing the ingredients for the chicken soup, I kept being reminded of my sad, sad veggie burger because I just couldn't get the taste out of my mouth. I guess I will just have to look forward to tomorrow's lunch of Homemade Chicken Noodle O's and I am not even sick, so it will taste even better!

First, I began boiling about 1 pound of chicken tenders to cook them through out. While they were boiling, I chopped up two celery stalks, leaves and all. I also chopped up one half of a yellow onion and two large carrots. The chicken began floating on the top of the water in the pot and this is how I knew they were done. I drained the water out and poured 4 cups of chicken broth right back in the pot and put the pot right back on the stove. I then added 2 more cups of water and kept the stove top temperature on high to bring the soup to a boil. I dropped in the veggies (celery, carrots, onions), bay leaf, salt, pepper, shredded the chicken and put that in the pot. I covered the pot and waited for the soup to boil. Once it began to boil, I lowered the heat to simmering and left it alone for about an hour. I am not able to comment on how the soup tasted because I will not taste it until tomorrow's lunch. I will keep you posted, though. But this may just be the go-to soup for when that winter cold comes a coughin'.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. shredded boiled chicken breast (shredded)

4 cups of chicken broth
2 cups of water

1/2 pound "O" shaped pasta (I forgot the name but any Italian market should have it)

2 chopped celery stalks

2 sliced carrots

1/2 chopped yellow onions

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Mangia!

Sasquatch Challenge

It was our first night in Memphis and after checking into the hotel and watching the debates, we worked up an appetite only the Big Foot Lodge could satisfy. Also, it was the only place open on a Thursday night past 10 pm that was close to our hotel. This place had everything from Deep Fried Cornish Hens to BBQ Egg Rolls. Let's just say there was nothing much on the menu for dieters. I ordered Chicken Wings and JJ ordered the Catfish Sandwich. They were both pretty tasty and satisfied our hunger for some late night grubbin'.

As we were eating we could not help but notice a couple a few tables away from us with an enormous burger in front of them. Our server explained to us that the mighty dish was named the Sasquatch Burger. The burger contains 4 pounds of fresh ground chuck, two pounds of their custom made hamburger bun, and one and a half pounds of lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions, and cheese...seven and a half pounds total! The thing was freaking huge. The man at the table had dared to take on the Sasquatch Challenge the night we were there! How exciting?! The rules state that the burger must be consumed within 60 minutes without any help from anyone else, and if this is task is completed then you get the burger for free and your picture on the wall. I personally think you should win $1000 dollars or a prize much more rewarding. I mean you are basically gaining over seven pounds and intaking 6 days worth of calories in one hours time. We did not stick around to see if he fufilled the daunting task. It was kind of painful to watch. He was all sweaty and I just felt bad for the guy. Only four people have their names on the Wall of Fame and two of them are competitive eaters.

Original Fannie Farmer Cookbook

While staying at my boyfriend's grandma's house in Houston a couple of weeks ago, I came across a charming cookbook in the guest room one night. I was having a hard time sleeping and reached over to the bedside table and found the Original 1896 Fannie Farmer Cookbook from the Boston Cooking School. I perused the gilded pages in search of a simple recipe that I could experiment with. I found two.

Pineapple Lemonade
1 pint water
1 cup sugar
1 quart ice water
1 can grated pineapple
juice of three lemons

-make syrup by boiling water ten minutes and adding sugar, add pineapple and lemon juice, strain and then add ice water.

(I know Summer is over, but I could not resist this sweet drink recipe!)

Rice Waffles
1 3/4 cups flour
2/3 cup cold cooked rice
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tbsp. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. melted butter
1 egg

-mix and sift dry ingredients; work in rice with tips of fingers; add milk, yolk of egg well beaten, butter and white of egg beaten stiff, cook as waffles.

(I haven't tried this one yet, but I am thinking about it for brunch this weekend. They sound delicious.)

I will let you know how it goes. I love finding recipes from all over and filing them in my recipe binder. Some people collect figurines or coins...I collect recipes.

Many more posts to come from my trip to Memphis this past weekend. Stay tuned.