Spicy Chicken Soup

As a kid, dinner was usually a little haphazard at our house. We usually ate a big breakfast together every morning, but come suppertime, everyone sort of fended for themselves. Except on Friday. Every Friday evening, Mom made a special meal for us to eat together as we welcomed the Sabbath in. She’d light candles (which sounds Jewish now that I think of it), and put out the nice dishes. These meals weren’t big, but they were always delicious. She’d make some sort of fantastic soup, like homemade chicken noodle (yes, she made the noodles), white bean chili, vegetarian beef stew, creamy potato… you get the idea. Then we’d have cheese and crackers and maybe donuts for desert if we were lucky. I loved those meals.

But somehow, I never caught onto how my mom made these perfect soups. She often followed recipes, but frequently just threw stuff together. I can do that in a frying pan pretty well, but for whatever reason I’ve been intimidated by free-styling soup since I started cooking. UNTIL NOW! The cold weather up here in the mountains begs for hot bowls of soup for supper. I was sick a couple months back, and I realized I was the only person that would make myself the soup I craved. I made a really good vegetable soup (if I do say so myself) and finally, the ice was broken.

Since then, I’ve been doing at least one or two soups a week, and they are not very difficult at all! I don’t even know why I’ve psyching myself out for so long. Some of the soups have been better than others, but earlier this week, we definitely had a winner. I was craving my mom’s aforementioned white bean chili, but was lacking several of the ingredients; namely the white beans. However, I did have some veggie chicken, pinto beans, and some tasty green vegetables. A jalapeno added the perfect amount of heat. White bean chili? No. Yummy soup? Yes.

Spicy Chicken Soup
Serves 6-8

3 Tbls extra virgin olive oil
½ a red onion chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped
1 jalapeno pepper finely chopped
2 quarts hot water
2 lbs can Worthington FriChik
1 zucchini chopped
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 Tbls McKay’s Chicken Seasoning
1 individual package of Sazón Goya
salt


Heat olive oil over medium low heat in pot. Add onions and peppers and sauté for three to four minutes.


Add water, FriChik and zucchini and heat to a low boil.

Stir in oregano, chicken seasoning, Sazón Goya, and salt to taste. Cover and simmer for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Tips: If you’re not into spicy food, you can omit the jalapeno or use only a portion of it. McKay’s is the chicken seasoning I always use (it’s vegetarian), but a different brand would work fine, or you can simply use some chicken broth instead of water.

Perfect Pasta Bowl

This week we finally experienced Wawona’s first snow of the season! It happened on Monday. Well, I suppose it started Sunday night, but at that point, it was an uncertain snow, just a dusting. But when we woke up, a blanket! It kept snowing too, until we had almost a foot. This is the most snow I’ve had since I left Michigan after my freshman year of college. We all reveled in it. As soon as we finished our necessary tasks for the day, we went sledding… obviously. A day of hiking through the snow along with the general excitement left all of us feeling pretty tired and hungry. Pasta sounded perfect and some recent dieting intentions ensured that the fridge was packed full of vegetables. My plan? To fit as much of this as I could into a giant bowl.

If you plan on mixing your vegetables with something other than just sauce, pasta strands (spaghetti, fettuccini, etc.) don’t always work the best. When I add veggies or meats, I usually go for Penne, but all we had was some huge bags of macaroni. Macaroni is often overlooked when not being used with its classic sidekick cheese. However, macaroni is great if you’re feeding a crowd. You’ll get more bang for your buck with macaroni than with most larger pasta noodles (rigatoni, ziti, penne, etc.), since these just have bigger empty spaces.

This pasta hit the spot for sure. It was really filling, but also easy and fast. If you don’t have all the ingredients I used, don’t sweat it; just use whatever you have in the fridge. This is definitely a good dish to improvise with.

Perfect Pasta Bowl
Serves 8

2 lbs macaroni noodles
3 Tbs olive oil
3 large garlic cloves finely chopped or pressed
½ red onion finely chopped
1 large red bell pepper chopped
1/2 jalapeno pepper finely chopped
1 zucchini quartered and sliced
1 bunch green onions finely chopped
1 large tomato chopped
4-6 c baby spinach leaves
4 Morningstar Farms Chik Patties, thawed in microwave
1 c feta cheese crumbled
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper

In large pot, boil macaroni according to instructions on package.

Heat oil in large pan over medium-low heat. Add garlic and onion and sauté until they just start to become soft. Add jalapeno and red pepper and continue to sauté for 2-3 minutes, then add zucchini, green onions and tomato.

In separate pan, fry Chik Patties in a little olive oil until crispy. Cut into small pieces and add to vegetables along with the spinach. Cook until spinach begins to wilt, then remove from heat.

Stir vegetable mixture, feta cheese and dried herbs together with pasta in large bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Tips: If you’re not into spicy food, you can skip the jalapeno pepper. This dish is also good with cheeses other than feta. Parmesan, asiago, romano or goat cheese would be really good. You could skip the cheese altogether for a tasty vegan option as well. I actually served it with some medium cheddar on the side for the cheese lovers to add at will.

Seal the Deal Banana Pudding

My one-year anniversary of dating my now husband was a big deal. Neither of us had ever dated anyone for that long so we felt we needed to honor this event properly. We each did what we knew best. He wrote me a song, I promised to make whatever food he wanted. I was expecting a request for something like fettuccini alfredo, maybe my famous cheese ball he liked so much, but he instead asked for banana pudding. I had never made banana pudding and I actually had no idea he liked it, but apparently this was one of his favorite desserts that both his mom and grandma made. I had a lot to live up to.

My favorite resource, aka my mother, was not an option this time. I couldn’t recall Mom ever making a banana pudding, so I turned to the greatest kitchen accessory known to modern man; the Internet. Nothing fancy, just a quick search in Google. The first link on the page was a banana pudding recipe on Recipelink.com. This pudding originally came from the cookbook More From Magnolia by Allysa Torey, collection of recipes from the famous Magnolia Bakery in NYC (remember in the SNL skit, Lazy Sunday, when they buy cupcakes before the movie? Yup, that’s Magnolia’s). Once we were able to sample it, it was easy to see why this recipe popped up first in my search. Donnie raved, along with the guys in the dorm he shared with, and I fell in love with banana pudding for the first time. Donnie and I often joke that this is what “sealed the deal.”

Banana puddings range in ingredients from the very simple (instant banana pudding, Nilla Wafers, sliced bananas), to more complex versions, where you literally make your pudding from scratch. This version is the best of both worlds. It uses instant vanilla pudding mix along with sweetened condensed milk and heavy whipping cream to form the base. It’s rich and really fattening, but always a crowd pleaser and a good alternative to the regular holiday desserts. It’s easy too. Small disclaimer: As I’ve already explained, I did not create this recipe, but it’s so good, I have to share it. I’ve tweaked the ingredients just a tad, but if you want to see the original, here it is:

http://www.recipelink.com/cookbooks/2005/0743246616_5.html

Seal the Deal Banana Pudding
Serves 10-12

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups ice cold water
1 (3.4-ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix *
3 cups heavy whipping cream
2 (12-ounce) boxes Nabisco Nilla Wafers
1 large bunch of ripe bananas, sliced

In a small bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the sweetened condensed milk and water until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the pudding mix and beat well, about 2 minutes more. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight, before continuing.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the pudding mixture into the whipped cream until well blended and no streaks of pudding remain.

To assemble the dessert, select a large, wide bowl (preferably glass). Arrange wafers to cover the bottom of the bowl, overlapping if necessary, then layer bananas on top of cookies and follow with a layer of pudding mixture. Repeat the layering at least twice more (depending on depth of bowl), garnishing with additional wafers or wafer crumbs on the top layer of the pudding, if you desire. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before serving.

Tips: Like I said, it’s easy, but you do have to plan ahead. I usually start the day before I need it so I don’t have to pull it out early (not a good idea). The pudding mixture can turn into a speckle-y, sticky mess all over the counter when you’re beating it, so I recommend covering the bowl with a dishtowel during this process. The original recipe calls for only 1 box of Nilla wafers, but I’ve always found that’s it’s just never quite enough. I was usually about 10 or 12 cookies short. Go ahead and buy an extra box. It’s easy to get a husband, friend, stranger, etc. to finish of the rest of the box anyhow.

And while we’re talking about the wafers, don’t buy the generic brand even though it’s cheaper! We did this once and they were nowhere near as good. However, buy whatever brand of pudding you want, you won’t be able to tell a difference. Oh, and this recipe is great to serve at breakfast too!