Chicken Noodle Soup

This is a recipe that my wife has been making for years.  It is perfect on any chilly day and even better yet, it is very easy to make!

Ingredients List:

7-8 cans Chicken Broth
2 ribs of Celery, diced
3 Carrots, diced
1/2 Onion, diced
1 tsp. Garlic, minced
1 lg. can Chicken
1 tsp. Poultry Seasoning
1 tsp. Salt and Pepper each
1 pkg. Egg Noodles (the Country Pasta brand is our favorite Egg Noodles)


The first thing you'll need to do is dice the carrots, celery and onion, making them as small or large as your prefer.  We typically dice ours up pretty small, which allows them to soften up quicker.

Then add them to a small amount of oil and saute until soft.  Next add the garlic, and half of the salt and pepper.

Now add 6 cans of chicken stock. (Shameless Plug Warning!)  We love our Pampered Chef Smooth-Edge Can Opener.  It is very easy to turn, and won't leave any sharp edges on either the lid or the can.  So you can reuse the can for things like a tool holder, or crayon holder for your kids.

Next add the poultry seasoning, canned chicken and the remainder of the salt and pepper to taste. 

Sometimes you just don't have time to mess with cooking chicken, so using the canned chicken comes in real handy for dishes like this one.  (Shameless Plug Warning!)  We always strain our canned chicken in our Pampered Chef Measuring Colander.  You can drain and rinse the chicken and know how much you have all at the same time!

Bring the soup to a boil and then add the noodles.  Let them simmer for about 25-30 minutes or until tender and serve.  Add more chicken broth if needed.  In this instance, we did add one more can of broth since the noodles soaked up a lot of the broth.

Roasted Tomatillo Sauce

When I first tasted this recipe I immediately fell in love.  It's got such a great flavor, with a hint of heat and a hint of sweet.  I put this sauce on all my burritos, chicken or pork.

Ingredient List:

3 Anaheim Peppers, seeded and cut in half

2 Jalapeno Peppers, seeded and cut in half

7 Tomatillos, husked

1 Onion, quartered

1 tsp. Garlic, minced

1 sm. can Diced Green Chilies

1/4 tsp. Salt

1/4 tsp. Chili Powder

2 tsp. Cumin

1/8 C. Apple Cider Vinegar

1/4 C. White Sugar

1 sm. bunch Cilantro

Place all peppers skin side down on a baking sheet including the onion quarters and tomatillos, and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.  Flip everything once midway through roasting.  Then turn on boiler and roast until tomatillos and peppers begin to brown.  The aroma in your home will be amazing!

Place all roasted ingredients into a blender and add the garlic, chilies and cilantro.  Puree until well blended.  (Shameless Plug Warning!  The Pampered Chef Measuring Colander is a great tool!  It has Cup Measurement markings and it's a colander too, so you can measure out exact amounts of berries or leafy items, and rinse them all at the same time!)

Add the pureed mixture to a saucepan and add the remaining ingredients.  Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Green Cilantro Rice

This is a recipe that we've been making for years and is really quite simple to make, but is oh so good!

Ingredient List:

1 Tbsp. Butter/Margarine
3 C. Water
4 tsp. Chicken Bouillon Granules
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 Tbsp. White Sugar
1/2 bunch Cilantro
1/2 Onion, roughly chopped
2 tsp. Garlic, minced
1 sm. can Diced Green Chilies
3 C. Minute Rice, uncooked

First start out by melting the butter in the water over low heat.  This will give you time to prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Next, add the onion, cilantro, garlic, and chilies to a food processor and chop until slightly chunky. 

(Shameless Plug Warning!  Pictured above is the Pampered Chef Manual Food Processor and the Pampered Chef Adjustable Measuring Spoon).  We love ours and if you'd like to buy them for your own kitchen, click the links.)

With the Pampered Chef Manual Food Processor, push repeatedly on the lever, which spins the blade and as you can see creates the perfect chop.  Also works great for just chopping onions, or making fresh salsa at your dining table, but I digress.

Now add the chopped mixture and all the remaining ingredients, EXCEPT for the Rice.

Once everything is boiling, then add the rice, cover and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, or until all liquid has been absorbed.

The final result is a very pretty looking, and best of all, great tasting rice!

Marinated Grilled Chicken Burritos

This is just one recipe in the Chicken Burritos that we make.  The other recipes are Green Cilantro Rice and a Roasted Tomatillo Sauce, which we often make for our pork burritos as well.  

This recipe is one that my wife and I got from a friend; however, we've since tweaked it to be even better by grilling it instead of letting it sit in a crockpot.  I much prefer grilling the chicken because the crockpot chicken seemed too mushy and soft.  Also, I didn't care for shredding the chicken as the recipe was originally written.

Ingredient List:

5 B/S Chicken Breasts
1/2 C. Salsa (we use Pace)
1/2 C. Brown Sugar
1 sm. can Diced Green Chilies
2 Tbsp. Cumin
12 oz. can Sprite

Combine all ingredients and marinate in a ziplock bag for about 4 hours in the refrigerator. 

Then once marinated, I throw them on the grill out back.  Note:  Do remember to lower your grill from the flame starting position to at least medium heat.  I nearly forgot when cooking my chicken, and thankfully remembered in time, though there was a pretty good fire going from the greasy remains of the burgers I'd cooked the night before.  Note 2:  Always discard your leftover marinade, especially if used with pork or poultry!!!  You don't want those after effects!

Make sure to cook your poultry until the internal temperature reaches at least 165 degrees in the thickest part of the chicken.  My Brother (whose name will stay nameless to protect the innocent) once invited us over for dinner.  He raved at how "juicy" his chickens always turned out...  Well, that's because he didn't have a meat thermometer (A MUST HAVE!!!) and as it turned out, his chickens were juicy because they were still slightly pink in places.  Lets just say, I ate the outter parts of the chicken and sneakily disposed of the rest.

As you can see my digital thermometer does read 165 degrees, and my chickens look excellent, IMHO.  : )

I then cubed up my chicken instead of shredding it.  I really like the texture better inside the burrito.

Once you have made our Green Cilantro Rice and Roasted Tomatillo Sauce recipes, then combine them to create a most delicious Chicken Burrito!  I like to add sour cream and cheese to the inside of my burritos.  Then I smother it in the Roasted Tomatillo Sauce, with another helping of Green Cilantro Rice on the side!  SO TASTY!!!