Chicken Corn Chowder

I've said it before, but it bears repeating, I love the Autumn season.  I enjoy all the beautiful Fall colors, the crisp chill in the air, the beginning of Colts football and, of course, I love that the seasonal changes influence my cooking and baking. Fewer meals are planned for the grill while dinners become heartier, comfier soups and stews cooked on the stove-top or slow cookers. Fruity, leafy salads begin taking the backseat as squash casseroles and potatoes jump into the drivers seat and park on our dinner tables. Oh, Fall is such a beautiful and wonderful "experience" all around!

This chowder was perfect to serve my family after an evening of soccer and cheer practices. Both boys were cold from the damp, chilly weather and the girls were simply famished after a long day of school and practice. The chowder has so many wonderful flavors that come from the addition of celery, onion, red pepper and jalapeno pepper. Yes, jalapeno. I was so thankful that I followed Melanie's advice and added this. She shared that the pepper didn't add "heat" to the chowder, but gave it a delicious flavor, and she was so right. We LOVED this recipe so much that I'm already planning to prepare this with some leftover turkey the day after Thanksgiving. This will be perfect to return home to after a busy day of Christmas shopping. :)

Chicken Corn Chowder

**Plan Ahead: This recipe calls for cooked chicken. (Thanks Mel!)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 stalks of celery, finely chopped

1 red bell pepper, finely chopped

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 jalapeno, finely chopped, seeds and membrane removed (DON'T omit this!!)

1/4 cup thinly sliced or cooked chopped ham

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 (14-oz.) cans chicken broth

3 tablespoons flour

3 ears of fresh corn kernels or 1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernals

2 large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

4 oz. softened cream cheese

1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Place olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute celery, bell pepper, onion and jalapeno until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and ham; cook for another 3 minutes. Whisk the broth with the flour in a liquid measuring cup or bowl and then stir into the soup. Stir in the corn and chicken. Bring to a low boil and reduce heat. Whisk together the cream cheese and milk in a large bowl until smooth. (Make sure your cream cheese is really soft or you'll have lumps in the mixture!) Whisk the cream cheese/milk mixture into the soup along with the salt, pepper and cheddar cheese. Simmer on low until ready to serve.

Source: My Kitchen Cafe

Pasta Fagioli

A couple of weeks ago I hosted an all day baking excursion with two of my friends. It was a day filled with laughter, fun and togetherness baking some fantastic treats. The girls were so gracious to bring soup, salad and homemade bread for lunch since I had provided the kitchen to play in.

My friend Sarah brought this amazing soup that she had bookmarked from Brown Eyed Baker. Sarah was kind enough to leave plenty of soup for my family's dinner that evening so I could wrap up and clean the kitchen. Marty and the kids LOVED dinner and Marty even requested some to be packed up for his lunch the next day. Pretty impressive! This soup has many wonderful textures from the crispiness of the carrots, the spiciness of the sausage, the depth of two kinds of beans and the fun of tiny pasta noodles in all. Mmmm!

I had put this soup on our menu for last week and thought I had everything in the pantry that I needed. Does this ever happen to you? You are in the midst of preparing dinner and you go to the shelves only to realize that you don't have a major ingredient? Well, that's what happened when I went to add the tomato sauce to the soup. I had many kinds of tomatoes, but no sauce. What I did have was a jar of traditional spaghetti sauce. I was too far into making the soup to turn back so I grabbed the spaghetti sauce and poured it in hoping for the best. Oh my...we loved the extra kick the spaghetti sauce added! I believe it's a permanent change to this already fantastic soup.

When you're ready for a hearty, Italian soup for dinner, give this recipe a try and you'll see why this is one of our new favorites!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!
Pasta Fagioli

2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 package sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1/2 large (or 1 medium) onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 carrots, thinly sliced
4 stalks celery, thinly sliced
28 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can white cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
64 oz. beef broth
28 ounce can tomato sauce
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
4 oz. small dry pasta (Ditalini)

1. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large stockpot over medium high heat, and brown the sausage, crumbling it as it cooks. Once brown, remove sausage from pot with a slotted spoon and discard any grease that remains in the pot.

2. Melt remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in the same pot, and add the onion, garlic, carrot and celery and saute over medium heat until vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes. (I cooked a little less so that the carrots still had a little crispiness)

3. Add sausage back to the pot, add the can of diced tomatoes (do not drain), stir briefly, and simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Stir in the beans, and add the beef broth and tomato sauce. Add in all the seasonings, stir well, turn the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil. Once it boils, turn down to low heat, cover, and simmer for at least 30 minutes.

5. Add the dry pasta and continue to simmer on low for another 30 minutes.

Serve with your favorite bread or crackers.

Source: adapted from Delectable Dining, originally from Brown Eyed Baker

Wild Rice and Chicken Soup

Winter has arrived in central Indiana. Sunday morning we woke to the beauty of snow dusted tree limbs and meandering deer grazing for food across a pristine white field. I love the crispness of freshly fallen snow and the peace it brings to our surroundings. Of course, by the afternoon, the temperatures were rising and all that was left of the beautiful picture was wet, nasty roads and muddy driveways...but we enjoyed it while it lasted.

One of our favorite soups that we enjoy throughout the long winter months is this hearty, thick chicken and rice soup. The creamy base has a delicious, rich flavor while the celery that is added toward the end of the recipe adds a crispness that blends so well with the other textures of the rice and chicken in the soup. This is marvelous when served with fresh, hot bread and a crisp, green salad. This is great warmed up for lunch the next day. (I've been known to eat it for several days as my lunch and never tire of it.)

Wild Rice and Chicken Soup

1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups half and half
2 cups cooked wild rice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups cubed, cooked chicken
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced carrots, cooked (I cheat and use canned carrots)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cups sliced mushrooms (I omit)
1/2 cup parsley

1. Saute' onion in butter. Add flour to make a thick roux.
2. Slowly add broth and half and half using a whisk. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until slightly thickened.
3. Add rice, salt, chicken, vegetables and parsley. Simmer 5 to 10 minutes. If soup is too thick, thin with extra broth.

Source: Necessities and Temptations

Sundays For Sarah - Vegetable Soup

First let me explain the picture of the pink pig. Sarah is a first grade teacher and I guess you could say her classroom theme is pigs. Well, since I don't have a picture of her dinner on Sunday, (explained later in this post) I thought this would be a cute way of beginning today's update. :-)

This week's post for Sarah is another filled with great news from the Doctors! Because Sarah has done such an incredible job resting and obeying Dr.'s orders, there has been no change AGAIN and she was sent home to continue bed rest with baby Hannah tucked snugly in Mommy's tummy. Thank you to all who are lifting Sarah and her family up in your daily thoughts and prayers.

For the O'Brien's dinner on Sunday evening, they were treated to a great vegetable soup brought by Mike's boss and his wife. It's so wonderfully amazing to watch all those that love this family rally around them and contribute in any manner needed! Wow! I thought about apologizing to all of you for not having a new dinner recipe to share, but then I thought...."Wait a minute, it's not about the food (well, the food part is fun though) it's about Sarah and her family." I guess I still could have gone over and taken a picture of their meal for you, but since I just thought of that..I didn't and I don't. So, keep checking the blog and I promise you we'll have lots more to share and we'll update you on the baby. Deal? Deal.

Also, I wanted to send a HUGE Thank You to Adele (Sarah's Mom) and her two sisters (Rachel & Becky) who hosted a beautiful Baby Sprinkle this weekend for Sarah. You ladies outdid yourselves! The food was absolutely amazing, the decorations adorable and your hospitality heart warming! Thank you for allowing my girls and myself to share in a wonderful afternoon of celebration. HUGS!!

Sundays For Sarah-Creamy White Chicken Chili

First of all, I would like to apologize for not posting any new, yummy recipes this past week. It's been crazy busy around our household and while I have continued to cook and bake some delectable dishes for my family this week, I haven't had one spare minute to download and post anything to share with you. Please remain patient and I'll get caught up soon.

Now, for some really great news. Sarah had a very positive Doctor's visit this week. The medications are doing their job and keeping her contractions under control, so she was ordered to go home and straight back to bed. Another week that precious Hannah has continued to mature and grow inside Mommy's tummy. Wonderful, wonderful news!!

This time Sarah and I chose a recipe together. Our family was going to be extremely busy this weekend at a soccer tournament with our son, but I wanted to follow through with Sunday's for Sarah. So we talked and decided that a soup or chili recipe sounded good and would fit in with our family's weekend time schedule. I remembered a great chicken chili that my friend Jennifer had fixed for our Bible study group awhile ago and she had submitted the recipe to be published in our church's cookbook. When I read through it Saturday evening, I knew it was the perfect, quick dish to prepare and it sounded absolutely delish!

This chili was so EASY to prepare and the flavors of all the spices and chilies was fantastic. We topped our bowls of chili with a little extra sour cream and cheddar cheese and savored every delicious bite. Sarah and I both said that this is definitely a new favorite for both our families. You won't be disappointed if you choose to try this recipe.

Creamy White Chicken Chili

1 lb. boneless chicken, cut in cubes

1 medium onion

1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 T. vegetable oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)

2 (15 oz.) cans Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained

1 can chicken broth

2 (4 oz.) cans chopped green chilies

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 c. sour cream

1/2 c. whipping cream

In a pot, saute chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil. Add beans, broth, chilies and all seasonings (salt, cumin, oregano, pepper and cayenne pepper). Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and whipping cream.

Source: Jennifer Wall -Sharing Our Best

Taco Soup

One of my many reasons for loving the Autumn season is that I get to dust my crock-pots off and put them back to work after months of resting in storage. There's nothing more pleasing than to arrive home from church on Sunday and smell the aroma of dinner cooking away. Isn't it great to know that dinner will be ready in the evening without any more preparation responsibility from you? I LOVE my crock-pots!! This soup recipe is another simple one and is thrown together in just minutes. We first tried this soup at our small group from church and I knew immediately that I would ask for the recipe and would be preparing this over and over for our family. It's a great combination of ground beef, tomatoes and beans and topped with sour cream and cheddar cheese it tastes similar to a taco. I serve Frito's Scoops alongside for an added crunch. Who wouldn't love that combination?

Taco Soup

2 pounds ground beef-browned
2 cans black beans
2 cans Rotel tomatoes (I use the mild-the original is too spicy for the kids)
2 cans whole kernal corn
2 packages Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
1 package taco seasoning (I use half of the packet to make it less spicy)

Place all ingredients in a crock-pot and stir to mix. Cook on low 5-6 hours. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese and corn chip.

Source: My wonderful friend Lori Roberts

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

"Just like Grandma used to make". That's what the commercials for canned soup say to get you to buy their products. Well, after you make this soup, you'll never again want to eat canned chicken noodle soup, and depending on how good a cook Grandma was....this may even beat her's! Typically, when I fix a large pot of soup, we have a few meals worth of leftovers. But the we loved this soup so much that there was barely any for me to heat up for lunch the next day. Bummer!!

I purchased a whole chicken to fix because I wanted some leftover meat to shred for chicken salad and economically, it was certainly cheaper that way. Boy was I glad I did, the flavor of the chicken was amazing! I experimented a little with the broth as I boiled the chicken. I added poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, celery leaves and chicken base (something I read about on Pioneer Woman) to the water with the vegetables and cooked on a medium-low temp for a couple of hours. You can just imagine how that smelled while cooking! The chicken literally fell off the bone as I removed it from the pot. As I was pulling chicken into bite sized pieces, I couldn't keep little fingers from grabbing chicken strips to munch on. "Mom, this chicken is so good!!" "Well, if you keep eating it I won't have any left for the soup, now out...all of you." Never thought I would have to shoo the kids out of the kitchen for eating CHICKEN. Yay-what a success.

The creamy base of the soup was incredibly creamy and delicious and added the extra "pop" I was looking for. I love a soup base that makes you savor it's texture and flavors slowly. Yum.

This is the soup that I fixed my baking soda biscuits for (otherwise known as hockey pucks) and that Marty drowned in the creamy soup base. I was so pleased with how the soup turned out that it almost made me feel better about my failure with the biscuits. ALMOST. I'll conquer those biscuits one day.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

1 whole chicken
1 cup sliced carrots
1/2 of medium onion-chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
1/3 cup chicken base
4 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons flour
5 cups chicken broth
2 cups whole milk or light cream (I used the cream)
2 cups medium egg noodles
parsley

In a large pot cover the chicken with water. Add onion, celery, carrots, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning and chicken base. Cook chicken on medium low for 1-2 hours until done. Remove chicken from pot and tear or chop into bite sized pieces.

In a large saucepan melt butter. Stir in flour. Add chicken broth and cream. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Stir in chicken, veggies and noodles. Cook until noodles are tender. Garnish with fresh snipped parsley.

**I prepared this earlier in an afternoon so I added the chicken and veggies and let simmer on the stove until near dinner time and then added the noodles. I didn't want soggy noodles in our soup!!

Source: Christy's Kitchen Creations

***Don't ask me why the text is different..I've tried like heck to fix it and can't figure it out, so I'm posting as is. If there is a blogger geek squad out there, please HELP ME!!