Tonight we are having Chicken Quesadillas. I know it's October, and that doesn't really spell Mexican food, but with homemade guacamole, it is hard to resist these healthy, little items. And you will find out that Mexican food is one style of food that you will be hard-pressed to do cheaper at home than you can dine out. And if you have a place as good as La Guadalapana near you, as we do here in Memphis, then I would minimize your Mexican cooking to only specific dishes. I find quesadaillas something I prefer to do at home.
Cook Time 30 minutes
1 lb. of chicken breasts $4.00
2 Avocados $2.50
1 Tomato $.45
1 white onion $.30
1 bunch of cilantro $.80
2 limes $.66
1 clove of garlic $.05
salt and pepper $.10
Ground Cumin $.50
4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese $1.50
4 Whole wheat or Flour Tortillas $1.50
Total: $12.36 or $3.09 a serving
Chicken Quesadillas:
Season your chicken with salt and pepper and cumin. Bake in the oven at 350 F for 30 minutes. If you want to save time and you know you will be using chicken in a lot of dishes in the week to come, bake all of your chicken at once. I will bake off five to six breasts, all with different seasonings depending on what I am using them for, and then slice them and refrigerate them until I need them. Once your breasts are finished baking, slice them into thin slivers for use in the quesadillas. You want them pretty thin so they fit inside the tortilla.
Dice a tomato.
Heat a pan over the stove top until it gets very hot. Make sure the pan is very clean and very dry. No oil. Place a tortilla in the pan and quickly fill with chicken, shredded cheese and diced tomatoes. Fold the quesadilla closed, and watch it closely. The tortilla will brown on the bottom in maybe three minutes. Adjust the heat if you need to. Once the underside is brown, flip the quesadilla and brown on the other side. The quesadilla is done when the cheese melts. Remove from the pan, and slice into 4 sections. Serve with homemade guacamole.
Homemade Guacamole:
This is much easier to prepare with a food processor. The base for any good salsa or guacamole is simple. This recipe will make enough for two or three batches of guacamole or salsa.
One bunch of cilantro
Juice from 2 limes
1 white onion chopped fine
1 garlic clove
Plenty of salt
Pepper
(optional) half or a whole jalapeno (depending on how hot you like it. Fresh jalapenos are HOT. They aren't like those jarred deals. Be careful handling fresh jalapenos as the oil from them stays on your fingers even after you wash them.
You must chop all of this very fine. If you run it through a food processor, slice it till it looks almost like pesto. Very fine. Add salt to bring out all the flavors. Salt and lime juice make an amazing flavor!
This is the base for my salsa and guacamole. From here to make salsa add three or four tomatoes and more salt. Chop the tomatoes to whatever consistency you prefer. If you like chunky salsa, leave them larger. If you like thin salsa, chop them up really well. And remember, if you don't get a strong kick of flavors, add more salt. Most fresh vegetables don't have much sodium, so you will have to add it to bring out the flavors. And don't worry, it is very hard to over-salt salsa and guacamole.
To make guacamole, add one tomato to the base and two avocados. Once again, mix, mash and chop to desired consistency.
This will be the freshest, best-tasting salsa and guacamole you have ever tasted. You will never buy another store brand ever again. And look at the ingredient list and compare it to what you might buy at the store. There is nothing in your salsa and guacamole that you cannot pronounce.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Broiled Tilapia with mixed vegetable and brown rice
This is a really easy meal to make, and it is really good for you, too. Tilapia is a great fish that is inexpensive and easy to find. I used Emeril's Original Essence on my Tilapia fillets with a little salt and pepper, but you can use anything dry you can think of.
Prep Time: 20 minutes (or however long it takes to cook rice)
For TWO PEOPLE
2 Tilapia Fillets $6
1 zucchini $.50
1 squash $.50
8 oz. of brown rice $.85
16 oz. of water $.00
1 tbsp. butter $.20
1 tbsp. EVOO $.25
parsley $.10
thyme $.10
salt and pepper $.05
Dry seasoning for tilapia $.10
Total: $8.65 or $4.33 a serving
Preheat your oven to BROIL. Drizzle EVOO in a oven-safe pan or dish. Place the tilapia fillets in the pan and drizzle a bit of EVOO on them and coat with your seasoning. Once your oven is preheated, you will broil the tilapia 5 minutes on one side. Take the pan out. Flip the fillet. Coat the other side with EVOO and seasoning and return to the oven with the newly seasoned half facing up. Broil for five minutes and it's done.
To sautee fresh veg is easy. Slice your squash and zucchini into wheels, and you can get as small as you'd like or keep them in cirlces. Heat 2 tbsp of EVOO in a pan. Once it is warm, drop in the zucchini and squash. Season with salt, pepper, and thyme. Toss veg around for approx. 5 minutes. You want them to be slightly soft, but with a bit of crunch still. Don't cook them into transparent mush.
And brown rice is easy. 2 to 1 water to rice. So boil two cups of water. Drop in the rice and let cook over medium heat for approx. 20 minutes. The rice is done cooking when there is no water left in the pot and the rice is tender. The New Orleans way to cook rice is to put the rice into the boiling water, and to not disturb it at all through the cooking process. This will cause a lot of rice to stick to your pan, and clean up will be lengthy, but it ensures well cooked rice.
When your brown rice is done you can drop in a tbsp. of butter and stir in some salt and pepper and parsley. Easy.
Prep Time: 20 minutes (or however long it takes to cook rice)
For TWO PEOPLE
2 Tilapia Fillets $6
1 zucchini $.50
1 squash $.50
8 oz. of brown rice $.85
16 oz. of water $.00
1 tbsp. butter $.20
1 tbsp. EVOO $.25
parsley $.10
thyme $.10
salt and pepper $.05
Dry seasoning for tilapia $.10
Total: $8.65 or $4.33 a serving
Preheat your oven to BROIL. Drizzle EVOO in a oven-safe pan or dish. Place the tilapia fillets in the pan and drizzle a bit of EVOO on them and coat with your seasoning. Once your oven is preheated, you will broil the tilapia 5 minutes on one side. Take the pan out. Flip the fillet. Coat the other side with EVOO and seasoning and return to the oven with the newly seasoned half facing up. Broil for five minutes and it's done.
To sautee fresh veg is easy. Slice your squash and zucchini into wheels, and you can get as small as you'd like or keep them in cirlces. Heat 2 tbsp of EVOO in a pan. Once it is warm, drop in the zucchini and squash. Season with salt, pepper, and thyme. Toss veg around for approx. 5 minutes. You want them to be slightly soft, but with a bit of crunch still. Don't cook them into transparent mush.
And brown rice is easy. 2 to 1 water to rice. So boil two cups of water. Drop in the rice and let cook over medium heat for approx. 20 minutes. The rice is done cooking when there is no water left in the pot and the rice is tender. The New Orleans way to cook rice is to put the rice into the boiling water, and to not disturb it at all through the cooking process. This will cause a lot of rice to stick to your pan, and clean up will be lengthy, but it ensures well cooked rice.
When your brown rice is done you can drop in a tbsp. of butter and stir in some salt and pepper and parsley. Easy.
Menu for This Week with Grocery List
This week's menu will include the following:
Broiled Tilapia with sauteed fresh vegetables and brown rice
Chicken Quesadillas
Mediterranean Pita Pizzas
Greek Cucumber Salad
Pasta Ashley (My wife's favorite)- linguini in a shallot sherry sauce
Grocery list: For TWO PEOPLE
1 lb. Chicken Breast
2 Tilapia fillets
1 zucchini
1 squash
2 Avocados
2 Tomatoes
Tortillas (Flour or whole wheat)
8oz. Cheddar Cheese (I suggest not buying shredded. Shredded has preservatives and things to keep the cheese from sticking together in the bag. I think its gross. But I also have a food processor that makes shredding cheese really easy).
Pita bread
Hummus ( we can make our own, but to be quick you can pick some up)
Kalamata Olives (not many, maybe 2 ounces)
2 cucumbers
2 roma tomatoes
1 red onion
Linguini
1 shallot
Cavender's Greek Seasoning
CHEAP Dry Sherry ($4 at a liquor store)
Staples: Make sure you have these available
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Thyme (does not have to be fresh)
Balsamic Vinegar
Butter
Broiled Tilapia with sauteed fresh vegetables and brown rice
Chicken Quesadillas
Mediterranean Pita Pizzas
Greek Cucumber Salad
Pasta Ashley (My wife's favorite)- linguini in a shallot sherry sauce
Grocery list: For TWO PEOPLE
1 lb. Chicken Breast
2 Tilapia fillets
1 zucchini
1 squash
2 Avocados
2 Tomatoes
Tortillas (Flour or whole wheat)
8oz. Cheddar Cheese (I suggest not buying shredded. Shredded has preservatives and things to keep the cheese from sticking together in the bag. I think its gross. But I also have a food processor that makes shredding cheese really easy).
Pita bread
Hummus ( we can make our own, but to be quick you can pick some up)
Kalamata Olives (not many, maybe 2 ounces)
2 cucumbers
2 roma tomatoes
1 red onion
Linguini
1 shallot
Cavender's Greek Seasoning
CHEAP Dry Sherry ($4 at a liquor store)
Staples: Make sure you have these available
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Thyme (does not have to be fresh)
Balsamic Vinegar
Butter
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Beer Lovers Notice: Pilsner Urquell on Tap
For all you beer lovers out there, or all of you who may be interested in trying something new, The Beauty Shop Restaurant (966 South Cooper) here in Memphis, now has Pilsner Urquell on tap. For those of you not familiar, Pilsner Urquell is the official beer of the Czech Republic. And I mean that. On a recent trip to Prague, we found Pilsner Urquell on every corner. The beer is so beloved by its countrymen, that the brewery owns and sponsors bars around the city and country. There are three main beers in Prague, Pilsner Urquell, Staropramen, and Budweiser Budvar (the original Budweiser). All of these beers are extremely popular and Czechs do find delight in arguing the finer points of which makes each one better than the other, but it is Pilsner Urquell that wins out in popularity as it is the first pilsner beer ever made. And they like it so much, it is cheaper to buy than water. You can get a quart of beer at a local bar for 70 cents US. It is almost a Czech-right to enjoy Pilsner Urquell.
The beer itself is a golden color and goes down smooth and crisp with a vibrant flavor. I wouldn't suggest picking up a 6-pack at your local grocer as I find these to be skunky, but finding a barroom that has this excellent beer on tap is a treasure as a keg can keep the brew more intact and fresher for a taste more similar to the original article found in the streets of Prague. And not many distributors offer Pilsner Urquell, and not many restauranteurs are willing to take the risk of offering it. Thank you, Karen for doing so!
And having a pint at The Beauty Shop is ironically similar to a lot of the "clubs" and bars you will find in Prague. The Beauty Shop's eclectic 1960's stylings are similar to Eastern European modern design which can be very vintage and hang on the verge of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
I highly recommend and suggest that you drop by The Beauty Shop and have a pint of Pilsner Urquell. Take along a book about the artist, Mucha, and skim through it while you drink, and you may start feeling like you have travelled abroad without paying for an airline fare.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Restaurants According to Ben
So I guess I should just come out and say it. “I love restaurants!” There it is. So there is no confusion. So no one on down the road can say, “You must hate dining out.” Absolutely not. In fact, the opposite is true. I do love restaurants. I enjoy them so much, I made it my livelihood for a number of years. I enjoy entertaining people. I enjoy crowds. I enjoy great tasting cuisine, prepared with impeccable ingredients, and served with enthusiasm. I love restaurants so much, that I admire great ones. I love restaurants and would dine out each night of the week, if I didn’t understand that not every restaurant is value, and that some of them use techniques to increase their margins, which directly affect the experience of dining out.
So dining out becomes an evaluation for me. And that is why I was paid to do just that, evaluate restaurants. Sitting at a table in a restaurant, I can gauge in just a few seconds how well run and well-maintained the establishment is. Spotted flatware shows the utensils weren’t wiped dry but left to “drip-dry,” a server involved in mindless chatter to an employee about that evening’s events after they are off work, diners at another table with empty glasses, and uncleared tables throughout the dining room with dirty dishes from past guests. These are obvious, but clear examples of details that calculate the worth of the experience because every restaurateur encounters thousands of decisions each day that will affect his guests’ experience.
Let’s role play… and not like that.
You are a restaurateur. You have three main expenses: food and beverage, labor, and operating expenses. Your operating expenses, such as utilities and rent, do not change that much. In the winter they may go up from running the heat, but in the summer they could also rise from running the air conditioning. The bottom line is that unless your landlord hikes up your lease, or someone leaves the A/C on 60 overnight, your operating expenses should remain nearly the same. Your labor cost should dabble at 20% and your food cost should be concrete at 30%, some places can get down to 25%, and Chinese and Mexican restaurants can boast 15-20% food costs.
But to maintain these labor and food costs, you have decisions. Jumbo Lump Crabmeat goes up $2/lb. Do you continue to buy it for your crab cakes, or do you drop to lump instead? What would your guests prefer? It’s Friday night, you have a new line cook working, should you bring in an extra guy to back him up? This will cost you more on your labor, but what if the newbie can’t get food out in time? What if tickets run slow? How will that affect your guests? It is 8 o’clock on a Tuesday, your servers beg you to cut someone, leaving you with less staff on the floor, but leaving your servers with an opportunity to make more money? What do you do? What if 12 people come in all at once, and your servers get weeded? What if you say no, and your servers make no money because it is slow? Finding good staff is hard, and if they aren’t making good money, they won’t stay long.
These dilemmas occur daily for a restaurant owner. But they must always be mindful of the guest experience. But how do I know whether or not the place I have just sat down at, with the spotted utensils, and the thirsty diners at table 23, will provide me with a good guest experience? I don’t. And that is why I stopped dining out so much, and I started dining in.
I realized that I could apply the insights from running a commercial kitchen, such as, creating specials to burn-out old product, to never waste anything, and to create menus with overlapping ingredients to keep overhead down and upkeep simple, to my own kitchen at home and save me and my family a bundle of money while maintaining a enlivened palate.
Let’s be frank. I already told you that most restaurants hover around a 25% food cost. So what does that mean for someone dining out? The bill you are paying is only 25% food. The other 75% is for the experience and the preparation. Service is not included in the U.S. That cost you another 15%-20% more. So 75% of each meal dining out is paying for your experience and the preparation of the meal. So each meal should be evaluated. How much value does it hold? Should you spend $8 on a sandwich from a deli? And how about take out, or to-go-orders. Restaurants love this. Why do you think the national chains have now gone out of there way to accommodate call-in orders to the point that they will rush the food out to your car? Think about it? They are selling you food at the same price as if you came in and dined in their restaurant. But you aren’t taking up a seat in their dining room. They don’t have to consider your guest experience as much as a table of four inside. It is a win-win for them. 75% of that pickup order is paying for the upkeep, maintenance and profit margin of the business. To-go orders are a waste of money. I never order them. Why would I want to pay the same price as someone getting full-service at a table, and have to take home a meal that steams itself gooey inside a styrofoam container to come to my home, where I have to use my condiments, my silverware, and I have to clean it up afterwards? That is not a good guest experience.
But let me backup by saying, some places are worth it. My favorite sandwich shop in Memphis, called Fino’s, makes a sandwich that I would never try to recreate or duplicate myself. The preparation they go through is perfect. If I want that sandwich, then I am going to get it from then. And that is what a good guest experience is all about. My lessons through being a restaurateur have taught me, though, to keep those instances for certain nights, and to not rely heavily on dining out for your everyday meals. By doing so, you are missing out on the ability to save yourself money and eat healthier than picking up dinner somewhere every night of the week.
So, Ben, you have convinced me that dining out is not practical, what am I supposed to do now?
Well, as you will discover, I am not a professional chef. I do not get my recipes from the Food Network because you will slit your wrist trying to track down an organic mushroom farm to pick your own wild mushrooms for a risotto or some other obscure item that they try to impress you with. More than a chef, I am a home economist. You’ve heard of that, right? HomeEc. We didn’t have to study that when I was in school, and I think that is both good and bad. I think it has left us somewhat deprived and ignorant of basic cooking instincts, which are truly instincts. You basically know when you are following a recipe if or when something smells wrong, looks wrong, or worse… taste wrong.
By not being a chef, nor wanting to be a chef (I have worked with enough to know how hard it can be), I have more of a simplified approach to cooking. None of my recipes are complicated, they aren’t even challenging, but what they are is good, fresh, inexpensive ingredients, brought together in a timely fashion.
Take this story for example. As I was consulting a chef once, I noticed there was frozen broccoli in her freezer. I asked her what it was for, and she said it was for broccoli cheese soup. I challenged her to make her finest broccoli cheese soup, and we would have a competition the following day to see whose tasted better. I left the restaurant and purchased fresh broccoli from a local produce market. As I was making my soup that night, I called the chef and said, “Don’t forget to cost out your soup.”
She couldn’t believe it. “But I put fine European cheese in it!”
“Exactly. We must know the cost.”
The ingredients for my soup were: broccoli, cheddar cheese, flour, milk, butter, cream, and salt and pepper. As simple as you can get.
The next day, what would you know, the wait staff unanimously chose my golden rue full of fresh, broccoli florettes to her paltry, bland, thin dish. The cost of my soup was fifty-eight cents a portion, hers was $2.34.
“How can we sell that?” I asked her.
“We can’t,” she said.
The point was made.
A very simple, quick, cost-effective approach is what we will take in our klitchens because that is what successful restaurants do in theirs.
So dining out becomes an evaluation for me. And that is why I was paid to do just that, evaluate restaurants. Sitting at a table in a restaurant, I can gauge in just a few seconds how well run and well-maintained the establishment is. Spotted flatware shows the utensils weren’t wiped dry but left to “drip-dry,” a server involved in mindless chatter to an employee about that evening’s events after they are off work, diners at another table with empty glasses, and uncleared tables throughout the dining room with dirty dishes from past guests. These are obvious, but clear examples of details that calculate the worth of the experience because every restaurateur encounters thousands of decisions each day that will affect his guests’ experience.
Let’s role play… and not like that.
You are a restaurateur. You have three main expenses: food and beverage, labor, and operating expenses. Your operating expenses, such as utilities and rent, do not change that much. In the winter they may go up from running the heat, but in the summer they could also rise from running the air conditioning. The bottom line is that unless your landlord hikes up your lease, or someone leaves the A/C on 60 overnight, your operating expenses should remain nearly the same. Your labor cost should dabble at 20% and your food cost should be concrete at 30%, some places can get down to 25%, and Chinese and Mexican restaurants can boast 15-20% food costs.
But to maintain these labor and food costs, you have decisions. Jumbo Lump Crabmeat goes up $2/lb. Do you continue to buy it for your crab cakes, or do you drop to lump instead? What would your guests prefer? It’s Friday night, you have a new line cook working, should you bring in an extra guy to back him up? This will cost you more on your labor, but what if the newbie can’t get food out in time? What if tickets run slow? How will that affect your guests? It is 8 o’clock on a Tuesday, your servers beg you to cut someone, leaving you with less staff on the floor, but leaving your servers with an opportunity to make more money? What do you do? What if 12 people come in all at once, and your servers get weeded? What if you say no, and your servers make no money because it is slow? Finding good staff is hard, and if they aren’t making good money, they won’t stay long.
These dilemmas occur daily for a restaurant owner. But they must always be mindful of the guest experience. But how do I know whether or not the place I have just sat down at, with the spotted utensils, and the thirsty diners at table 23, will provide me with a good guest experience? I don’t. And that is why I stopped dining out so much, and I started dining in.
I realized that I could apply the insights from running a commercial kitchen, such as, creating specials to burn-out old product, to never waste anything, and to create menus with overlapping ingredients to keep overhead down and upkeep simple, to my own kitchen at home and save me and my family a bundle of money while maintaining a enlivened palate.
Let’s be frank. I already told you that most restaurants hover around a 25% food cost. So what does that mean for someone dining out? The bill you are paying is only 25% food. The other 75% is for the experience and the preparation. Service is not included in the U.S. That cost you another 15%-20% more. So 75% of each meal dining out is paying for your experience and the preparation of the meal. So each meal should be evaluated. How much value does it hold? Should you spend $8 on a sandwich from a deli? And how about take out, or to-go-orders. Restaurants love this. Why do you think the national chains have now gone out of there way to accommodate call-in orders to the point that they will rush the food out to your car? Think about it? They are selling you food at the same price as if you came in and dined in their restaurant. But you aren’t taking up a seat in their dining room. They don’t have to consider your guest experience as much as a table of four inside. It is a win-win for them. 75% of that pickup order is paying for the upkeep, maintenance and profit margin of the business. To-go orders are a waste of money. I never order them. Why would I want to pay the same price as someone getting full-service at a table, and have to take home a meal that steams itself gooey inside a styrofoam container to come to my home, where I have to use my condiments, my silverware, and I have to clean it up afterwards? That is not a good guest experience.
But let me backup by saying, some places are worth it. My favorite sandwich shop in Memphis, called Fino’s, makes a sandwich that I would never try to recreate or duplicate myself. The preparation they go through is perfect. If I want that sandwich, then I am going to get it from then. And that is what a good guest experience is all about. My lessons through being a restaurateur have taught me, though, to keep those instances for certain nights, and to not rely heavily on dining out for your everyday meals. By doing so, you are missing out on the ability to save yourself money and eat healthier than picking up dinner somewhere every night of the week.
So, Ben, you have convinced me that dining out is not practical, what am I supposed to do now?
Well, as you will discover, I am not a professional chef. I do not get my recipes from the Food Network because you will slit your wrist trying to track down an organic mushroom farm to pick your own wild mushrooms for a risotto or some other obscure item that they try to impress you with. More than a chef, I am a home economist. You’ve heard of that, right? HomeEc. We didn’t have to study that when I was in school, and I think that is both good and bad. I think it has left us somewhat deprived and ignorant of basic cooking instincts, which are truly instincts. You basically know when you are following a recipe if or when something smells wrong, looks wrong, or worse… taste wrong.
By not being a chef, nor wanting to be a chef (I have worked with enough to know how hard it can be), I have more of a simplified approach to cooking. None of my recipes are complicated, they aren’t even challenging, but what they are is good, fresh, inexpensive ingredients, brought together in a timely fashion.
Take this story for example. As I was consulting a chef once, I noticed there was frozen broccoli in her freezer. I asked her what it was for, and she said it was for broccoli cheese soup. I challenged her to make her finest broccoli cheese soup, and we would have a competition the following day to see whose tasted better. I left the restaurant and purchased fresh broccoli from a local produce market. As I was making my soup that night, I called the chef and said, “Don’t forget to cost out your soup.”
She couldn’t believe it. “But I put fine European cheese in it!”
“Exactly. We must know the cost.”
The ingredients for my soup were: broccoli, cheddar cheese, flour, milk, butter, cream, and salt and pepper. As simple as you can get.
The next day, what would you know, the wait staff unanimously chose my golden rue full of fresh, broccoli florettes to her paltry, bland, thin dish. The cost of my soup was fifty-eight cents a portion, hers was $2.34.
“How can we sell that?” I asked her.
“We can’t,” she said.
The point was made.
A very simple, quick, cost-effective approach is what we will take in our klitchens because that is what successful restaurants do in theirs.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Chicken Noodle Soup
It has been raining all day here in Memphis. And the temperature is dropping. The weather outside is so bad that not a single one of my four dogs has asked to go outside all day. Not even since I woke up. Their bladders must be about to explode, but when I open the backdoor and coax them out, they just stare at me.
It's days like this that remind me of Chicken Noodle Soup. Because it's cold and rainy, not because of dog bladders. And that's what I have made for dinner tonight. Chicken Noodle is so easy, but people have stashed it away in some 1950's-Good-Housekeeping-Campbell's-Condensed-World War II-rationing-style mindset, that they forgot how good the original article can be. And easy! And cheap! Not cheaper than the Campbell's condensed stuff, but better tasting, and better for you for sure.
So here you go:
6 servings in thirty minutes
1 lb. of Chicken Breasts $4
2 large carrots $.70
1 bunch of celery $1.25
1 white onion $.60
2 garlic cloves $.05
Thyme $.10
Bay Leaf $.05
2 Tbsp. Olive oil $.50
Salt and Pepper $.10
32 oz. of Chicken Broth $1.75
8 ounces of egg noodles $1.00
Total Cost: $10.10 per serving $1.69
Bake the chicken for 30 minutes at 350 F after coating it with EVOO, thyme, and s&p. While baking the chicken, chop the celery, onion, carrot (peel it first of course) and garlic clove and drop it in a large stock pot with the EVOO which should be hot. Sautee the mixture without browning it. Maybe 6 minutes over medium heat, or until the vegetables soften, but aren't mush. Add the thyme, bay leaf and chicken broth, and bring to boil. Once to a boil, you can drop the heat to a LOW simmer. Once the chicken is finished baking, cut it into cubes and drop into the soup. If you are ready for service, turn up the heat on the soup, and drop in the egg noodles. These will be tender and ready in 4-5 minutes. And there you have it. HOMEMADE. Like you wish your mom had made!
And here is a tip! If you are planning on keeping some for leftovers for the next day, don't put all the egg noodles in at once. Scoop out your left overs and place them in a container to hold in the fridge. And when you heat that the next day, add your egg noodles then. The reason being is the egg noodles will continue to soak up all the broth in the soup while being kept in the fridge, and you will have something that resembles Chicken & Dumplings. Your egg noodles aren't reconstituted like Campbell's are. And that's a good thing!
It's days like this that remind me of Chicken Noodle Soup. Because it's cold and rainy, not because of dog bladders. And that's what I have made for dinner tonight. Chicken Noodle is so easy, but people have stashed it away in some 1950's-Good-Housekeeping-Campbell's-Condensed-World War II-rationing-style mindset, that they forgot how good the original article can be. And easy! And cheap! Not cheaper than the Campbell's condensed stuff, but better tasting, and better for you for sure.
So here you go:
6 servings in thirty minutes
1 lb. of Chicken Breasts $4
2 large carrots $.70
1 bunch of celery $1.25
1 white onion $.60
2 garlic cloves $.05
Thyme $.10
Bay Leaf $.05
2 Tbsp. Olive oil $.50
Salt and Pepper $.10
32 oz. of Chicken Broth $1.75
8 ounces of egg noodles $1.00
Total Cost: $10.10 per serving $1.69
Bake the chicken for 30 minutes at 350 F after coating it with EVOO, thyme, and s&p. While baking the chicken, chop the celery, onion, carrot (peel it first of course) and garlic clove and drop it in a large stock pot with the EVOO which should be hot. Sautee the mixture without browning it. Maybe 6 minutes over medium heat, or until the vegetables soften, but aren't mush. Add the thyme, bay leaf and chicken broth, and bring to boil. Once to a boil, you can drop the heat to a LOW simmer. Once the chicken is finished baking, cut it into cubes and drop into the soup. If you are ready for service, turn up the heat on the soup, and drop in the egg noodles. These will be tender and ready in 4-5 minutes. And there you have it. HOMEMADE. Like you wish your mom had made!
And here is a tip! If you are planning on keeping some for leftovers for the next day, don't put all the egg noodles in at once. Scoop out your left overs and place them in a container to hold in the fridge. And when you heat that the next day, add your egg noodles then. The reason being is the egg noodles will continue to soak up all the broth in the soup while being kept in the fridge, and you will have something that resembles Chicken & Dumplings. Your egg noodles aren't reconstituted like Campbell's are. And that's a good thing!
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