New Classic Soup Recipe

I've started making a new -- new to me -- soup recipe since it started getting cold and rainy. Just a basic chicken and vegetable soup -- but I've started adding quick cooking barley at the end to make it a more filling meal. I use the Dutch oven to make it and whatever chicken I have on hand, preferably boneless thighs. I use whole pieces of boneless chicken and shred it right in the soup after it has cooked for a while. Use two forks to sort of stab and shred the larger pieces of chicken after they cook. I prefer mine to cook whole in its own juices before getting separated, but you can always cut up the chicken before adding it. And I prefer a more shredded chicken rather than squarely cut pieces. Also, you can use orzo, egg noodles, macaroni or maybe even rice instead of the barley, or just omit it altogether. The grocery store had canned vegetables on sale before Thanksgiving so I stocked up. You can obviously use fresh veggies rather than canned, though. I would say replace 1 can of veggies with about 2 cups of fresh chopped. When I use canned vegetables I include the juice from the can and then end up using a little less broth. When I use fresh vegetables I tend to add about 2 more cups of broth.

Ingredients & Directions

• 3-4 T. butter
• 1 chopped onion (1-1.5 C.)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1.5 pounds chicken
• 4 T. soy sauce

Heat butter in Dutch oven and saute onion, garlic, chicken, and soy sauce for 10 minutes. Add the following ingredients:

• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped (about 2 C.) or 1 can mixed vegetables
• 1 can green beans (with juice) or 1-2 C. fresh
• 1 can corn (with juice)
• 1 can peas (with juice)
• 1 can diced tomato or 1-2 C. fresh
• 6 to 8 C. of broth

Add those ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer for an hour or longer. Use forks to shred the chicken if necessary. Add:

• 8 oz. quick cooking barley

Bring to a boil after adding the barley and then simmer for 15 minutes (according to directions on barley package). 

Yields 6-8 pints.

Massive Stack of French Toast

Growing up we had a tradition of eating pancakes and sausage for dinner the first time we got a significant snowfall. So with all the polar vortex driven cold weather lately, I've really wanted to hole up and eat some great breakfast food for dinner. Last weekend I had to work on producing video clips to demo our software at the OETC, so Lauren offered to make French toast. We got a loaf of Italian bread from Donatelli's and she went to work. By the time she finished she had a mound of thick, golden brown slices of French toast piled high. We ate some and froze the remainder. I stacked the leftover slices between sheets of parchment paper in a Tupperware container and put it in the freezer. I just ate a few pieces now for a snack.

Breakfast Sandwiches!

I used to do this back in the day on Beeler: make a whole bunch of breakfast sandwiches and freeze them for future reheating. You only have to cook once, but you can enjoy breakfast sandwiches all week! I usually make sausage, egg, and cheese on English muffins. You could use sausage patties or links cut lengthwise, or make bacon. You can use non-meat like Gimme Lean, which works great, or replace everything with vegan products and go fully healthy. I think sliced American cheese tastes the best, but I prefer to use raw milk cheese for a healthier option. I usually make six and wrap them individually with foil. Then you can reheat them one at a time in the oven for about 30 minutes (or defrost first in the microwave on low power).

For this batch I used:

• 6 eggs
• 6 sausage patties
• 6 English muffins
• 6 slices of cheese
• Smart Balance for cooking the eggs and buttering the bread
• a pinch of baking soda to make the eggs fluffy

Start the sausage first, which might take about 10-15 minutes. Scramble the eggs and add a pinch of baking soda to make them fluffy. Cook eggs in butter, oil, or whatever while the sausage cooks. Toast and butter the English muffins (or whatever bread you want to use) while the sausage and eggs cook. Line up the bread, throw on a slice of cheese, a piece of the egg, and a sausage patty, and there you have it.