Welcome to My Kitchen

Soup is always in season, making it the ideal menu staple for times when we seem to have all four seasons in any given day. Soup can be as easy as opening a can and heating the contents, or involve lots of chopping, sautéing, deglazing, boning and mincing.

Dan Wilcox, The Odessa Record website guru, submitted a recipe for Chicken Noodle Soup that falls in the less labor intensive category. Usually I rewrite recipes into the standard formula for recipe presentation, but Dan submitted his recipe in an entertaining conversational style and I don’t want you readers to miss out. To help you know what to purchase for this recipe I have listed the ingredients first.

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 pre-cooked rotisserie chicken

water, about 1 gallon

2 cups chopped spinach leaves or 1 box frozen chopped spinach

4 or 5 lasagna noodles

1-2 cups chopped, peeled carrots

Salt and pepper to taste

Buy one of those $5 rotisserie chickens, already cooked. The ones that you get at the store that are ready to eat.

Put the whole chicken [and juice] in a big pot of about 1 gallon of water or less. Just make sure the chicken is covered by the water. (You will need to keep adding water if it boils off.) Cover the pot with a lid. (If you’re making a small batch, you can eat the breast meat...getting 2 meals out of the chicken.)

Boil it slowly for about 3 hours, maybe 2 if you are in a hurry. Taste the chicken stock (water). You may need to add water if it is too concentrated, or boil it a bit with the lid off if it contains to much water.

Pour liquid into a new pot. Strain the chicken meat (it’s now a mess of meat, skin and bones). Carefully pick out all the meat and put the good stuff into the pot with the liquid, breaking into bite sized pieces as you go. Throw the rest of the chicken away.

Add about 2 cups of cut spinach leaves. (The frozen brick of leaves is about 79 cents) [on sale] add some noodles. I prefer lasagna noodles. They’re huge noodles so just break them into bite sized pieces when you add them to the mixture.

Cook on medium-ish heat for about 10 minutes until the noodles are almost done. Add about 1-2 cups of chopped carrots (skin them before chopping them). Cook the soup until the carrots are done, salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy.

Note: several comments by me for clarification are in [ ], notes in ( ) are Dan’s. I served this at a recent soup supper and it got good reviews.

Chicken and Dressing Hot Dish, a recipe on a card among some loose recipes I picked up at a yard sale, would be an ideal recipe to use the chicken breasts from the rotisserie chicken to make a second meal. It is easy to prepare and you can make it to bake later.

Chicken and Dressing

Hot dish

2-3 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) cream of mushroom soup

6 –8 ounces Swiss cheese, sliced

1 box Stove Top Chicken Flavor Stuffing Mix, prepared according to package directions

1 cup chicken broth

Place chicken in the bottom of a greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover with cream of mushroom soup. Lay Swiss cheese slices over the soup.

Add chicken broth to the prepared stuffing mix and spread this on top of the cheese. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, until bubbly and golden.

To make ahead, prepare as directed. Cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Remove cover and bake as directed. Yield: 8 servings

Note: this could be made with any meat and the corresponding flavor of Stove Top Dressing.

Sweet Potato Biscuits, a recipe submitted by Marilyn Carlson, would go well with the Chicken Noodle Soup or the Chicken and Dressing Hot Dish. She found the recipe in an old time Confederate cookbook. The recipe has been modernized to use self-rising flour and shortening.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

2 cups self-rising flour

1/2 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups cooked, peeled and mashed sweet potato

About 3 Tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, shortening and sweet potato, mixing until blended. Add milk, one tablespoon at a time until a soft dough forms.

Using as little flour as possible, knead lightly on bread board. Roll or pat 1/2 inch thick. Cut with a floured biscuit cutter. Place biscuits on un-greased baking sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes until biscuits are golden brown. Serve immediately. Yield: 12-14 2 1/2 inch biscuits.

Note: the more orange sweet potatoes (yams) make the prettiest biscuits.

Shari Wilson of Davenport shared her recipe for Beet Bundt Cake, in response for a request for recipes incorporating beets into the diet. This cake is so moist and yummy, it requires no frosting, and just a dusting of powdered sugar or a drizzle of glace will make it elegant for special occasions.

Beet Bundt Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup margarine, softened

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

3 eggs

4 squares (1 ounce each) semi-sweet chocolate

2 cups cooked, pureed beets

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups flour, sifted

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

In a large mixing bowl cream 3/4 cup of the butter and margarine with brown sugar. Add eggs and mix well. In a small sauce pan, melt chocolate with remaining butter/margarine over low heat stirring until smooth. Cool slightly then blend together with beets and vanilla. Blend into the creamed mixture.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt; add to chocolate mixture. Mix until well blended. Pour into a greased and floured 10 inch Bundt or tube pan. Bake in pre-heated 375 degree oven for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Cool in pan 10 minutes before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely. Before serving, you can dust with powdered sugar or drizzle with a thin frosting.

Just my opinion: this is better than red velvet cake. Try spreading with your favorite frosting and decorate with jelly beans for Easter.

Share your favorite recipes by sending them to: Welcome to My Kitchen, c/o The Odessa Record, P.O. Box 458, Odessa, WA 99159, email them to: the record@odessa

office.com or drop them in the Welcome to My Kitchen mail tin in the Odessa Record office. Stir your compost bin.