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1月30日 New thing to learnI want to learn to make cream of chicken soup from scratch - I loved the chicken cups, but even with the "low salt" version of the Campbells soup, they were really salty.
I have found three recipes to try:
from Allrecipes.com
Home-Made Cream of Chicken Soup
Submitted by: Holly Rated: 3 out of 5 by 11 members Yields: 5 servings "Good, old-fashioned cream of chicken soup. This makes a superb first course, can be served over rice or steamed vegetables, or used in a casserole. A great basic soup recipe."
INGREDIENTS: 4 cups milk 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons canola oil 2 tablespoons white sugar 2 cups finely chopped, cooked chicken meat 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
DIRECTIONS: 1. Make a white sauce of milk or cream, flour, and oil. Add chicken. Add sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic powder (may use more or less as desired). Mix well and simmer for 20 minutes over low heat. 2. If soup is not as thick as desired, mix a small amount of cornstarch with a small amount of water and add to soup. Simmer for 10 minutes. NI: Servings Per Recipe: 5, Amount Per Serving: Calories: 265; Total Fat: 11.7g; Cholesterol: 58mg; Sodium: 359mg; Total Carbs: 17.1g; Dietary Fiber: 0.2g; Protein: 22.1g
my notes - no sugar or salt
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CREAM OF CHICKEN WITH WILD MUSHROOMS SOUP
Printed from COOKS.COM 1 1/2 gal. chicken stock and meat from chicken legs 1/2 c. (8 tbsp.) butter 1/2 c. flour 1/4 c. sherry Salt and pepper 1 tbsp. chopped garlic Sliced wild mushrooms in season (i.e. shitakes, chanterelles, morels) A few domestic mushrooms 1 c. sliced leeks (optional) 1/4 c. chopped parsley 1/2 tsp. chopped thyme 1 pt. heavy cream (optional) Melt butter in a stock pot, add flour and whisk to form a roux. Cook 5 minutes on low to medium heat. Slowly whisk in chicken stock. Simmer 10 minutes, stir in sherry (this is called a chicken veloute).
In a separate pan, saute garlic leeks and mushrooms in fortified butter (oil and butter). NOTE WELL: Do not stir mushrooms until they are slightly browned on first side. Shake pan and saute until browned all around. Drain and add with cooked chicken meat to the creamed soup. Season to taste and add the chopped parsley last. (Cream may be added to produce a richer soup). This looks like a large quantity.
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Cream of Chicken Soup From Food Network Kitchens
1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 medium Spanish onion, chopped 2 stalks celery (with leaves), chopped 3 medium carrots, chopped 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour 7 cups chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned 3 sprigs parsley 3 sprigs fresh thyme 1 bay leaf 2 3/4 cups cooked, diced chicken 1/2 cup heavy cream 2 1/2 teaspoons dry sherry 1 tablespoon kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper to taste 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and carrots and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 12 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 2 minutes more.
Pour in the broth and bring to a boil while whisking constantly. Tie the parsley sprigs, thyme, and bay leaf together with a piece of kitchen twine and add to the soup. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat.
Whisk the heavy cream, sherry, and salt into the soup and season with pepper to taste. Remove and discard the herb bundle. Divide among soup bowls, sprinkle the top of each soup with the chopped parsley and serve immediately.
------ Epicurious didn't have a cream of chicken, but this looked good:
cream of onion soup
Bon Appétit | January 1998 Onion soup-a bistro classic-is enriched with cream for an elegant touch. Serves 6.
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter 5 cups sliced onions (about 1 1/4 pounds) 2 large garlic cloves, peeled, halved 5 cups canned low-salt chicken broth 1 7- to 8-ounce russet potato, peeled, cut into 3/4-inch pieces 1/2 cup whipping cream 1 tablespoon dry Sherry 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme Minced fresh chives Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until very tender and pale golden, about 25 minutes. Add garlic and stir 1 minute. Add broth and potato and bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until potato is very tender, about 25 minutes. Cool slightly. Working in batches, puree soup in blender. Return to pot. Stir in cream, Sherry and thyme. Simmer about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 2 days ahead; chill. Bring to simmer before serving.) Sprinkle with chives. --------
Ok now to figure out what I would like to try...
1月29日 Recipe from WW BoardI found a recipe that looked good on the Weight Watchers message board:
Cheesy Chicken Cups
Servings: 10 Cheesy Chicken Cups (sorry I forgot to save the name of the poster) Points: 2 per cup according to recipe builder
1 chicken breast (I bought a rotisserie chicken and cut from there to shave some time off for me)
1 can of 98% fat free Campbell's cream of chicken soup 2/3 cup of fat free shredded cheddar cheese 1 tsp. parsley 1/2 tsp. pepper 1 can of Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits (with 10 count biscuits) Preheat oven to 400. Spray a muffin tin with Pam. Flatten biscuits by hand and mold into individual cups. Chop the chicken breast and add it to all other ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Mix all together. Add mixture by heaping tablespoon to each muffin cup. Cook for 12-15 minutes or until biscuits are slightly browned.
I made it on Sunday. I didn't have the biscuits, but I had cresent rolls. It only worked out to 9 cups for me. For the filling I added some chopped vegetables, onion, red pepper, scallions and mushrooms. I didn't have as much meat (we ate a lot of the chicken a few days before.) I also didn't have the type of cheese listed, so I used my Trader Joes low fat smoked gouda (that stuff is good). This made a lot more filling than was needed for the cups, so I rolled up the remainder in some tortillas and froze them to make enchiladas later.
The dish tasted great - however if I could find an even lower salt soup I would use it - they were really salty to me. ----
I found another interesting food lover blog:
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Other tales of my life:
I haven't mentioned much about my weigh ins. Ok confession time - I am having to pay for the meetings as I am over my goal weight. I did loose a little last week - it will be gone soon.
With the little weight loss, I rewarded myself with a trip to Powells bookstore. I treated myself to two cookbooks - "Hummus" by Avner Laskin featuring recipes for hummus and other uses of chickpeas; and "The Enchanted Broccolli Forest" by Mollie Katzen.
I gave Rich one of the musical cards for passing his comprehensive. On the cover it said, "Do... or do not. There is no try." Opened it and it played the Star Wars theme and said, "Proud of You I am." It was a Hallmark card that I found at Walgreens.
1月28日 MeeMee's Plum Conserve2 quarts Damson Plums Wash plums; cover with water; cook until tender. Remove seeds and chop; measure 6 cups of pulp. Add sugar, juice and grated rinds of lemon and oranges; and raisins; cook until thick and clear. Add nut meats; seal in hot sterilized glasses. Makes 24 6-oz glasses. ---- I finally got a copy of the recipe. Mom and Grandma had a pretty tight time of it during WWII. Mom tells about them living in studio apartments until she was in 6th grade - when they got a one bedroom apartment. She says that Grandma always made jellies, jams and this conserve - even when she only had a hot plate for cooking. Grandma did eventually buy a home. Mom was in high school. It was a tiny two bedroom house that she lived in until she was 88 and tired of mowing the lawn. 1月20日 Yet another way to spend money...I have found another way to spend money on the kitchen and cooking items. My friend Tana, invited me to a Demarle at Home Party. I almost didn't go. The party was quite a drive - in Camas, and at the last minute I found out Rich needed to go into the university, so I would need to take Carl or find a sitter. I called Tana and she said it would be fine to bring Carl. So we set out to the party.
The drive to Camas wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - about a half hour. The business that the party was located in was in the downtown area - which was very charming. Carl and I explored it after the party. The party was held at a wonderful cafe/cooking school called "Around the Table." I fell in love with the products - they have a wide variety of cooking and baking products, but their flexible bakeware is the hallmark of their line. I liked the show because the salesperson, karen, not only presented the products in a fun and useful way, she gave ideas for using them with food I have in my house.
We then walked the downtown area of Camas. At a shop called the "Paper Lantern" I found some wonderful teapot and cup sets. I may go and get one for my mom for mother's day. On our way out I thought it might be nice to drive to Washougal (the next town over) to visit the Pendleton Outlet (always looking for a clothing deal!) Unfortunately I missed the road to the eastbound highway and only could go west back to town. SO that adventure is saved for another day.
While many tasty dishes were served, my favorites were little tarts with mushrooms and blue cheese and a egg casserole with chili relleno flavors. Karen said the egg recipe was in one of the cookbooks, but I couldn't find it - plus they were a little hard to read. I did find a blog with some egg and cheese recipe ideas.
1月10日 Prayer of the MonthAt Carl's preschool they learn a new meal prayer every month. This month was:
Oh, the Lord is good to me
And so I thank the Lord
For giving me
The things I need
The sun and the rain and the appleseeds
The Lord is good to me.
This made me look up the old cartoon of Johnny Appleseed. I found it on youtube:
It appears to be available on several Disney DVDs.
I will have to check out what I can find in the stores.
1月9日 Cooking WebsiteI found a new recipe site, geared towards kids. It is a program called "Pass the Plate" by the Disney Channel:
While the Insalate Caprese is already a standard in our household, many of the other recipes look good too. Unfortunately, they do not appear easy to print. 1月8日 The NutcrackerCarl discovered Nutcrackers this Christmas. He saw them in the stores and was interested so we told him about what they are used for. We also explained that they are now decorative only.
While at Powells, I found a little paperback of "The Nutracker" in the discounted children's book rack, so I threw it in the pile of books and brought it home. I have been reading it every other night now for a few weeks. I am getting a lot out of that dollar!
One of the thing I love about being a mom is getting to see the world again through their eyes. His discovery brings back some fond memories for me.
I remember listening to my parents lp of the nutcracker on our green record player in the basement. I remember a girl in grade school dancing to an oddly cut piece from the ballet - and no one knowing when to clap. I remember going to see the ballet a few times - I saw it in Portland during a rough career time in my very early twenties. While there are some bad memories associated around it, I remember the Mother with the children under her dress lightening up the pressure and darkness around me that year.
A very special memory of the ballet was the year we took Grandma to the Seattle Ballet's performance for her 90th birthday. I had bought her a beautiful scarf while I was in Paris. I also made her a scrapbook of photos and momentos of some of our trips in recent years. I flew into Portland, since at the time I had to book my ticket, mom was talking about having a party at her home. Mom later thought that maybe a family outing would be better and arranged for the meeting in Seattle and attending the ballet. I completed most of the work on the scrapbook in Denver, and finished up the last little bit at my Dad's with the help of my step mom.
We gave Grandma her gifts at brunch before the ballet. She was absolutely thrilled with the scrapbook. She went on to finish filling it up with pictures from the party and her cards. We then went to the ballet. Before the performance I wanted to get the group photo with Santa - and the Maurice Sendak style background that they feature in the ballet. Grandma decided we didn't have time. She made Paul take her to her seat, the rest of us had our photo taken. The thing that sticks in my mind about the performance was the sets. They were amazing. Maurice Sendak (the children's author) and some engineers at Boeing had designed them. The Christmas tree grew and the waves of water rippled. They brought back fond memores of Mr. Sendak's work.
As a side note we came to Seattle a day or so after the G7 or G8 can't remember what it was called that year. Seattle was going through riots and tear gas - questioning if we should take my 90 year grandmother into it. The distubance was cleared up by the weekend.
So we bought some decorative Nutcrackers this year. There were small ones for the tree and larger ones for the mantel. Carl loved them.
We borrowed an old tape of "The Nutcracker - The Motion Picture." It was Grandma's and it is a tape of the Pacific Northwest Ballet's version of the Nutcracker. This is the production we saw in Seattle. There were some expansions that can't be on stage and the story was a bit darker than I remember. Carl enjoyed it. It took us three nights to watch it as Carl kept falling asleep (we didn't watch it straight through.) Carl's favorite dance was "The Peacock." When the movie was over, Carl promptly wanted to watch it again.
Back to the weigh insI went to my first weigh in after the holidays. It did not go well. I was well above the 2 lbs over my goal weight and had to pay for the meeting. Oh well back on the weight loss plan. It isn't too much weight to loose, but I don't want to pay again.
I had a feeling I was going to be over. I weighed in on Christmas Eve and was over. That was the day that Carl came down with the flu. Poor little guy, he was not feeling well that day. Once he started keeping a little food and liquid down, I tried giving him some children's tylenol. It didn't stay down. He finally felt better that evening about 7 - 7:30. For Christmas eve dinner he had bread and water. He was like a little Dickens character. We were calling him Pip.
He was well enough to open presents.... 1月7日 CheeseI still love Cheese - even though it is not weight loss friendly. In Weight Watchers they encourage using fat free whenever possible. There are no good fat free cheeses. There are some good low fat cheeses. They work pretty well in cooking:
Trader Joe's low fat Irish Cheddar
Trader Joe's low fat smoked Gouda
Neufchatel or low fat Cream Cheese
I have in the past liked the Laughing Cow low fat line, but I recently bought a large container at Costco and they had gone bad long before the expiration date. I saw on the WW boards that other were having this problem too. It will be a while before I will be able to eat their cheese again.
The low fat or 2% shredded cheese is also great for cooking. I bought Kraft's 2% Mexican mix. I love the cheese combination.
I also have some favorite cheeses that are not low fat:
Kerrygold Irish cheddar
Cougar Gold
Hickory Farms: Creamy Swiss log and Original Cheese ball
I noticed I have been getting a lot of hits from people looking for Chutter. While I was working for Hickory Farms, Chutter was sold exclusively through the Hickory Farms stores. It was made by Herkimer .... They are now called Herkimer Foods. Their website is:
You can order Chutter through their website. They list stores that carry their products also - though they do not say if it is specifically Chutter that is carried.
In going through the piles and bags of recipes in my kitchen, I found the old brochure from Hickory Farms and Herkimer with Chutter recipes. I have scanned it and posted it in photos.
Cheese balls are not too tough to make. You can mix cream cheese with shredded or crumbled cheese and spices or flavoring. Roll into a ball or log and roll in nuts. I did find a really tasty idea for the nut coating: Trader Joe's Sweet and Spicy Pecans. They are good.
Great Thought to Start the New Year"Go as far as the eye can see, and when you get there, look farther." - Dag Hammarskjold 1月5日 Project of the MorningToday was registration day for classes through our Parks and Rec district. The phone lines opened up at 8, the website at 10. I tried to get through on the phone lines all morning. At ten I started trying to register online. It started taking over 20 minutes the registration pages to load. I finally got through. We didn't get Carl in the exact swimming class we wanted, but we got him in one at the location we chose. That was a frustrating morning.
So we are taking it easy this afternoon. Rich set up Carl's new racetrack and they are racing their cars and sending them flying. They are having too much fun. The track set was from my brother's family. My nephew really wanted to get it for Carl, which is why they chose it. Rich set it up with 3 loops and lots of turns. So far I either send it flying into the woodpile on a turn (too fast) or it falls off the track at the turn (too slow). Right now Carl is trying to explain to Rich how to make your car land in the woodpile. It is too funny.
This reminds me of a time about a lifetime ago, when my photographer had a track set up in his studio. It was a lot of fun, but I never got the hang of it then - always sent the cars zooming off into some backdrops. The photographer and the technician would often race while they should have been working. Oh yeah the photographer and his DAD ran the business. I guess one time son photographer and technician were racing and dad photographer and a CLIENT started coming in the back door. The son photographer and the technician didn't want to get caught so they DOVE under the table to HIDE, leaving the throttles swinging off the table. The customer didn't know...
The son eventually 'fessed to the dad.
One of the classes I signed up for is a recipe organization class. This is something I am working on. The blog helps - I know where to look for some common recipes. I have a tendency to write stuff down, clip it or even print it and stuff it in two gallon zipper bags. I have several. Then I have to dig through the bags to find the recipes.
I have three recipe organizers that I will be working with before the class. I am sure they will be full by the time I get through the bags and pile. I also have a stack of magazines to go through and clip and toss.
I have gone through my cookbook library. I am addicted to buying those things, though I have cut back in the last year. I have made a pile to take to Powells - one I never even took out of the plastic shrink wrap. I also have some really cool ones. I have my grandmothers old Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook and Better Homes and Gardens red plaid notebook cookbook. I recently bought a vintage cookbook called, "Mrs Balbir Singh's Indian Cookery." It was a gift to someone while in New Dehli in 1970. Stuck inside was an article from the Pittsburgh Press for some Indian recipes.
For Christmas I received a book called "The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest." It has some interesting recipes for marmalades and jellies. I gave a lot of jellies for gifts this year. While most have been well received, the one that has gotten the raves was the habanero jelly. I have been requested to make more. I told my mom this, and she goes off on "they are so simple to make..." I stopped her there - she had to leave because she couldn't even BREATH while I was processing the peppers.
I also gave some cookbooks as gifts. I gave Misako a copy of the "Mrs Singh's" cookbook (they had two older copies there at Powells). I gave my brother Dave a collection of the Michele Anna Jordan books, The Good Cooks Book of Oil & Vinegar, Mustard and Tomatoes. I was able to find the Oil & Vinegar and Mustard books at Powells, but we had to mail order the Tomato book. It arrived Christmas Eve (my mom was leaving Christmas Day to go to my brother's and taking the presents with her.) Nothing like cutting it close. 1月3日 Dining Out in the WorldMy mother sent me this link. It includes a quiz of eating etiquette for other countries.
Ironically I had a dream last night about my trips to Europe with my peeps from Colorado. Funny how that happens.
1月2日 Cooking for Christmas partiesI didn't bake cookies (except for one batch) or make candy this Christmas season. I did make a few things to take to various parties.
When we did the Christmas cruise, I took Olive Bread, Hummus with baby carrots and baby cucumbers for dipping and a Hickory Farm Creamy Swiss Log with crackers.
Olive Bread Recipe
http://leslieaross.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!703CE4E2B8C01089!216.entry I am always changing my hummus recipe - here is the version I took:
1/4 cup dried garbanzo beans
2 teaspoons olive oil 1 Tablespoon Tahini 6 slices of canned jalapeno 1/2 red pepper, roasted with skin removed 1 large cloves of garlic 6 Calamata Olives salt lemon juice Boil beans in water for 2 minutes. Soak beans for 2 hours. Replace water and boil for 1-1/2 hours. Put beans, oil, peppers, tahini, olives and garlic into a food processor. Blend until smooth. Add salt, lemon juice and any other seasonings to taste. The one batch of cookies I made were my cheating brownies. I made the Pillsbury Brownie Batter - triple chocolate chunk. I frosted them with my chocolate frosting. I used my Pampered Chef Easy Accent Decorator to make a little star on each brownie and put a half marichino cherry in the star. It looked really cool. After Christmas I used the leftover turkey to make stock and soup. To make the broth I used my chicken stock recipe:
http://leslieaross.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!703CE4E2B8C01089!106.entry changing the butter to a healthy oil of course.
The soup is somewhat vague (sorry)
1 onion sauted
2 carrots shredded 1/2 cup brown rice cut up turkey leftover gravy stock from one batch Saute onion, add stock and brown rice. Boil then simmer for 30 minutes. Add carrots, turkey and gravy, simmer for another 20 minutes. Season to taste. |
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