Chicken Noodle Soup

On November 29, 2008 · 4 Comments · In recipes - chicken, recipes - pasta, recipes - soup

After the feast that was yesterday’s Thanksgiving dinner (and dessert), we wanted to make something simple and “light” for dinner tonight. We have another day of eating scheduled for tomorrow (technically our Thanksgiving celebration with Michael’s family), so we needed to take it easy.

Chicken noodle soup was the perfect solution. Another very simple recipe, and it’s tasty, too. We always make a big pot so that we have leftovers to bring for lunches at work, and to have for dinner again.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:
– 16-20 cups water
– 12-15 chicken bouillon cubes
– 1 lb. boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, cut into tenders
– 1 large onion, diced
– 1/2 – 3/4 lb. small pasta (we used Barilla’s Ditalini)
– 1 lb. frozen mixed vegetables
– Extra vegetables, if desired (we added additional carrots and peas)

Directions:
1. Start off with 16 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Add 12 bouillon cubes and dissolve. Add diced onion, and raw chicken breasts. Cook for 20-25 minutes.

2. Remove chicken breast pieces from pot. Allow to cool. Shred chicken.

3. In pot, add frozen mixed veggies and any additional vegetables. Return shredded chicken to pot. Bring broth back to a boil.

4. Add pasta. Cook according to time on package. At this point, judge how much broth you have. If some of it has cooked off, or you don’t have enough broth for your pasta/chicken/veggies, add up to 4 additional cups of water and up to 3 additional bouillon cubes.

5. Once pasta is cooked, reduce heat to low. Simmer until ready to eat. Serve hot with toast or sandwiches.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

On November 28, 2008 · 1 Comment · In family, holidays

It’s hard to believe that the holiday season is officially upon us. I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving. We had a lot to be thankful for this year.

First off, because it is most recent–we are thankful for Tessa’s negative biopsy results. Her lymph nodes are still swollen, and we are already a week into the new antibiotics (which she’ll be on for a total of one month). It’s still a little bit worrisome, and it’s a complete mystery at this point. We’re going to continue with the antibiotics, and we’re also going to switch her food. We’ve been feeding her Iams, but my mom has a friend who is sort of a “Dog Whisperer” and he recommended that we switch her to something of better quality to promote better overall health. We’re praying that the lymph nodes return to normal soon. But regardless, we are thankful that it is not cancer.

We are obviously also thankful for the health of family and friends. We’re thankful that we have such wonderful family and friends whom we love and enjoy spending time with. We’re thankful for each other, for our marriage, for the beautiful wedding and honeymoon we had this year.

We’re thankful for our home, even though it may be smaller than we would like sometimes. We dream of something bigger, but know enough to appreciate the fact that we have one at all. It is comfortable, it is warm, and we can afford it. We know that not everyone can say that.

We are thankful for our jobs. Again, we may complain about them sometimes, we may sometimes feel as if we’re not compensated enough, but we are still grateful for the paychecks that come biweekly. In these economic times, we don’t know for sure that we’ll have that from week to week–so for now, and for as long as it lasts (hopefully forever!), we are thankful.

I am also thankful for the little things in life. Comfy pajamas, fuzzy socks, HDTV (haha!), good food, Christmas decorations, wine, Tessa snuggles, a full gas tank, sunny days, a short commute.

I hope that you are as equally thankful. Even if times aren’t good, there are always things to be thankful for.

Anyway…. We started off the holiday with two hours at the gym. They run a special event with two hours of aerobics and access to the otherwise closed cardio and weight equipment if you donate non-perishable food for a local shelter. My aerobics instructor kicked our asses, then I spent a little bit of time on the elliptical while Michael hit the weight room.

After that, we relaxed around home for a bit, then went to Michael’s parents’ house for a bit to visit. We’re having our real “Thanksgiving” with them on Saturday when Michael’s sister and some of their other family come to visit, so today our focus was spending time with my family.

We stopped by home to pick up Tessa, then went to my mom’s house. We got there around 3:30 p.m. to hang out and help with the remaining preparations. People started arriving around 4:30-5:00 p.m., and it was a whirlwind from there. Dinner, dessert… lots of eating. :) Overall, it was a great Thanksgiving.

With that, I leave you with some photos from the day:

Do you like Tessa’s Thanksgiving sweater? It’s a turtleneck, and it is too damn cute.

About to taste test my “famous” (self-proclaimed) mashed potatoes.

My mom’s boyfriend carving the turkey.

Marie and I, preparing the rolls for the table.

My brothers and me.

Kara and Marie

Michael and me

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

Easy Apple Pie

On November 27, 2008 · 1 Comment · In holidays, recipes - dessert

This afternoon, I went to my mom’s to get a jumpstart on the pies for Thanksgiving. We decided to make two apple, two pumpkin, and two chocolate pudding pies this year. I took on the task of the apple pies, which are the most work–so many apples to peel, core, and slice!

I used Dorie’s All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie recipe as the basis for what I did, but I didn’t follow it exactly. First of all, I was definitely not going to spend the time and effort making homemade crust, so I used a package of Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust. Secondly, I didn’t have every ingredient that she included, so I left those out. My version of the recipe is below (and a lot easier, I think!).


Easy Apple Pie
(Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)

Ingredients:
– 1 package Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust (“Unroll & Fill”)
– 4 lbs. (about 6 very large) apples — peeled, cored, and sliced
– 3/4 cup sugar
– grated zest of one lemon
– 2 tbsp. quick-cooking tapioca
– 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
– 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
– 1/4 tsp. salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In large bowl, combine apples, sugar, lemon zest, tapioca, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Toss apples to coat evenly. Let sit for 5 minutes, until juices start to gather in the bottom of the bowl.

2. Unroll one pie crust and press it into a 9″ pie pan (preferably glass).

3. Fill pie crust with apples. Spread evenly.

4. Unroll second pie crust over the top of the apples. With fingers, press together the edges of the bottom and top pie crusts. Form a pattern with your fingers, or use a fork to press ridges into the edges. Cut slits in the top pie crust to allow steam to escape.

5. Bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees. Lower heat to 375 degrees, and continue baking for 30-45 more minutes. After about 45 minutes in the oven, if the top crust looks as if it is browning too quickly (especially the edges), cover the pie loosely with a foil tent.

6. Serve warm or at room temperature.

 

Cupcake Bites

On November 26, 2008 · 2 Comments · In holidays, recipes - dessert

Yesterday, one of my lovely internet friends, Crafty Bitch, mentioned that she was planning to make Cupcake Bites. Once clicking through to the link, I realized I had been to that blog before, and had admired the cake bites… I had just completely forgotten about them.

But I did want to give them a try, and since I had nothing planned for tonight, I figured–what better way to start off the 5-day weekend? (Besides wine, of course.)

If you haven’t already, definitely take the time to check out all of the stuff that Bakerella has done, though. She’s really talented, and she was even asked to be on Martha Stewart. Impressive, to say the least.

Aren’t they cute?

Anyway, I went to Michael’s, bought a candy mold and some candy melts, baked a cake, and gave these a try. They were time consuming, but not as bad as I was thinking they would be.

As far as how they taste though… don’t expect to eat more than one! They are really sweet. We’re bring them to a party tonight, and I hope people like them.

I didn’t take pics throughout the process, so if you want to make your own, the best thing to do would be to go and browse Bakerella’s blog.

Working with the melted chocolate wasn’t as tough as I thought it might be. I bought the little squeeze bottles, which were helpful for getting the chocolate for the bottom part of the “cupcake” into the mold.

I did get a little bit frustrated sometimes because my fingers are kind of clumsy… I kept accidentally sticking my fingers into the wet chocolate tops when trying to set them down on a cookie sheet to dry.

I was looking to make mine with Thanksgiving colors, so instead of M&Ms, I used Reese’s Pieces for the garnish on the top–they are the perfect colors! :)

Here you can see the inside of my cupcake bites. I used french vanilla cake and vanilla frosting. The consistency seems a little bit off compared to Bakerella’s… not really sure where (or if) I went wrong.

They are definitely tasty, but just much more rich than I imagined. Much more like candy than like cake, for sure.

No more work for the rest of the week. I am so excited for the break. I am going to be doing a lot of baking over the next few days, so stay tuned for more photos and a few recipes.

Enjoy your holiday weekend!

 

Treasure Island

On November 25, 2008 · 5 Comments · In las vegas, travel, vacation

Well, we finally booked our hotel for our Vegas trip in February. We found a hell of a deal a while back, but hadn’t yet made reservations. As it turned out, that was a good thing. Because that hell of a deal? I ended up finding an even better one.

We’re going to be staying at Treasure Island. I’ve heard mixed reviews about it, because let’s face it–it is your typically cheesy Vegas hotel (A pirate theme? C’mon).

The difference, however, is that all of the rooms have been recently renovated (all new beds!), the location on the strip is very nice, and the rates are still reasonable. And that’s our kind of deal. The recent reviews on Trip Advisor have all been really favorable, which is encouraging.

We’re “bunking” with friends. As of now, there is a total of eight of us going on the trip, and last night, Lynsay and I booked two rooms to share between the eight of us. We figure we won’t be spending a lot of time in the rooms, so we might as well put four people in each room to save us some money.

So… for the three nights? We’re paying just under $100 each. The total for each room was $396. For a “nice” hotel in Vegas! We are really excited.

We have airfare and hotel completely taken care of. Now we just have to worry about the fun!

I’ve heard good things about the spa. ;)