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Spicy Asian Noodle Soup with Chicken (or leftover turkey or tofu!)

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I still had leftover turkey in the fridge, so here’s another soup recipe for you tonight! This one is incredibly easy and very adaptable based on your likes. It was ready in less than 30 minutes.

Spicy Asian Noodle Soup with Chicken (or leftover turkey or tofu!)
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Ingredients
  • 2 cups cooked chicken – you could use shredded rotisserie chicken and I bet it would taste amazing. Or you could probably substitute firm tofu, cubed.
  • I used about 2 cups of leftover turkey
  • 6 cups chicken broth
  • 2 teaspoons red curry paste
  • 1 Tablespoon Sriracha sauce (if you’re worried about spice, start with ½ Tablespoon)
  • 5 oz rice noodles (like Maifun)
  • 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
  • 4 scallions, sliced
  • ½ bunch of cilantro
  • Lime wedges (optional)
Instructions
  1. In a medium sauce pan, bring broth and water to a light simmer.
  2. Wisk red curry paste into broth. Add Sriracha sauce. Bring back to a low boil.
  3. Toss in noodles and bell pepper. Cook until just tender (about 3 minutes)
  4. Toss in your cooked chicken, turkey or tofu. Bring to a low simmer again.
  5. Ladle soup into bowls, top with scallions and cilantro. You could serve with lime wedges, which you could squeeze over the soup right before eating.

I think this would also be good with mushrooms – but I like mushrooms in asian-flavored soups. If you add these, I’d use a cremini mushroom and toss them in before noodles so they can cook down.  My husband thought there were too many noodles in the soup – but in all honesty I tossed in the whole 6 oz package because I didn’t know what to do with the extra 1 ounce of noodles. You can adapt based on what you like.

I wouldn’t freeze this soup. I’m guessing the rice noodles wouldn’t freeze well. Anyone freeze rice noodles before? I’d love to know your experience.

Source: Recipe adapted from a recipe in the January/February 2013 edition of Rachael Ray magazine.

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Roasted Quartered Chicken

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Thanks to our budget challenge this month. we are working our way through the freezer. I found a package of a quartered fryer chicken in the bottom drawer of the freezer and it’s been in there longer than I’d like to admit. I bought it (ages ago) because it was only $3.24 for the whole package. I roast whole fryer chickens all the time, so I just followed a similar recipe.

Roasted Quartered Chicken
 
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Recipe type: Chicken
Ingredients
  • A quartered whole fryer chicken
  • 1-2 lemons
  • Olive oil, 1 – 2 Tablespoons
  • Minced garlic, 1 – 2 Tablespoons
  • Thyme, 1 Tablespoon
  • Paprika, ½ Tablespoon
  • Rosemary, ½ Tablespoon
  • Kosher salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
  2. I like to rinse my chicken after taking it out of the package. Rinse under cold water. Pat it dry with a paper towel. You want to reduce extra moisture on the chicken before baking because the moisture will dry it out (at least this is what I’ve heard, I’m no expert).
  3. Place the quarters into an oven safe baking dish. I used something like this – Le Creuset Signature Enameled Cast-Iron 6-3/4-Quart Oval French Oven, Cherry. Any type of roasting pan will work.
  4. Cut two lemons in half and squeeze the juice over the chicken inside the dish. Toss lemons into pan to bake with chicken.
  5. Drizzle olive oil over whole fryers. Probably 1 – 2 Tablespoons. Then using your hands, rub in the minced garlic. Give you chicken a nice olive oil and garlic bath. ?
  6. Then sprinkle all the herbs over the chicken. Rub it in. Rub it in. Salt and pepper the chicken.
  7. Pop the chicken in the oven, uncovered, for about 60 to 75 minutes. If you want, half way through you can flip the chicken, but I didn’t. You just want to make sure you roast them long enough time to get the temperature to 165 F, which is the safe recommended temp for poultry from the FDA. Don’t over cook, it will dry out.

That’s it! I hope you like them. My family really enjoyed this easy recipe.

Do you have suggestions for how to roast chicken quarters? Do you grill them?

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Roast Two Chickens at Once

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Roasting-Two-Chickens

I love saving time and energy – both seem to be in short supply these days. When I figured out that I could roast two chickens at once – doubling the output (and meals) with minimal extra work it was a serious “aha” moment!

The follow-up meals that can be built from the extra chicken are endless – sandwiches, salads, tacos, soups, casseroles, etc. It’s like killing two birds with one  . . .you get the point. The thing that pleases me most is the whole “production” only has to happen once – but you can use it for many other meals.

I realize if you have a large family (or teenagers) you might already roast two chickens at a time. Forgive me for just realizing this was a possibility!

Here is my recipe as we’ve always used for roasting chicken – I just modified it for two birds.

Roast Two Chickens at Once
 
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Recipe type: Chicken
Ingredients
  • 2 whole chickens (4-5 pounds each) – as close to the same size as possible so they cook at same rate
  • 5-7 medium potatoes, quartered – whatever kind you like, I had Yukon Gold leftover from our Clam Chowder
  • 6-8 carrots, peeled
  • 6-8 celery stalks, quartered
  • 4-5 medium onions, quartered
  • 4-5 garlic cloves
  • 1-2 lemons
  • Olive oil
  • Thyme
  • Rosemary
  • Sweet basil
  • Sage
  • Kosher salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Remove giblets and insides from chickens.
  2. Wash chickens well (do not use soap, haha) and make sure all feathers are removed. Dry very well with paper towels and set aside.
  3. Prep vegetables – quarter the potatoes, peel the carrots, quarter the celery stalks, peel and quarter the onions, quarter the lemons.
  4. Spread out all vegetables in the bottom of a large roasting pan. Add a few whole garlic cloves to the vegetables mix (or if you’re ambitious – mince garlic and mix it in). Reserve ½ onion, ½ lemon and two garlic cloves for chicken.
  5. Drizzle olive oil over vegetables, sprinkle with rosemary and sweet basil. We also had fresh parsley in the fridge, so we added that.
  6. It’s probably about time to preheat oven to 425 degrees
  7. Now back to the chicken – put a quarter of a lemon, quarter of an onion and a whole garlic clove in each chicken.
  8. Truss chickens with kitchen twine. This is to keep the legs in close to the body to keep them from burning. (Alton Brown does a great video tutorial on trussing turkey – same concept.)
  9. Put both chickens on top of vegetables in roasting pan.
  10. Drizzle olive oil over chickens, sprinkle salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, sage and sweet basil on top. I also rub on minced garlic, but that’s because we LOVE garlic. If you don’t have a seasoning or don’t like one – leave it out, it won’t make too much of a difference.
  11. Pop in the oven at 425 degrees for 60 to 90 minutes (mine took exactly 75 minutes) – basically internal temperature of chicken breasts should read 180 degrees. Rotate pan half way through to help chickens cook evenly. If you need, you can also stir around veggies – but I usually just leave mine alone and they are delish.
  12. When your chickens have reached 180 internal degrees (as taken in the breast) – take chickens out of oven and if you can stand it, let them rest about 10 minutes before cutting (it will keep them more moist).
  13. Enjoy!

Use leftover chicken carcass to make homemade chicken stock (stove top) or chicken stock in the slow cooker – and leftover chicken can be used for all kinds of meals.

How do you roast your chickens? Do you have a favorite recipe or technique?

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Homemade Chicken Broth – Easy, Frugal, Freeze!

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Strain-Chicken-Stock

After roasting two chickens – one for dinner and one for a meal the next day – I had two glorious chicken carcasses just waiting for a hot bath to become chicken stock. Making chicken stock is so incredibly easy and it is soup-er tasting, much better than the packaged stuff from the store. And it’s so thrifty – because you’re using every part of the chicken!

Here’s how we’ve made chicken stock before:

Homemade Chicken Broth – Easy, Frugal, Freeze!
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Ingredients
  • Leftover roasted chicken bones, carcass (basically everything leftover) - These don’t have to be homemade roasted chickens – you can use the carcass from store bought rotisserie chickens, too! See my post about roasting chickens.
  • Five (5) carrots
  • Five (5) celery stalks
  • One (1) onion, quartered
  • Two (2) bay leaves
  • Parsley, fresh or dried
  • A couple whole garlic cloves (or not, if you don’t like it)
  • Water
  • Salt, pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. In a large stock pot throw in all things chicken – the carcass, the bones, leftover skin – it doesn’t matter what it looks like, we are going to strain it out later.
  2. Roughly chop carrots, celery, onion – throw into pot with chicken
  3. Add parsley, bay leaves and garlic to pot
  4. Fill pot with water, enough to cover everything inside – plus add more. It will cook down throughout the process.
  5. Bring water to a roaring boil. Then turn down to a low, low simmer.
  6. Find something else to do for four to six hours, while it simmers on the stove. I cleaned bathrooms, exciting huh?
  7. Let it simmer for as much as eight (8) hours on the stove.
  8. As it simmers you can skim off any “scum” from the top of the water. I mostly notice this at the beginning. Some people suggest you can skim off the oils and fats from the top – but I think this adds a lot of flavor and I say don’t waste your time – it will be much easier to skim off when it cools, if you’d like.
  9. Now it’s time to strain out the chunks. Set a colander over another pan, large enough to hold your stock. Line the colander with cheese cloth and pour your stock into the colander. The cheese cloth should catch nearly everything, leaving you with chicken stock!
  10. Freeze in air tight containers until you’re ready to use, or use next day for making soup or any recipe requiring chicken stock.

How do you make chicken stock? 

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Bacon-Wrapped Blue Cheese Dates

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I think anything wrapped in bacon can’t be that bad, right? Well these little appetizers are a hit EVERY time I bring them to a gathering or serve them at my house. They are usually one of the first things gone and everyone is hiding their toothpicks so you don’t know how many they really ate.

Bacon-Wrapped Blue Cheese Dates
 
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Recipe type: Appetizer
Ingredients
  • Dates – I had admittedly never purchased dates before I made this recipe. But I bought a big container at Costco around Christmas time, I wonder if they still have them? Otherwise bulk might be your next best option.
  • Good bacon – Good bacon probably means something different to everyone. I like the thick, center-cut style bacon. It definitely makes a difference in the taste, so go for the gusto on this ingredient.
  • Crumbled blue cheese (or Gorgonzola)
  • Plus you’ll need toothpicks and a baking sheet
Instructions
  1. Slice the date open a little (don’t cut it in half).
  2. Stuff date with blue cheese, as much as you like.
  3. Close date and wrap with ½ length slice of bacon.
  4. Secure with toothpick.
  5. Arrange on baking sheet (make sure it has a rounded edge as the grease from the bacon might run off otherwise).
  6. Bake at 375 degrees F until crisp, about 30-40 minutes. You can turn them over about half way through if you want to.
  7. After they are done baking, put them on some sheets of paper towel – that helps soak up some of the bacon grease.
  8. Serve hot, enjoy!

I have heard of variations where you can put an almond sliver inside the date with the blue cheese, this gives a little bit of crunch, but it can be tricky to stick the toothpick through.

I am making these for my husband’s birthday dinner tonight. A little appetizer before we eat blue cheese moose burgers. Yes, I said moose, that story/recipe is for another day. ?

Let me know what you think! What’s your favorite appetizer to make?

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Tomatoes, Feta, Corn and Cilantro Salad

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CornFetaTomatoCilantro

I have been CRAVING this recipe. I picked up some tomatoes on the vine on sale and then whipped this up! I don’t have a title for this recipe, I don’t know if it’s a salad, a relish or a salsa. I don’t know what to call it, besides delicious, hope you agree.

Disclaimer: I’m no Betty Crocker. I’m a deal blogger, not a foodie – so as long as you recognize it for what it is, and know that I’m probably breaking all kinds of rules in the kitchen. ? Hope you like it.

Tomatoes, Feta, Corn & Cilantro Salad
 
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Recipe type: Salad
Ingredients
  • 4 to 5 tomatoes, diced- I use whatever kind is on sale, but the more flavor, the better, as this is a big part of the recipe
  • 1 to 2 cups corn – I use the Bybee Foods Organic White Cut Corn from Costco, get a 5 lb bag for $4.99, so only $1 a pound (see my Costco price list here) and worth every penny. I’ve also used fresh corn, cut right off the cob – also amazing.
  • ½ to 1 cup of Feta – This is probably one of the more expensive ingredients. So scale back if you wanna be more frugal, but if you really like feta, add more. Costco has 24 oz crumbled feta for about $5.99, which is $3.99 a pound (see my Costco price list here)
  • ¼ of a red onion, chopped finely
  • Cilantro or basil or parsley – your choice- Look for these on markdown in the produce section. Trader Joe’s is one of the best places to buy basil off season.
  • Olive oil
  • Sea salt (or regular salt)
Instructions
  1. So basically I dice up the tomatoes, onions and herbs (whatever herb your like) and mix it all together. Add a tablespoon or so of olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Stir. Stir. Stir. Eat. Eat. Eat.

That’s it. It’s easy. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Here are some ways to change things up a little:

  • Hollow out tomatoes, like a cup and fill it with the mixture. These are pretty appetizers for parties (and always a hit!) but can be tricky to eat. You can choose NOT to include the tomatoes inside the mixture because they’ll be in tomato cups – your call.
  • Get some hummus, spread it on tortilla, add mixture. Wrap it up! Eat it up! I happened to have Athenos roasted red pepper hummus on hand and I thought it ended up complimenting the cilantro nicely. I used Trader Joes tortillas ($1.99 for 20 flour tortillas), which by the way are pretty amazing themselves.
  • Spread it onto bread and bake – I admit, I haven’t done this yet, but I think it would be yummy. Especially if the herb you used was basil, it would be a twist on the traditional bruschetta.

Now I just gotta get some tomato plants going so I can eat this goodness all summer, without paying anything for my tomatoes. ?

Tell me, what do you think? What is this – a salad? relish? I’d love help naming the recipe!

If you dig recipes, check out My Grandma’s Roll Recipe (be warned, you can’t eat just one).

(This recipe is an adaptation based on a recipe from my friends Dusty & Nisha, with a twist from Brooke!)

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Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes

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Slow-Cooker-Mashed-Potatoes-crockpot

Crockpot mashed potatoes are now on my list for Thanksgiving this year. I’m done standing over a huge pot of boiling water waiting for my potatoes to cook, while juggling a turkey, gravy and other meal ingredients. I tried these slow cooker mashed potatoes this last week and I’m sold!  I hope you like them, too.

Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes
 
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Recipe type: Vegetables
Ingredients
  • 5 pounds of potatoes, peeled and diced 1″ cubes - I used a combination of Yukon gold and Russet
  • Chicken stock, 1.5 cups
  • Butter, 2 Tablespoons
  • Fresh garlic, 2 cloves, minced
  • Sour cream, 1.5 cups
  • Optional – parmesan cheese, chives, cheese and more butter!
Instructions
  1. Peel your potatoes and dice them into 1 – 2″ inch pieces.
  2. Toss potatoes into slow cooker.
  3. Pour chicken stock over potatoes. Add butter and garlic to the slow cooker with the potatoes.
  4. Cook on low for 8 hours.
  5. When potatoes have softened, toss in sour cream and mash with a potato masher in the crockpot until the consistency you’d like. (If I had fresh parmesan cheese I would have shredded this and added it at this time to mix in.)
  6. Turn to warm and serve from the crockpot! Top with your favorite gravy or toppings.

What do you make in your slow cooker in the holidays? We’d love your ideas.

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Slow Cooker Clam Chowder

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Clam-Chowder-Slow-Cooker-Crockpot

Fall is in full-swing and a steaming bowl of soup or chowder can be a great way to end the day. This Slow Cooker Clam Chowder is easy, full of flavor and not too heavy as chowders can sometimes be.

To save time in the morning, you can fry up the bacon, onion and garlic the night before. A little of this chowder goes a long way in terms of filling you up – so we had lots of extra, which I plan to freeze for future dinners.

Slow Cooker Clam Chowder
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Ingredients
  • 4 strips of bacon - Maybe a few extra if you like to garnish your chowder
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 4 small cans of clams, undrained - I really like Bar Harbor All Natural Chopped Clams, 6.5-Ounce Cans (Amazon link). If you buy 12 cans through subscribe and save it’s as low as $2.22 a can. Amazon prices can change. (If you are a Costco shopper, use about half of large can from Costco, freeze the rest)
  • 3 carrots, diced
  • 6 celery stalks, diced
  • 1 medium red potato, diced - I added two. I love potatoes in soup.
  • 4 cups chicken or veggie broth
  • ½ – 1 tsp ground thyme
  • sale and pepper to taste
  • ½ cup half and half
  • ¼ cup hot water
  • 4 tb corn starch
Instructions
  1. Fry up your bacon – drain, reserving 2 tb of drippings
  2. Saute the onion and garlic in the bacon drippings until golden.
  3. Dump everything up to the spices in your 4- to 5-quart slow cooker and stir it all up.
  4. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 5 hours.
  5. Half an hour before you plan to eat, dump in the half and half, stir it up and replace the lid.
  6. minutes before you plan to eat, combine the hot water and corn starch and add to the crockpot. Stir it and crank the slow cooker to high if it’s not already there. Don’t put the lid back on.
  7. Enjoy!

Need a Slow Cooker? I’ve found the best places to look are Costco and Amazon in terms of price and quality.  See all the current slow cookers available on Amazon at this time.

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Slow Cooker Baked Potatoes

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Slow cooker baked potatoes. Your life will be changed forever. I can’t believe how frugal and EASY this was. Although I grew up in a house that had baked potatoes 3-5 nights a week as a side dish (usually cooked in the microwave), I think I’ve made baked potatoes for dinner twice in the last 13 years. The idea of turning on the oven for 2-3 potatoes seems ridiculous and I have some not-so-good memories of over- or under-cooked potatoes from the microwave (sorry, mom).

But then I tried crockpot baked potatoes this week. And now I see us going through a 15-pound bag of Russet potatoes in no time. It’s was so easy and the flavor was great.  I hope you try these and like them as much as we did!

Slow Cooker Baked Potatoes
 
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Recipe type: Vegetables
Ingredients
  • Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes
  • Tablespoon olive oil
  • Salt to season
Instructions
  1. Scrub potatoes to remove any dirt.
  2. Take a fork or knife and carefully stab your potato. In a friendly way. To create some vent holes.
  3. Rub olive oil onto skins of washed potatoes. Sprinkle with salt. (Don’t put the oil on before stabbing, they are slippery).
  4. Wrap in a piece of aluminum foil.
  5. Set into slow cooker and cook for 8 hours on low. Or if you wait until the last minute like me, high for 3-4 hours. Don’t overload the crockpot, unless you’re able to rotate the potatoes halfway through, because you’ll end up with overcooked potatoes at the bottom and undercooked at the top.
  6. Using tongs remove hot potatoes from crockpot, remove tin foil, slice them open and serve them up!

Make up a batch of these for your next party and serve with a baked potato toppings bar. The toppings for potatoes are endless. Seriously. Here are a few to get you started. . . butter, sour cream, cheese, olives, chives, bacon, chili, taco meat, salsa, plain yogurt, black beans. . . what other ideas do you have?

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Best Leftover Turkey Recipe – Turkey Chowder (even uses leftover mashed potatoes!)

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I made the the WORST TURKEY EVER on New Year’s Day. It was the driest bird you ever did see. If you tried to eat it, you nearly choked on every dry bite. I don’t know where I went wrong – but I feel redeemed because we used the leftovers for this Turkey Chowder recipe – and everything was right with the world again.

This chowder uses leftover turkey AND leftover mashed potatoes. How perfect is that? It’s creamy, not too fattening, and super easy. Did I say it was easy? We’re talking homemade chowder in 30 minutes or less. It’s a keeper.

Best Leftover Turkey Recipe – Turkey Chowder (even uses leftover mashed potatoes!)
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Ingredients
  • 2 slices of bacon (about 2 oz total), chopped
  • 1 onion (8 oz) peeled and chopped
  • 1 Quart low-fat (1%) milk
  • 4 Cups cooked mashed potatoes
  • 3 Cups ½-inch chunks of cooked turkey
  • 2 cans (11 oz) corn, drained
  • 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
  • ½ teaspoon pepper
  • Salt to taste
Instructions
  1. In a 4- to 5-quart pan, over medium-high heat, cook your bacon until it’s just how you like it. We like ours crunchy.
  2. Throw in the onion and stir often until onion is limp (yes, you cook it in the bacon grease). About 5 minutes.
  3. Stir in milk, mashed potatoes, turkey, corn, cilantro and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring often.
  4. After about 10 minutes soup should be hot and slightly thickened. Add salt to taste.
  5. Serve immediately. You can garnish with extra bacon and cilantro.

I’d love to hear what you think! We loved it.

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