Turkey Noodle Soup (with homemade egg noodles)

I made a turkey for our Christmas dinner and I was excited to have the carcass from the turkey. I have been wanting to make some soup with homemade noodles. Cooking the turkey carcass make a delicious base for soup. I like to throw in some chopped onion, celery and carrots to add to the flavor. I remember my mom doing this when I was a kid; she would make a huge kettle of soup and we all enjoyed this tasty treat.

I was talking to my mom about her homemade noodles over the holidays. She said that she had learned to make the noodles from her mom when she was a young girl. I have been making my own noodles for years now and I find that the store bought noodles just don't compare to the homemade noodles. The texture of the homemade noodles has more body and flavor than the ones that you buy.

Now don't worry if you don't have a pasta maker, you really don't need to have one when it comes to making these egg noodles for a soup. The one thing that you will need and I think most people have is a rolling pin. I try to roll out my noodles as thin as possible. When it comes to cutting the noodles you could use a pairing knife, but I have found something that works better than a knife. The thing that I found that works quite well is a pizza cutter. It is quick and simple to cut noodles with this.

Turkey Noodle Soup (with homemade egg noodles)
1 turkey carcass
2 cups of chopped left over turkey
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrots
2 medium or 1 large chopped onion
3 cubes of chicken bullion
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large kettle place the turkey carcass and cover with water (about 3 to 4 quarts). Simmer for about an hour and remove carcass. If you prefer strain the broth to make sure that all bones are removed. Add the turkey, bullion, celery, carrots, onion, rosemary, and bay leaf to the broth. Bring the broth with the vegetables and turkey to a boil and once boiling turn down to low and let simmer.
While the carcass is cooking prepare your egg noodles:
Egg Noodles
1 egg
5 egg yolks
3 tablespoons water
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 flour
Beat egg, egg yolks and water together until well beaten. Add 1 cup of flour to the egg mixture and mix well. Once the flour is mixed into the eggs, on a floured surface knead in enough flour to make a stiff dough (about 1/4 to 1/2 cup). The dough should no longer be sticky. Divide the dough into two disks. On a floured surface use a floured rolling pin and roll out as thin as possible. Let the dough dry for a while, about 1/2 hour. Once the dough has had time to dry a little take a pizza cutter and cut into noodles to desired size. (Remember that the noodles will expand once they are cooked, so you will want to take that into consideration when cutting).
In a kettle (about a 2 quart) bring water to a boil. Once the water is boiling drop about a 1/2 to 1 cup of noodles into the water bath, cook about 1 to 2 minutes. This will take off the excess flour before the noodles go into the soup. Add the noodles to soup. Add salt and pepper if more is needed at this time. Cook noodles until tender. Enjoy!

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Peach French Toast Bake

I hope everybody had a wonderful Holiday. It was a busy day in our house as we had family and friends that were coming to spend the day with us. So we were up early to open presents and to start cooking the food that we were having for our Christmas day meal.

Our oldest daughter and her husband were only going to be with us for a couple of hours in the morning and did not stay for the Christmas meal. They were spending the day with her husband's family, but she had wanted to be with us to open presents and see us for a little while.

I wanted to have a special breakfast since Lisa and Doug would not be with us for the main meal. I found a wonderful recipe in a cook book that I had checked out of our local library; it was called The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger.

We all love French toast, but I knew I would not have time to make it in the morning. The recipe I found was a French toast that you put the ingredients together the day before and let it set in the refrigerate overnight. In the morning all you have to do is simply turn on the oven and bake it. It turned out to be a wonderful French toast recipe and everyone loved it. We served with the absolute perfect pancake syrup that was posted on a previous post.

So if you have a big day coming up and would like to serve a nice breakfast but won't have time to fix it, I hope you will try this recipe. It is super easy and super delicious. And if your family isn't one that like peaches with your French toast I am sure you can substitute other fruit with this recipe; I can see using blueberries with this, I think that they would be wonderful.  It can't get much better than this with .

Peach French Toast Bake (Adapted from The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger)

1 large baguette (about 8 ounces)
4 large eggs
4 large egg whites
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups frozen unsweetened sliced peaches, thawed
2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Cut the baguette into 1/2 inch-thick slices and arrange them in a single layer in pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg whites, milk, and vanilla. Pour the egg mixture over the bread in the pan. Scatter the peach slices evenly over the bread. Sprinkle with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Uncover and bake until it is slightly puffed and the bread is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Top with toppings of your choice.

Notes: I decide to use eggs, so instead of using 4 egg whites I used 3 whole eggs. Also the baguette that I used was  11 ounce.

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Baked Chicken and Brie

I had posted on my blog a few posts ago about a package of cheese that I had received as a giveaway from Pam at For The Love Of Cooking. I couldn't resist not posting this recipe that I made with the Brie cheese I had also received in the package. Brie is another cheese that I had never cooked with before, so I was anxious to find something that would be tasty and easy to make.

I decided to try a recipe that I found on allrecipes.com. It was simple and fast, which made it a great recipe to make in the evening after a long day at work. I also believe that it would be a great recipe to make after the holidays are behind us and we have stuffed our face with all the goodies that we eat during this time.

This recipe called for beer or dry white wine which was used to bake the chicken in. Since I did not have any wine, I used the beer.  The beer left the chicken very moist and flavorful. I am sure that the wine would have been equally as tasty. So after the holidays if you need a break from the left over ham or turkey or whatever you prepared for your holiday dinner I hope that you will give this recipe I try.

Also I would like to thank the people at Ile De France for sending me the wonderful cheese, cheese dome, and knife. My family and I have truly enjoyed trying all of the cheese that were sent to me.

Baked chicken and Brie (Allrecipes.com)
1 cup of light beer or dry white wine
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon dried oregano, or to taste
8 ounces Brie cheese
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
2. Pour the beer or wine into a glass baking dish large enough to lay out chicken. Season the chicken with salt, peeper, and oregano on both sides and place in dish.
3. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, or until juices run clear. While the chicken is baking, slice Brie with the rind into 1/4 inch slices. When chicken is done, place slices of Brie over the top. Return to the oven for 3 to 5 minutes, until cheese is melted.

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I was lucky enough to win this cheese and the recipe was super easy to make so
I am sending this into Frugal Fridays at Fuss Free Flavors

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

I love love love.... white chocolate macadamia cookies. I started making these cookies 2 years ago for Christmas and that is when the love affair first started. The macadamia nuts are quite expensive so I don't make these cookies too often; I like to save them for Christmas time. It is something to look forward to at this special time of year.

There is something about the combination of the macadamia nuts and white chocolate that makes this cookie so wonderful. I guess it could be the fact that I love that crunchiness of the nuts along with the sweetness of the white chocolate. It truly has to be a match made in heaven.

This cookie has been added to my list of traditions that I will do every Christmas. I decided that this is a tradition that I will be making maybe more so for myself since I am the one in the family that loves them the most. Oh there are a couple of my kids that like them, but I don't think they like them as much as I do. And I guess that is ok to start a tradition for myself, since I am the one that is doing all of the baking.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies (Adapted from www.averagebetty.com)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup roasted salted macadamia nuts (chopped)

Directions:
With an electric mixer, cream butter and add the both sugars; mix on medium-high until creamy and combined. Add eggs and beat mixture, when thoroughly combined beat in the vanilla. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt add to the creamed mixture and mix thoroughly. Incorporate the white chocolate chips and the macadamia nuts.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spoon dough by teaspoons, place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake cookies 10-12 minutes until the cookies are getting lightly browned.
Enjoy!

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Ginger Snap Cookies

I have started my Christmas baking! I like to bake lots of cookies during this holiday season. I learned to do this from helping my mom. She would bake for weeks before Christmas; cookies, breads, and candies. Everything was so delicious and wonderful. This is one of my fondest memories from when I was a child.

I like traditions, so I guess that is one of the reasons that I bake the cookies I do. Everybody has their favorites so I like to try to make those for my family. Also I like to give some away, Mike and I like to take some to our places of work to share with our co-workers. I am sure I don't make as many as my mom did as when I was a child, but I make my fair share.

The cookie that I would like to feature in this post is Ginger Snaps. These have been passed down the generations and it is a recipe that my mom always made at Christmas time as well. They are full of flavor with the molasses, ginger, and cinnamon. I like to frost mine with a simple vanilla icing, but I can remember my mom would sometimes dip the tops of the cookies in sugar before she would bake them, either way they are a delicious cookie. If you like to bake cookies for Christmas I hope that you will add these to your baking list.

Ginger Snap Cookies
1 cup sugar
3/4 cups shortening
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

In medium mixing bowl beat together butter, sugar, and egg.  Add molasses to the creamed mixture and blend thoroughly. Sift together flour, ginger, salt, cinnamon, and soda add to the butter and sugar mixture and blend well.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Roll into balls (about the size of a ping pong ball) and placed on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for about 12 to 14 minutes.
Frost with a powder sugar icing or dip in sugar before baking.

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Spicy Chicken Chili

I started making chili with chicken breast only last year. Before that I had always used ground beef in my chili. I guess I started using the chicken breast because I thought it would somewhat healthier for my family. After trying it the first time I was hooked; it was love at first bite. Thinking back I am not sure if I have made chili using ground beef since then.

Anyone that has been following my blog knows that I have been experimenting with different spices in foods. I tried a little cinnamon in this chili recipe, not a lot just in case if I found that I didn't like it. I know that cinnamon is so good for you and also can add a little heat to your food. So I thought what the heck, it can't hurt to try just a little cinnamon in this chili.

Even though it was a small amount of cinnamon that I added, Mike said he could notice a little change in the flavor of the chili... he liked it. This chili is a little on the spicy side, but it is nice on a cold winter day. It will definitely warm you up from the inside out.

Spicy Chicken Chili

3 large cooked chicken breast cut into bite size pieces
1 large onion
2 stalks of celery
2 tablespoons of olive oil
46 ounce can of tomato juice
2-14.5 ounce cans of diced tomatoes
15 ounce can of chili beans
15 ounce can kidney beans
15 ounce can of black beans
1 small can green chiles
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
11/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large kettle heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. Chop large onion and celery add to the kettle. Cook until vegetable start to get tender. Add chicken and all canned items; stir until all is completely mixed. Add all the spices and stir until all are blended in. If you like more heat feel free to add more spices. Bring to a boil, once the chili starts to boil turn down to low and let simmer for an hour or two, so that all the flavor of the ingredients blend together.

Note: Serve with crackers and shredded cheddar cheese.

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Never Fail Icing (Butter Cream)

Normally I would have posted this frosting recipe with my last post for my chocolate cupcakes, but this is  recipe is special  to me. It was given to me by my mother-in-law years ago. I am not quite sure when, but I think it was when Mike and I were first married. My mother-in-law past away a little over 4 years ago. We all still miss her so much; she was a great lady. When ever I make this frosting recipe I like to think of her.

Since I have received this recipe I have given it to different one in my family. Everybody loves this recipe. It is an all around great recipe, it is easy to make and it keeps well. You can make this frosting up and if you don't use it all you can throw it in the freezer and when you want to use it again all you need to do is take it out of the freezer, thaw, and stir it up a little and it is like you just made it.

If you don't want a vanilla frosting, but would like let say a chocolate frosting all you need to do is add some cocoa to it and you have a wonderful chocolate frosting. Even if you are not big into baking you can't fail when making this recipe. I love it and I am sure that you will too.

Never Fail Icing (Butter Cream) (I am not sure where this recipe originally came from)

2 cups powder sugar
2 egg whites
3/4 cup shortening
1/2 stick butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt

Add all ingredients into a medium size mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Note: For chocolate frosting add cocoa to taste. Frosting freezes well. Thaw and re-whip before using.

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Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

The other day I had a craving for something chocolate. You know the craving that won't let you go. It is the one where it is all that you can think about until you break down and eat whatever you are craving. I decided on chocolate cake, because Mike is not the biggest chocolate lover, like I am. I surely didn't want to over indulge too much, so by making chocolate cake I knew that Mike would help me eat it.

To be exact I made chocolate cupcake, that way I could freeze some for a later time. Yes, these cupcakes froze nicely. When we took some out of the freezer a couple of days later they were as tasty as when I had first baked them. This is always a good thing.

I love making cakes from scratch, when Mike and I first got married I only baked cake that way . I didn't like to make cakes from a cake mix; I didn't think they were as good as my homemade ones. Well then 4 babies came along and I didn't have the time as I did before and the cake mixes started tasting better and better. Now that the kids are grown I am getting back into baking cakes from scratch.

I found the recipe at hersheys.com. I guess that is quite obvious, since Hershey's is in the name of the recipe. The reason I chose this cake recipe was it was different from anything I had made before in a cake. It had a cup of milk and a cup of boiling water. Now I have made cakes with boiling water before and cakes with milk, but never so much liquid.

In fact Mike walked into the kitchen when I was filling the cupcake pans. When he saw the batter he asked me if I made the recipe correctly. The cake batter was more like soup than batter. I was amazed how well these cupcakes turned out. They were super moist  and chocolaty. The name of the recipes says it all; these cupcakes were the "perfectly chocolate" chocolate cake.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake (hersheys.com)

Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).
3. Line muffin cups (2 1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. Makes about 30 cupcakes.
Variations:
Two round baking pans:  Grease and flour two 9 inch round baking pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely and frost.
One-Pan Cake: Grease and flour 13x9x2 inch baking pan. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely and frost.
Bundt Cake: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely and frost.

I frosted the cupcakes with a butter cream frosting, which I will feature on my next post.

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Thin Crust Italian Sausage Goat Cheese Pizza

I am excited to write this post. I had won a wonderful cheese give away from Pam at For The Love Of Cooking. One of the cheeses that came with this give away was a nice package of goat cheese. Since I had never cooked with goat cheese before I thought it would be fun to try a pizza using this cheese.

We have a pizza joint in our town that makes the best thin cracker crust pizza. My family loves the crust at this pizza place and I have been wanting to try my hand at making one of these crusts. I decided I would try to make this one a thin crust pizza that wasn't too much bread, one that we would get the full flavor of the goat cheese.

Along with the goat cheese I decided to add some Italian sausage, a little onion and green peppers oh, and also I roasted a few cloves of garlic for the occasion. Roasting the garlic was a new experience for me, I have never done this in the past. I thought roasted garlic would be something that would pair with the goat cheese quite nicely.

As the pizza baked in the oven the smell filled the house with smells of cheese and garlic. I think that we were all drooling with the anticipation of trying this pizza. Shortly after the pizza came out of the oven we cut the pizza on and dug in. What a treat this was. The goat cheese gave the pizza a wonderful flavor and we all enjoyed the pizza. The thin crust was good, but not quite as good as the pizza joint in town so I will need to keep working on that. But over all the pizza got a two thumbs up.

Thanks again Pam for the wonderful give away. We are enjoying the cheese!

Thin pizza crust recipe (Adapted for pizza making.com)

3 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

1 pound fully cooked Italian Sausage
10.5 ounces goat cheese (Garlic and herb)
16 ounces Mozzerella Cheese
5 cloves of roasted garlic
Thinly sliced onions and green peppers (according to taste).

Mix together 2 cups flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. To the dry ingredients add the warm water and olive oil. Mix together with spoon, until all ingredients are mixed well. Start to knead the rest of the flour into the mixture. Add as much of the flour as you can work in. When dough is completed coat the bottom of bowl with olive oil about a teaspoon. Turn dough to coat both sides. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours. When preparing the dough for the pan, flour your surface lightly. Roll this dough until it is about paper thin. Makes about a 16 inch pizza or 2 smaller one.
Top with favorite ingredients and bake in a 450 degree preheated oven for about 12 to 14 minutes.

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Bean Soup

We had Thanksgiving at my mom's house this year. She made the traditional turkey and we also had ham. I have to say everything was so delicious. But anyway no one wanted the ham bone, so I took it home with me to make some soup.

Personally I love split pea soup, but Mike is not a lover of this soup. He does like bean soup, so I decided to make a batch of hearty bean soup. Dried beans were used for this soup so I started the night before the cooking process with soaking the beans over night. Instead of the navy beans that the recipe called for I used dried northern beans. I am not sure what the difference is between the two of them, but the northern beans were a little bit larger of the two. There was no difference in the taste between the two of that I could tell.

The recipe that I used did not add any vegetable to the soup other than the beans. I prefer to have some vegetables mixed in with my soups, so I did add a potato and some carrots. I think it adds a little more flavor. I made this soup on Sunday and just let it simmer for most of the afternoon so that the beans were cooked through and the flavor of the ham bone went through the soup.

The soup turned out to be quite delicious. I have been taking it to work this week for my lunch and I must confess that I can't wait for lunch to roll around each day so that I can eat this soup. Don't worry I did share a little with the rest of my family. They also enjoyed it.

Beans Soup (Adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

1 pound dried beans navy or northern
3 quarts of water
1 meaty ham bone
1 large chopped onion
1 large potato cubed
1 cup of diced up carrots
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste

Rinse 1 pound dry navy beans; add 3 quarts cold water. Bring to boiling; simmer 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover let stand 1 hour. (Or, add beans to water; soak overnight.) Add 1 meaty ham bone, onion, diced potato, carrots, 1 bay leaf, salt and pepper to taste. Cover; simmer 3 to 3 1/2 hours, remove ham bone. Mashed beans slightly if you like, otherwise leave them whole. Cut ham off bone; add ham to soup. Serve.

Note: The recipe said to use the water that the beans soaked in over in over night for your soup, I did not do that I rinsed my beans and used fresh water.

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