Prepare for flu season by making Chicken Soup

My friend Chloe has this amazing soup and it does the job at making you feel better if you are sick. Enjoy and may this flu season pass you by uneventfully.

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Chloe's Super Virus Busting Chicken Soup

One chicken
Appx 15-30 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 Tbs salt
3-4 Thyme sprigs
Cayenne pepper (to taste. I use about a tsp)
Fresh Rosemary sprigs
Fresh ground pepper

Place chicken and other ingredients n a soup pot (I use my pressure cooker) and cover with water or chicken broth (I really like those boxes of organic chicken broth). Cook on stove top until chicken starts to fall apart. Remove from heat. Strain out chicken and stuff and set aside until cool enough to chop. Reserve broth for next step.

1 large onion (coarsely chopped or sliced)
1 fennel bulb (sliced thin)
1 leek (sliced thin)
4-6 stalks of celery (coarse chopped)
large red pepper (coarse chopped
1/2 lb. carrots (coarse chopped)
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 C good White Wine
salt and pepper

Place oil in bottom of large pot and heat. Add onion, fennel, celery, pepper and leek and saute until onion just transparent. Add wine and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Cover the vegetables with chicken broth from chicken--add more broth from can or box if you don't have enough broth from chicken and simmer veggies until just tender.

Frozen green beans
Frozen peas
zucchini
flat leaf parsely (chopped)
1-2 cans chopped tomatoes with juice
salt and pepper to taste

Add these above ingredients and simmer until everything is tender. Add chopped chicken, salt and pepper to taste.

No virus can withstand this soup.

You can also add cabbage with the end ingredients if you like (I do!), or any other veggies your family likes. Sometimes I'll throw in whatever is in my veggie bin in addition to the above.

The next day add egg noodles and turn it into chicken noodle soup.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 c onion, chopped
1-2 fresh roasted green chiles, chopped (or 4.5 oz can chopped green chiles)
8 oz cream cheese, cut up and softened*
3-1/2 c cooked, chopped chicken
8-10 flour tortillas
1 1/2 c green chile enchilada sauce
1-2 c Cheddar & Monterrey Jack cheese, grated (as desired)

Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat: add onion and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in green chiles, chicken & cream cheese. Stir constantly until cream cheese melts. Remove from heat.

Spoon approx 3-4 Tbsp chicken mixture down center of tortillas. Roll up tortillas and place seam side down in lightly greased 13X9 baking dish. Repeat.

Pour enchilada sauce over enchiladas & top with as much cheese as desired. Bake in 350 oven for 35-45 minutes, until bubbly & cheese is lightly browned.

(When I am short on tortillas, I will make this into a casserole by layer 3 tortillas on the bottom of my 11x13 casserole dish, pour the chicken mixture on them and they cover with 3 more tortillas. Pour sauce on top, sprinkle with cheese and place in the oven.)

Old-Time Beef Stew (by Paula Deen)

I am a big Paula Deen fan. There hasn't been one dish of her's I didn't love. Most of the recipes are very easy and have basic ingredients so you'll see many of her recipes here. Here is on of my favorite Fall/Autumn recipes, that I serve with cornbread. I will double all the ingredients except the meat for my family of nine to stretch the meal. It is still wonderful and hearty. Enjoy!

Old-Time Beef Stew
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Prep Time:5 minInactive Prep Time:--Cook Time:2 hr 15 minLevel:
EasyServes:6 servings.

Ingredients

•2 pounds stew beef
•2 tablespoons vegetable oil
•2 cups water
•1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
•1 clove garlic, peeled
•1 or 2 bay leaves
•1 medium onion, sliced
•1 teaspoon salt
•1 teaspoon sugar
•1/2 teaspoon pepper
•1/2 teaspoon paprika
•Dash ground allspice or ground cloves (I use allspice)
•3 large carrots, sliced
•3 ribs celery, chopped
•2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions

Brown meat in hot oil. Add water, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, bay leaves, onion, salt, sugar, pepper, paprika, and allspice. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Remove bay leaves and garlic clove. Add carrots and celery. Cover and cook 30 to 40 minutes longer. To thicken gravy, remove 2 cups hot liquid. Using a separate bowl, combine 1/4 cup water and cornstarch until smooth. Mix with a little hot liquid and return mixture to pot. Stir and cook until bubbly.

Meatballs...

I love this meatball recipe I got from a friend. I make a ton of these meatballs to use in spaghetti, meatball subs or as an appetizer. They are great!

MAKE-AHEAD MEATBALLS
Ruth Andrewson – Quick Cooking Collector’s Edition


4 eggs
2 c. dry bread crumbs
1/2 c. finely chopped onion
1 T. salt
2 t. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 t. white pepper
4 lbs. lean ground beef

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add the next five ingredients. Add beef; mix well. Shape into 1-inch balls, about 12 dozen. Place in single layers in ungreased 15x10-inch baking pans. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until no longer pink, turning often; drain. Cool. Place about 30 meatballs each into freezer containers. May be frozen up to 3 months.