Dear Kitchen Saints,
Yesterday I made homemade chicken noodle soup. It's really easy to make the noodles, and you can use whole wheat flour to make them, too, if ya wanna. I would do half whole wheat and half white. I usually just use the white all purpose flour.
For a couple batches of noodles, get out a big pan to put salted water in, and let this water start to boil as you make your noodles. You could add onion slices or green pepper slices. So let the water start to boil as you make your noodles.
I just take a bowl and put in 4 eggs for a double batch of noodles. To the eggs, add a bit of salt and start out with a cup of flour. Stir this up good and begin adding flour to make a dough. When the dough is getting stiff, roll it out on a floured tabletop or cutting board. Just roll the dough thin and cut in slices with a pizza cutter. You can use a sharp knife, too, if ya wanna. But, boy, does a pizza cutter work good.
And I mean take control of your dough, show it no mercy. If it is sticky, it won't roll out good, so make sure you use a good dusting of flour. So then, as you roll them out and you have a handful, throw them in the boiling water. Then cut up another handful and throw them in, etc. Stir them lightly in the pot. Don't throw all the noodles in at once because they will stick.
Some ladies like to dry their noodles. I did that once and it was nice to have the dried noodles to use later. Just cut them and dry them on a cookie sheet that has flour on it. Don't let them stick to the pan. Anyway, just put the pan in an out-of-the-way place and let them dry. When they are dry completely, you can store them in a paper bag. I mean, it would take a few days to dry them. And make sure they are real dry, because if they ain't and you package them in plastic, they will mold. What I do, though, is I just cook my extra noodles and then put them in the fridge to use in a few days.
These noodles are really good with spaghetti sauce and Parmesan cheese on them. I have also made the lasagna noodles. Just cut them wide like the lasagna from the store. You can use these noodles for anything.
Also, if you are going to store your noodles in the fridge for a few days? I would put olive oil on them to make sure they don't stick to each other. I don't think I have ever frozen these, but I guess you could, if you use the oil to keep them from sticking to each other. Just put in some nice dried herbs and oil and let them set for a while in the fridge, or freeze them to use for later.
When the children were all home, I would make a big batch of noodles in my tall silver spaghetti pan and then, on the stove, I would have the veggie soup. I fixed it all separate. The kids would scoop the noodles in their bowls and the soup over the top.
About 3 days ago, I had the kids over for spaghetti. Then we had big bowls of salad and bread. I fixed a bowl of lettuce and then I had the tomatoes in another bowl and onions, radishes and green peppers. So the next day (yesterday), I decided to make homemade chicken noodle soup. I cooked some chicken down and then put that in my pot along with all of the leftover veggies from the spaghetti dinner the night before. It was a lovely soup. I also added a can of cream of chicken soup with it to give it that rich golden color. Then, with the tomatoes and green peppers and white noodles, the color was very stunning. I also use the coarsely ground black pepper.
Also, to my delight, I found Soup Greens at the store put out by McCormick Spices. I got a big bottle marked down for a buck. I got 2 bottles of them and I am havin' a ball makin' soup. I throw in a few Tbs when my soup is simmering then stir them up. They are just dried flakes of carrots, celery and other colorful greens, like spinach, etc. They make the soup look so festive with all the colors dancing about.
HOLIDAY SOUPS AND STEWS
Mercy, Kitchen Saints! The holidays are almost upon us. During these busy times, I make a lot of soups. I make them early in the morning so that I can have the day to make cookies and breads for the holidays. You can just keep your soup on the stove for the day. Then feed the family samples of all of your bakings to go with the soup. If you don't know the housewifery art of soup making, I hope you will learn it. It is fun making something out of nothing.
Just start by cooking some meat in your cast iron pot with the bail handle. If ya don't have one of these pots, just pretend you do. (I pretend I am in a cabin in the woods and I am cooking on a wood stove.) Anyway, just bake some chicken in the pot in the oven, or cook up some hamburger or bacon for a potato soup, to get your pan good and flavored with some sort of frying meat. You can fry on top of the stove with cast iron or put it in the oven. Anyway, get a good meat flavor going on in your pot.
Then add some water and onion and salt and pepper. Then begin adding veggies and some dried herbs. Maybe a combination of potatoes and carrots and celery. Papa has to have potatoes, so I put potatoes in all of my soups. OK?
Don't forget: "Good cooks are always fat and jolly and are ALWAYS tasting their soup." So get your aprons on and have a ball.
OK, if your chicken soup is a bit drab, add some cream of chicken soup from the store. And, if ya don't feel comfortable yet about making homemade noodles, just throw in some chicken noodle soup. But at all costs, make sure the soup tastes good and is colorful. I would have never thought of adding tomatoes to my chicken soup. But, oh, the tomatoes are just what chicken soup needs.
Also, if you have left over pumpkin, just peel it and cut that up in small pieces and put this in your soup. Pumpkin in soup takes on the taste of the soup. It's like zucchini? But the bright orange is so lovely in homemade soups. Save all of your celery leaves to use for your soup kettle. You can just cut up the leaves and put them in the freezer to use later. Also, green peppers freeze very easily and are nice to have for cooking.
Baking powder biscuits are fun to have with soup. Or it's so easy to make up a pan of cornbread. Muffins are so easy to stir up to have with your soup. Or just use store bought crackers.
But ya know, if ya have leftover chicken from another meal, just make chicken soup. The more color you can get into your soup, the more vitamins this represents. If the family is sick with colds, then you may want your chicken soup to be more brothy with many herbs. But, ya know, I have made chicken soup with so many greens that the whole batch of soup was an ugly army green? Cant have that. It may be healthy, but the kids won't eat it and husband won't, either. So be sure you get a lot of orange in there, like carrots or pumpkin, along with all the good greens.
Make sure your soup is a work of art before you serve it to the family. I mean, this is just practical writing. It may not be good to use store bought in your homemade soup. But it makes it look pretty and the family won't eat it if it ain't pretty. I mean, let's face it, our husbands are out there in the world, and they are used to some sort of flavors. They do compare our cooking with the local restaurants. And if our soup looks army green and sickening? They ain't gonna eat it. So do what ya gotta do to make a soup that is gorgeous.
I have even thrown a beef gravy mix in my homemade beef and noodle soup. Or start out with a soup starter and add your own meat and veggies. I have never used this but I would if I didn't know how to make soup. And, oh, wow! My family loves chili. I put in a package of taco seasoning mix and they love that. I just throw it in. Also with my noodle soups, I put it in the oven. And the noodles float to the top, so in the oven, they brown on top.
