Recipes--Part 3

Quick Ravioli Soup... from busycooks.about.com
Ingredients:
•2 tablespoons olive oil
•1 cup pre-shredded carrots
•3 cloves garlic, minced
•1 onion, chopped
•2 (14 ounce) cans vegetable broth
•1 (18 ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
•2 (14 ounce) cans Italian seasoned diced tomatoes, undrained
•1/8 teaspoon white pepper
•1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
•9 ounce package refrigerated cheese stuffed ravioli
•1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Preparation:
In large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add carrots, onion, and garlic and cook and stir until crisp tender, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in remainining ingredients except for ravioli and cheese. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes. Add ravioli; cook over medium high heat for 6-8 minutes until tender. Serve with cheese.

**Note: I often throw in other vegetables with the carrots, onion, and garlic. I've added shredded zuchinni, finely chopped green or yellow or red peppers. You could probably throw in squash. Also, I've used great northern beans in place of the cannellini beans...I don't know what the difference between the two is (they are both white...so I just use what I have on hand.) If I'm out of Italian seasoned tomatoes, I throw in plain diced tomatoes and then add a teaspoon or so of Italian seasoning. This is great with french bread and a big salad...but good enough to just serve it alone. And pretty fast. Also, if I'm busy...I'll just throw the vegetables into the broth without cooking them until crisp-tender in a saucepan. You then need to let them come to a boil, lower the temp and simmer for about 30 minutes until tender...instead of 15...makes the cooking time longer but less work for you. Also, you can substitute chicken broth for the veg. broth.


North Woods Wild Rice Soup (from
Dont' Panic...Dinner's in the Freezer)
1/2 lb. bacon (can also substitute bacon bits if you prefer)
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 cup celery,diced
1/4 cup butter or margarine
3 Tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 1/2 c. cooked chicken, shredded or cubed
1 10 oz. can chicken broth
1 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. cooking sherry
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 1/2 cups cooked wild rice

Makes 6 servings. Takes about 30 -45 minutes
Directions:
Fry, drain and crumble bacon; set aside. Cook onion and celery in butter until tender. Stir in flour, salt, thyme and paprika. Heat until bubbly. Add chicken, chicken broth, worcestershire sauce, sherry, milk and half and half. Stir until thickened. Add rice and bacon. Serve. (great with french bread and salad.)

NOTE: If you buy prepackaged wild rice, don't add any seasoning packet that comes with them. ALSO, do cook the rice before adding it to the soup. THe first time I made this, I didn't notice it said cooked wild rice and even after cooking for about an hour, the rice was still hard...not so great.


NOTE: YOu can also double or triple this recipe and freeze it in quart sized freezer bags. Label it and stick in your freezer. Then remove from your freezer 10-12 hours before serving so it can thaw. Then throw in a pan and heat until bubbly. Serve.


Creamy Chicken Soup (recipe from Monica Bills)

4 chicken breasts, with bones or whole chicken... can also use rotisserie chicken to make this recipe easier/faster
2 stalks chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 -1 chopped small onion
1 tsp. garlic powder
about 1 quart water
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 package egg noodles, precooked
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
Combine celery, carrots, onion in water with garlic powder. If using a whole, uncooked chicken, add an extra quart of water. If using chicken breasts just add 1 quart of water. If using rotisserie chicken, you don't need to add the chicken yet. Cook until chicken is cooked and carrots are tender (when I throw in a whole chicken...I bring it to boil and then simmer for about an hour to an hour and a half...half way through that time, I remove the chicken and cut it up...then put it back in to finish cooking.. For just chicken breasts it would probably need to cook for about an hour.)

Remove chicken from the pot and remove bones. Discard bones (if using a whole chicken...discard fat and skin also). Cut chicken into small chunks. Replace in pot. If using a rotisserie chicken, shred it into small chunks and add to the water with the carrots and such. If you added more than 1 quart of water, measure and make sure there is just one quart in the pot. Discard the extra water (but not the carrots,celery and onions).

Add cream of mushroom soup and evaporated milk and COOKED egg noodles. Heat until warm, bubbly and semi-thick. Add salt and pepper to taste.

So creamy, yummy and delicious!!!
A little bit harder/time consuming recipe...but totally worth the effort.


Chicken with Herbs and Vegetables
Source unknown

1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
6 Tbsp. shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
4 chicken breasts
2 Tbsp. olive oil
10 large mushrooms, quartered
1 large green pepper, chopped
3 large tomatos, coarsely chopped
1 large garlic clove, pressed
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or 2 Tbsp. dried basil
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh oregano or 1 tsp. dried oregano
cooked rice or noodles

Serves 4

Combine breadcrumbs and 4 Tbsp. parmesan cheese. Dredge chicken in mixture. (I like to cut the chicken into strips.) Cook chicken in hot oil in large skillet over medium high heat until browned and cooked through. Remove from skillet.

Add mushrooms and bell peppers to skillet. Saute for 3 minutes. Add tomato, garlic, and salt. Return chicken to skillet. Cover,reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in basil, oregano and rest of parmesan cheese. Serve over hot rice or noodles.

**I just found this recipe. I haven't made it in about 2 years but it is so yummy. I can hardly wait for my next grocery shopping day now, so we can have this again. Yum!!

Chicken Taco Sandwiches
need to look up where this comes from...I think 30 Day Gourmet...but not sure

2 cups shredded chicken breast meat (can use canned, rotisserie chicken or can cook some chicken breasts and shred...I will even throw chicken in the crockpot with the rest of the ingredients and cook on low for8-10 hours and then serve.
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp. dried oregano
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/3 cup mild or medium salsa (or hot if you prefer)

Boil the chicken broth with the garlic, oregano and cumin until reduced to 1/3 cup. Stir into shredded chicken breast with the salsa.

Then serve by placing on rolls and adding your choice of toppings: lettuce, sliced tomatoes, cilantro, grated cheddar cheese, sour cream, finely chopped onions, chopped avocadoes. You could also serve in tortillas to make chicken tacos.