Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

I was online last night looking for something that involved chicken.  I came across this recipe and thought it sounded pretty good.  Well, the finished product I thought was better than just pretty good, it was amazing!  Even Jeff liked it.  The kids however didn't really like it, but they don't like anything other than cereal, so I have given up trying to please them.  I just make food, and atleast they get to try new things.  I made a couple adjustments to this recipe so it wouldn't be quite so salty.  It can be found on www.allrecipes.com 

Serve with fresh made pita bread, and it's a perfect Greek meal!

Ingredients


8 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 Tbl minced garlic
1 tablespoons chicken soup base
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cooked white rice
1 cup diced, cooked chicken meat
16 slices lemon
6 egg yolks

1.In a large pot, combine the chicken broth, lemon juice, carrots, onions, celery, soup base, and white pepper. Bring to a boil on high, then simmer for 20 minutes.


2.Blend the butter and the flour together. Then gradually add it to the soup mixture. Simmer for 10 minutes more, stirring frequently.

3.Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks until light in color. Gradually add some of the hot soup to the egg yolks, stirring constantly. Return the egg mixture to the soup pot and heat through. Add the rice and chicken. Ladle hot soup into bowls and garnish with lemon slices.

Double Chocolate Cookies

Wow, these cookies are delicious!  They taste like brownies, and would be so yummy mixed into ice cream.  They were also so simple to make.  I halved the recipe beccause I only had half the chocolate chips, which I had more, beccause it only made 2 doz halved and my kids ate them up.
2 Sticks Butter softned
2 Cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp Vanilla
3/4 c Hershey's Cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup Hershey's chocolate chips, milk or semi sweet, whichever you prefer


Heat oven to 350.  Beat butter and sugar until creamy.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat until light and fluffy.

Stir together flour cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually blend into butter mixture.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop by rounded tablespoon onto greasted cookie sheets.

Bake 8-9 minutes, but do not overbake, they will be soft, and flatten upon cooling.

Vegetarian Black Bean Soup with Cilantro-Lime Cream

This just has a wonderful flavor. I will definatly be making this one again!!

Vegetarian Black Bean Soup with Cilantro-Lime Cream
This recipe serves: 8

2 cups dried black turtle beans, soaked (Iused canned beans and it worked)
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced green pepper
1 tablespoon minced jalapeño pepper
freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro stems
6 cups low-sodium canned vegetable broth
salt to taste

1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
4 tablespoons non-fat sour cream

1. Drain the beans and set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a 4-quart pot over low-medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the onion, celery, green pepper and jalapeño pepper, season lightly with black pepper and cook until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.

3. Add the bay leaf, cilantro stems, beans and broth and bring to a boil quickly over high heat.

4. Lower the heat and simmer until the beans are completely tender, about 30 to 40 minutes.

5. Remove and discard the bay leaf, puree half of the soup in a blender and then add it to the rest of the soup. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

6. Blend the cilantro leaves, lime juice and sour cream together. (i put them in a blender)

7. Serve the soup in warm bowls with a dollop of cilantro-lime cream.

NOTE: Do not add salt until the beans are fully cooked because salt will prevent them from becoming tender.

I didnt' have enough stuff for the whole recipe, all I added was 2 cans black beans and 1 can Kidney beans both rinsed, and it worked well. I think you can tweak this recipe and it still turns out great.
Serving Size: about 1 cup Number of Servings: 8
Per Serving Calories 203 Carbohydrate 34 g Fat 2 g Fiber 12 g Protein 13 g Saturated Fat 1 g Sodium 250 g

Honey Oatmeal Cookies

I've been wanting to start subsituting honey for sugar because of the health benefits and such. (there is so much more to read, but this is a good site to just break it all down) But I have been sort of hesitant, so I found this on the internet and thought it a great place to start. They seem a little soggy before baking, and I was surprised how well they turned out and made a really soft cookie. Some of them were really crumbly, they definatly need time to cool. They were way fast to make too. I think next time I make them I would add less brown sugar so they aren't so sweet. But that is personal preference.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/2 cup whole wheat flour(all-purpouse is good too)
1/2 teaspoon salt (i usually never add salt to my recipes)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (aka oatmeal)

I also added some cinnamon and vanilla

about 1/2 cup chopped dates or fig or raisins or currant or chocolate or cinnamon chips or chopped nuts, etc (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray (just for convenience).

2. Using a mixer with the paddle attachment, mix together the butter, brown sugar, honey, egg and water thoroughly.

3. Sift together the dry ingredients then stir in the oats. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix. Add any additional ingredients you've chosen.

4. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

I figured out the calories for these cookies:

If you make 21 cookies it is 70 calories per cookie, and only 1.9 g of fat.

Soft Pretzels

This is a recipe I was hesitant to try, but it turned out GREAT!! I tried to make them with reagan and zack but with reagan trying to eat the yeast and getting dough in her hair and all over her face...let's just say my patience level was falling...dramatically...so once she was in bed zack and I finished up and they are so yummy!

I was hesitant to try these because of the part where you have to boil them in a baking soda bath, but it wasn't as bad as I had originally thought it would be. So if you have some time, it really was a fun recipe. Zack like to roll the "snakes" and thought it was kind of like playdough.


Ingredients
2 tablespoons warm water, plus 1 1/3 cups warm water
1 package dry yeast
1/3 cup brown sugar
5 cups flour
1/2 cup baking soda
Kosher salt

Directions
In a large mixing bowl, mix 2 tablespoons warm water with the yeast to dissolve it. Then stir in the remaining warm water and brown sugar. Place bowl on a mixer and using a dough hook, gradually add the flour and continue mixing until it forms a ball. Turn it out onto a work surface and knead the dough to make it smooth. Use enough flour on your work surface so the dough is not sticky.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.

Butter 2 sheet pans. Bring 2 quarts of water and the baking soda to boil in a large saucepan*. Cut dough up into golf ball size pieces(mine were more like tennis balls). Then roll them into 1/2-inch thick worms. Form a U then cross the ends, twisting at the middle. Fold the ends back down to meet the U and press to secure the dough.

Drop it into the boiling water for 30 seconds then fish it out and place it on the greased sheet pan. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Bake for 8 minutes or until golden brown.

*I had read on another recipe not to use an aluminum pan, but not sure why.

Banana Bread

This is a great recipe when your bananas go bad. And the kiddos will love to help smash the bananas.

2 oz soft butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tbl Vanilla

2 Tbl Cinnamon

1 lg egg

1 1/2 cup self rising flour*

125 ml or 8 Tablespoons milk

3 smashed bananas

Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes

Grease the loaf tin with lots of butter. Cream the sugar and butter together, add vanilla and cinnamon and blend. Then add the egg and milk, mix well. Next, add the flour once mixed, fold in the bananas. You can also add chopped walnuts at this point.

*If you do not have self rising flour simply add 2 1.4 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt to the flour before mixing. You can also use 50% wheat 50% white flour to make it healthier.

a very basic cheese sauce

I halved this recipe and it was plenty for our little family.

4 tbsp. butter
2 c. milk
1/4 c. flour

Cheese: I added 4 slices of cheese when I halved this. But the directions say: Remove basic sauce from heat. Add 1 1/2 cups diced cheese 3 minutes before serving. I just think that is way too much cheese.

In frying pan melt butter, add flour over medium high heat. Mix until mixture looks like dough - "RUE". Slowly add milk stirring rapidly. Cook until mixture is same texture, add more milk, continue until thickness desired. Serve over noodles.