How many of you have a whole chicken or even a few chicken breasts left over from dinner earlier this week? I know I do.

After you’ve made all the chicken quesadillas you can stomach and made enough chicken salad to last you til next summer, what do you do? Joanne and Adam from Inspired Taste say you should make a pot of good ol’ chicken noodle soup! I have to agree.

I’d say they’re even experts when it comes to the topic of chicken soup, you can count on them to offer tips on making your bowl extra delicious. For instance, I’ve never thought about adding mashed potatoes to the broth! And here I am adding flour to thicken my broths, it’s time for a change! Check out their other tips… and also, be sure to check out the yummy chicken soup recipe :).

Leftover Chicken Noodle Soup

Since its just the two of us, Adam and I almost always have leftovers. We used to be so terrible about using them up, but are getting better and actually have found that sometimes what you make with the leftovers turn out to be tastier than the original meal anyway. Here are some tips for great leftover chicken soup.

* Depending on what you have in stock, create a base using an assortment of onions, garlic, celery and carrots. Cut the onions, celery and carrots into 1/2 inch dice for a heartier soup.
* As a basic process, saute your base vegetables for about 10 minutes to draw out the natural sugars, then add any dried herbs and seasonings along with the leftover chicken and finally add the chicken stock, I usually add 4 cups and simmer for about 20 minutes.
* Add some pasta, rice or uncooked potatoes to the soup for some heartiness, for 4 cups of chicken broth use about 1/2 - 3/4 cups of uncooked rice and pasta and 1 large uncooked potato cut into cubes. If you are using rice, add it at the same time as the chicken stock and simmer for 20 minutes. If you are adding pasta, add it 10 minutes before serving so the pasta does not get overcooked. For potatoes, add them 5 minutes into sauteing the base vegetables.
* Just before you add chicken stock add a mixture of dried herbs for extra depth of flavor, my favorites are to add one bay leaf and about a tablespoon of herbs de Provence per 4 cups of chicken stock
* Season all layers of the soup with salt and pepper to create a well-seasoned soup. While sauteing the base vegetables lightly season with salt and pepper, then after adding the chicken broth season to taste, this way the soup will be seasoned not salty. By adding salt at the beginning of the process, you are able to draw out the natural sweetness of the base vegetables, adding more flavor to the soup. If you only add salt at the end, it is very easy to find yourself with a salty soup.
* If you have it in stock, add one can of diced tomatoes for a richer broth or a can of beans, just make sure you rinse the beans before adding them to the soup.
* If you have some to use up, add leftover mashed potatoes to the broth to make a thicker soup.
* For a creamier and luscious soup you could add about 1/4 cup of milk or half and half. This also rounds out the flavors nicely.

Leftover Chicken Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 carrots

1 medium onion

3 celery stalks

1 garlic clove, minced

1 cup leftover chicken

1 tablespoon herds de Provence

1 bay leaf

4 cups low-sodium chicken stock

1 can diced tomatoes

3/4 cup uncooked pasta

salt and pepper

Dice the carrots, onion and celery into 1/2 inch dice. Add the olive oil and diced vegetables to a large soup pot over medium heat, lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper), then saute for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, add the minced garlic then saute for another 5 minutes.

Add the herbs de Provence and chicken to the vegetables then saute for another minute. Add the bay leaf, chicken stock and tomatoes then bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, then season to taste.

After 10 minutes, add the pasta and continue to simmer for an additional 10 minutes or until the pasta and vegetables are cooked.

Want to know something? I prepared that dish in under half an hour! If you missed yesterday’s post, where I discussed Dr_Mom’s Moroccan Chicken with Green Olives and Lemons, then it’s a good thing you stopped by today. Everything I said about the recipe yesterday still holds true today: the aroma of this dish is heavenly!

If you don’t have time to stand in front of the stove all evening, think about preparing the sauce in advance then cooking the chicken in the crock pot with the sauce a little later. I was curious to see how the dish would come out if I baked it. So that’s exactly what I did. I snapped the photo before popping the cast iron pan in the oven, then I covered it with foil and baked it at 350 for about an hour and 15 minutes.

What else did I do differently? Not much, because this recipe works as is. I did add a little bit of honey and also thickened the sauce by reducing it and adding a bit of potato flour. The end result? A slightly sweet and savory dish with so much flavor, you can serve it over a bed of plain white rice and still feel like you’re enjoying a fancy meal… without the headache of having to prepare a complicated recipe. Simple and delicious!

It’s the middle of the week. It’s hot outside. Who wants to spend the evening cooking? Well, as much as I love to cook, even I don’t care to spend weeknights slaving and sweating over a hot stove! On days like this, I usually go for the simple but filling meals. Spaghetti’s always a good choice, but I also have to get rid of all those veggies sitting in my fridge…

If you’re like me, you grocery shop on the weekends, probably buy more produce than you know what to do with, and you’re left with over-ripe fruits and veggies come Thursday and Friday. Ok, so we have all these dilemmas and only one meal to cook. Let’s find a spaghetti recipe that covers all the bases, like Reeni’s Fuhgettaboutit Meat Sauce.

Simple? Yes! Tasty? Yes again. And guess what else? I was able to use most of this week’s veggies in the sauce. I cloned the recipe and threw in a few extra veggies, I also added tomato sauce instead of paste because I didn’t have the latter. The nice bag of baby spinach that needed to be used up? I threw that in, along with a can of olives for extra flavor. Don’t forget to chop up and add the tomato that’s about to go green, because this is spaghetti after all! Now instead of spaghetti and meat sauce, you’ll be enjoying spaghetti and veggie meat sauce!

So many food groups in one meal, that’s the way to do it when you’re short on time and energy!

Who has a hard time following directions? And Who has a hard time following recipes to the T? ME! I do, I struggle with both. Oh, believe me, I’ve tried following recipes to the T, but sometimes my cooking instincts kick in (or the laziness of not reading the recipe instructions!) and I skip a step… or two or three. Thankfully, I came across a forgiving recipe that ginasheppard posted, it’s for Paula Deen’s BBQ Pork Sandwiches.

I know your mouth is watering at the thought of enjoying one of these sandwiches some time before the summer ends. But I’ve got to be honest, instead of sitting there salivating, get the ingredients together you’ll need to make Ms. Deen’s sandwich! The rub in the recipe is excellent. It’s got a good kick to it and would work on anything from a pork roast to chicken breasts. The best part? You can make the rub in large quantities and save it for later.

So how did I not follow directions this time? Well, between you and me, I totally left out the wet ingredients, like liquid smoke and apple juice! So how did I rescue the pork roast? Instead of pulling it apart and serving it up sandwich style, I decided to cook the roast with just the dry rub, then I sliced it into juicy slivers. After that, I mixed together the rest of the wet ingredients in a sauce pan (with a bit of flour for thickening) and let the pork simmer away in this sweet glaze, or smokey gravy. The end result? A flavorful dinner! It worked, give it a try!

With temperatures reaching 100 degrees this past weekend, I was in the mood for a cool and refreshing side to enjoy with my dinner. Usually when I think of pasta, I think of warm, heavy tomato based sauces and lots of cheese. Here’s a recipe that’s a little different from your everyday spaghetti and meat sauce meal.

The next time you’re having sandwiches and chips for lunch, throw Sensei’s Mom’s Macaroni Salad together. It’s easy to whip up… which is definitely a good thing, considering how tasty it came out; we gobbled this up! Delicious is all I have to say!

I chose to try this recipe over the weekend because it’s easy to adapt. I love all kinds of veggies, so I threw in some frozen peas to cool down the salad even more! By the time I mixed everything together, the peas were already thawed out… that gives you an idea of how hot it was this weekend!