Weekly Menu Plan

This week I am going off of our monthly plan for a few reasons:

1.  I want  to use up some items I have in the fridge and freezer.

2.  I want to do some bulk cooking – Items for the freezer.

3. We are finishing our American Girl unit on Felicity this week and we want to make some foods from her time period.

One of the things I love about having a monthly menu plan is that I can make changes as needed and still feel on top of the weekly meal process.

This week we will be having:

Monday – Beans and Rice (making large batch of beans to make Maxwell Burrito Beans for the Freezer)

Tuesday – Cream Tuna & Pea over Biscuits (old family favorite easy meal)

Wednesday – Quesadillas (using up fridge items)

Thursday- Dinner in a Pumpkin Casserole (as Scheduled)

Friday – American Girl Dinner

Saturday – Clam Chowder and American Girl Party

Sunday – Creamy Broccoli & Cauliflower Soup

I will post recipes and pictures from our American Girl meal and party next week.

 Crock Pot Pinto Beans

2 -4 cups of Pinto Beans (depending on how large batch you want to make)

       washed, rinsed and soaked beans overnight

add soaked beans to crock pot

1 onion chopped (I also will add minced garlic if I have it)

garlic power, garlic salt, cumin, chili powder (I just sprinkle a bunch of each of these to taste)

water to cover beans slightly over top of beans

cook beans on high until they are tender (3-4 hours)

I do not  measure for this recipe because I have made it so many times for many years. 

For the Maxwell Beans I do not make as large of a batch that their recipe calls for.  I will use my leftover beans and add the cooked onions and jalapenos into a blender and blend until smooth like refried beans, put into containers and freeze. Next time I make the Beans I am going to add the onions and jalapenos to the crock pot while we are cooking them and see how they turn out.  This would save me a step if they taste as good. These beans are great and are so easy to pull out a container for quick burritos.

 Cream Tuna and Pea Soup over Biscuits

5 cups of whole milk

2 cans of tuna drained

2 – 3 cans of peas (keep liquid of one of the cans – adds flavor)

3 tablespoons of butter

3 - 4 tablespoons of flour

4 packages of  Canned Biscuits

Bake biscuits according to directions on package.

Add milk, peas and rinsed and drained tuna into a sauce pan, heat until it is very hot but not boiling. 

Make rough out of the butter and flour ( melt butter and add flour to make a paste)

Add rough to the milk mixture and stir until the soup has thickened, if it does not make more rough to thicken it.

serve the creamy soup mixture over broken up biscuits in a bowl. Some of my kiddos will eat the soup and dip the biscuits in the soup.

linking up to check it out for other meal planning ideas.

Hope you enjoy~

Eucharisteo–Give Thanks

above our window is a reminder…

a reminder to give thanks…   a reminder to live a life of thanks… 

the word Eucharisteo. 

I first heard of this word while growing up in church.  We would talk about the Eucharist.  I did not fully understand the meaning then.  Not until I read Ann Voskamp’s blog and book “One Thousand Gifts” 

                a life changing book…  a life changing habit… to give thanks – daily

I love word studies – the power that comes from a word when you fully understand it…

Eucharisteo

The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon - Strong's Number:   2168
yoo-khar-is-teh'-o  - Verb

Definition

1. to be grateful, feel thankful
2. give thanks

Eucharisteo is a verb, an action word.

It takes action to give thanks…

                          it is not just a feeling, because simple put… some days you just do not feel like giving thanks… 

and some days it is plain hard to find the thanks in the day…  

                             some days it takes strength and courage to be grateful…  

                                                  but the blessing of this habit is powerful… 

                                                                         because the words bring power…

giving thanks puts the focus on the “living word”                    

            the one whose name is The Word…   In is name is power. 

                      in everything give thanks ; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.    -Thessalonians 5:18

                                  always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ   - Ephesians 5:20

With Thanksgiving around the corner, we will be using our “Devotion Tree” – our tree of life…

            we will be using this tree to reflect on Eucharisteo.

                            –we will choose gratefulness…  listing them each day – one by one.

                                              we will give thanks  until it becomes a way of life… a feeling of  fullness of life…

      we will choice  to live thankful full lives…       as we place our focus on the one who lived life to the fullest.  

 

We are using Ann Voskamps

   “Thanksgiving Tree” ornaments…

             check them out here:  

                          The Thanks Giving Tree {Free Printable} 

I made a new devotional to go with these for our morning devotion time together.

We will be using this for the week before Thanksgiving.  Each of the 3 silly sisters and I will pick our own scripture leaf to reflect on and share what God is saying to us.  I have included enough sheets for the whole month in case we decide in a future year to use these for the whole  month.

    

The Thanks Giving Tree: Giving Thanks to Thanks Living – a Thanksgiving Devotional

Won’t you join us in Living a life of devotion~ The Eucharisteo Life~

 

Maxwell Burrito Recipe

 

Maxwell Burrito Filling

This recipe is basically a refried bean burrito filling recipe. The original recipe is made in huge amounts for a large family that makes these in large quantity and freezes.  When I am making these for the freezer I have made 1/2 of this recipe and still had allot for the freezer so I have broken this down into a bit size amount for regular purposes. This will still give you beans to freeze. (Just for kicks the original recipe is in parentheses)

 

Ingredients:

4 cups of uncooked pinto beans (28 cups uncooked pinto beans) 

1 – 2 Tbs. chili powder (2 1/2 c. chili powder )

2 tsps. salt (1/2 c. salt) – I use garlic salt and garlic powder

1 tsp. pepper (1/4 c. pepper)

1 –2 large onions (13-15 lbs. onions - we have never had too many onions)

2 –3 jalapeños ( 22 large jalapeños for fairly spicey) Add this according to your tastes.

Below are their detailed Directions: I just cook all ingredients in the crock pot either overnight on low or during day on high for 4 –6 hours. I have made them the way they say and they are awesome, but for time and convenience I started making them the other way and they are still very good.)

Maxwell’s Directions:

This recipe makes a large amount of burrito filling. We use two very large pots, plus two crock pots.

We make this on a weekend. Thursday evening, Sarah sorts and washes the pinto beans and lets them soak overnight. Then, she dumps out the water, and fills the pots with fresh water, and the beans cook all day until nice and soft. Late on Friday evening, Dad uses our big mixer and mashes the beans up until they are smooth as possible (no more chunks of beans). He drains most of the water out to get a nice consistency before mixing them up. You could cook the beans overnight to avoid having to store them in the refrig or oven overnight, but that just adds to the work in the morning.

At night is when we chop and puree the onions and jalapeños. Dad puts all the onions and jalapeños together in one pot and lets them cook over night. As you see, this requires a lot of dishes since you have LOTS of beans mashed up, onions/jalapeños cooking on the stove, etc. In the morning (you will all smell like burritos), Dad puts equal mixture of beans and onions/jalapeños together in each pot (this can be a challenge) and adds seasonings. The seasonings below are approximate—this recipe really depends on what you like taste wise. After stirring and mixing it all up, we let the burrito stuff cook all day and then package it up into containers. We will taste it periodically and add a little more of something if needed.

When Dad packages the burrito mixture up, he will dip from each pot to try and even out any taste difference. There is usually one pot that is best, but this way it is more consistent.

We used to add hamburger, but Dad found that you couldn't taste any difference and this makes it much less expensive.

More Notes:

We freeze the filling alone—not in tortillas. Then, on Sunday, we pull a container out of the freezer and put it in a pan, turn the oven on a lower temperature and pop it in the oven before we leave for church. When we come home, the filling is nice and warm, and we just have to set the table, put the tortillas and chips on, whatever toppings we want, etc. It usually lasts us about 9-12 meals.

(We had originally posted our burrito recipe on one of our message boards. Some of the ladies had asked questions, and Sarah responded to them.)

You say you let the onion/pepper mixture cook all night. Is that just simmering in water? Do you store the mashed beans in the fridge over night while the onion stuff is cooking?

When you puree the onion/pepper mixture, you will add some water to help it puree and make it smooth. We add as little water as possible otherwise, it gets too runny. It will be a thick mixture when you cook it. I would turn the mixture onto low so that it cooks but doesn't burn. The mashed beans go either in the fridge or oven on very low. If it is in the winter time, we can put them on our enclosed front porch.

Also, how do you chop your peppers? I have heard that you should wear rubber gloves, but I have never chopped any so don't know if this is true. Can you just put them in the food processor like you would the onions? Do you have to seed the peppers first? I've never handled a raw pepper, just the canned already chopped ones.

If you leave the seeds in it is more spicy. We usually leave them in. To start with, you might take them out and err on the side of the children's comfort. For us, we just wash the peppers and cut the top off, then into the blender. Be careful not to breathe the pepper vapors as they can be quite strong. The canned ones are fine, but do have more of a vinegar flavor. Whatever you prefer will work fine.

Do you put bean mixture in a corn/flour tortilla along with toppings, then roll up?

Yes, that way if one person likes tomatoes or cheese they can add it.

Also, after cooking the onion mixture all day, do you then mix it with cooked beans and cook all day again? How do you keep it from sticking/burning on the pots?

Actually, the onion mixture is just cooked over night. Then in the morning we combine the beans and spices and slow cook it all day. It takes a fair amount of sampling to get the spices right. We do have to stir it frequently (about every 15 minutes, setting a timer is important), and you have to make sure it is not turned up too high otherwise it will burn on the bottom.

You can find their original recipe here:  Maxwell Burritos

Enjoy~

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Ingredients

• 1 pumpkin (medium)
• 1 lb ground beef (may be sautéed with onions, celery and pepper)
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsps. brown sugar
• 4 ozs mushrooms (fresh or canned, sliced and drained)
• 1 can of water chestnuts drained and chopped
• 1 can cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup
• 2 cups rice (hot cooked)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F
   
2. Lightly grease a 10" circle in center of a baking sheet; set aside.
   
3. Place pumpkin on a firm surface. Using a sharp knife, cut out stem end and about 3 inches around stem. Cut on a diagonal by slanting knife from outer edge of pumpkin in toward center. Reserve top. Remove seeds and pulp; discard.
   
4. In a medium bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients. Spoon mixture into pumpkin. Replace top.
   
5. Place pumpkin on greased baking sheet. Bake about 1 hour in preheated oven until pumpkin is tender.
6. When serving scrap sides to get pumpkin along with the casserole.

This recipe is similar to this one but the original recipe I had added water chestnuts.  
I make this every year – has become a tradition.

Enjoy

Gratitude–key to the Fullness of Life

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life…
gratitude is the “key”  that unlocks the door to a life “full” - Abundant Living
grat·i·tude – noun

the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.

I love how this definitions says the “quality” of being… 

quality
- a distinguishing characteristic, property, or attribute
- a trait or feature of personality
- (Music, other) musical tone color; timbre

The key to a life of fullness,
             is the quality of being…

   an attribute      a character trait     a feature of your personality
      of your very being,
               something that you are.

Living a life of gratitude, 
  starts with giving thanks, 
     but that gratitude becomes a part of who you are.

and when it does-  there is a tune….  a tone…    a color…    a song…    a timbre -

The combination of qualities of a sound that distinguishes it from

other sounds of the same pitch and volume.

   Music tone color or quality of sound 

     a distinctive tone quality

a timbres song is  one “full” of tone -  a steady periodic sound, repeating its values in regular intervals…

      a song full of  color -  the blues or peace; the greens of new life, the reds of sacrifice; the yellows of joy.

           a song  full of pitch – those high’s and low’s and in-between places that life’s journey brings/

           a song full of volume – quiet mellow times and rambunctious loud times.
                             
   a song of thanksgiving -  a life of “living thanks”

                      ~  GRATITUDE ~

   the key unlocking…

 the doors of trials,
     and turning them in to times of peace
 the doors of pain,
     turning to moments of relief and comfort
 the doors of fear,
      turning to words of courage and assurance
  the doors of lacking,
      turning into more than enough

the key that turns all - into songs of praise…

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise for our God.
Many people will learn of this and be amazed; they will trust the LORD.    Psalm 40:3

I love how the Message Bible puts it...

He taught me how to sing the latest God-song, a praise-song to our God.
More and more people are seeing this:

they enter the mystery, abandoning themselves to God. 

He taught me how to sing…

 the song of gratitude
   the latest God-song,
a daily praise – a daily song…    to my God

He has given me the key -  to living “full”

to abundant life.

Menu Plan Monday

Here is our menu plan for this week:

 Week of 10/21– 10/27

Monday – Hawaiian Meatloaf & Mashed Potatoes is on the menu but I do not have any ground beef or turkey, and I have allot of chicken and a few mangos I bought a few weeks ago to try this recipe: Mango Chicken – so we will be substituting this meal for Meatloaf and rice for the Mashed Potatoes
Tuesday – Chicken Ranch Wraps
Wednesday – Taco Casserole or Enchiladas*
Friday – Nachos
Saturday –Hot Dog Bar
Sunday – Cheesy Broccoli Soup


*double meal for freezer

This is what our Breakfast and Lunch Menu Plan looks like (click for larger version)
I also made a blank Dinner Menu Plan so I can write out ideas for meals under our daily themes.

Monday – Meaty or Mexican Monday –  Beef, Pork or Chicken Meal or a  Mexican Dish
Tuesday – Trusty or Tortilla Tuesday  - Make a meal that is tried and true for us or Burritos or Enchiladas from the freezer (this is our youth night so we leave early)
Wednesday – Casserole or Worry Free Wednesday – meals that are easy to put together
Thursday – Breakfast for Dinner Thursday – We make pancakes, french toast or egg dish with sausage or bacon.
Friday – Pizza Friday – We have a variety of homemade pizza options
Saturday – BBQ or Bar Saturday – See this post for Bar Ideas
Sunday -  Soup, Sandwich or Salad Sunday – Sandwiches and Salad in Spring and Summer and Soup and Sandwiches for Autumn and Winter

 

If you want your own copy click below for printable version you prefer – File also includes blank version:

PDF
DOC

That is our plan for the week.  Linking up to: Check it out for other menu plan ideas.

Toppings Galore & Food Bars

With a large family it can be difficult meeting the diverse and unique tastes of each individual person. 

I am not one of those mama’s that will make different items for each child…  sorry, it is not going to happen…

If I did, I knew it would start a habit that would never end and to be quite honest, I do not enjoy cooking that much.

So, I came up with a solution that helps us…  When we have certain meals, I will have a variety of toppings.
  because who doesn’t like putting toppings on their food…

We will also have a least one meal a week that caters to having toppings or what I call “Food Bars.”
Some of the Food Bars we have are”

Taco Bar 

Nacho Bar

Burrito Bar

Enchilada Bar 

Pizza Bar 

Baked Potato Bar 

Salad Bar

Here are a few that do not really need it lots of toppings…     but we enjoy having choices… 

                Hot Dog Bar
                Hamburger Bar
                Black Bean Burger Bar
                Chicken Burger Bar
                 
Last week we had a pizza bar for my special guys birthday and hubby made this awesome salad from all the toppings… 
Some of the toppings we like to have are: 

yellow onions

red onions

grilled onions

pickles

relish

red, green, orange, yellow peppers

tomatoes

black olives

mushrooms

beans (canned or homemade)

shredded cheese

nacho cheese

salsa

pepperoni

bacon bits

taco meat mix

sloppy joe meat mix

mexican meat mix

shredded chicken mix

sour cream

guacamole

ranch dressing

shredded lettuce

slice veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini) 

now of course we do not have all these toppings at one time…   we pick ones that go with the main course and we  have 5- 10 different topping choices.

With the leftovers we will either save them for another meal that week, for salad toppings or mix them together to add to soup or omelets during the weekend.

I will make the meat mixes ahead of time and have them in a freezer.  Here are some of our recipes: 

Seasoning Mixes

Sloppy Joes Mix

Mexican Meat Mix or (shredded beef or chicken with salsa or taco sauce)

Bean Burrito Mix

Baked Potato Bar

Enchiladas Sauce  

Saturday nights I have started to have “bar” nights.  This is one of those nights I do not feel like cooking after a busy week of school.

Enjoy~

Pizza Sandwiches

Friday night is pizza night at our house.  Recently I bought these two buckets from the dollar tree to store pizza fixings in them.  I buy pepperoni and shredded cheese in bulk, so I divide them into smaller zip lock bags and put them in these buckets along with frozen pizza dough and containers of pizza sauce (homemade).  This way I will have the basic ingredients necessary to make pizza quickly.  This recipe really caught my eye.  Thought it would make a great addition to our pizza nights.

  Pizza Sandwiches

Pizza Sandwiches Recipe photo by Taste of Home

TOTAL TIME: Prep/Total Time: 20 min.

YIELD: 4

Ingredients

• 8 slices Italian bread (3/4 inch thick)

• 8 slices part-skim mozzarella cheese

• 8 slices tomato

• 4 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese

• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

• 24 slices pepperoni

• 1/4 cup butter, softened

• Pizza sauce, warmed

Directions

1. On four slices of bread, layer one slice of mozzarella, two slices of tomato, 1 teaspoon Parmesan cheese, a dash of garlic salt and six slices pepperoni. Top with remaining mozzarella and bread. Spread outside of sandwiches with butter.
2. On a hot griddle, toast sandwiches for 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Serve with pizza sauce. Yield: 4 servings.

Originally published as Pizza Sandwiches in Simple & Delicious November/December 2007, p20

I think texas toast would work great for this recipe.  I can get texas toast and french bread for 99 cents at our 99cent only store.

hope you enjoy – we are making this recipe tonight for our Pizza Night.  After a busy day at co-0p this will be a fun easy option~

Too Many Pumpkins– paper Pumpkin Patch

We have had our own version of too many pumpkins around here…

                    

We got a little obsessive about making our own paper pumpkin patch.

Here are the directions for making these:

  Version 1

   Version 2

      Version 3

 

  Version 4

  Version 5

These are all easy to make and take little supplies.  Be careful…   they are addicting to make.

Happy Fall~

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork - Mexican Meat Mix

  Mexican Meat Recipes:

 Cafe Rio Sweet Pork  

 

Ingredients

• 1 Pork Shoulder/Butt  
• 1 Old El Paso Sauce Packet (Roasted Garlic
• 1 Cup Root Beer (A&W)
• 2 Cups Light Brown Sugar                                                                                   

Instructions

1. Place the pork in a slow cooker. Mix the sauce, rootbeer and brown sugar in a bowl and pour all over the pork. Cook on low for 6 hours, remove the meat and shred (it should be quite easy and tender). Place the meat back in the sauce and cook on low for an additional 2 hours.
2. Serve immediately.

Notes-

Rumor has it that Dr Pepper or Coke are the preferred pops for Cafe Rio, but with this roasted garlic sauce Root Beer seemed to bring out the best flavor

 

Recipe from: http://www.ohsweetbasil.com/2013/08/sweet-pork-taco-bowls.html

and here is one even easier than the two above:

Sweet Pork

Ingredients

• 1 (3 -5 lb) boneless pork roast
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed

Directions

1. Place ingredients in a greased slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW heat for 8-10 hours.
2. Shred pork with a fork. Keep lid off after shredding for about 15 minutes so juice will thicken.
3. Use meat in burritos, tacos, or salads.
4. If freezing, keep juice and freeze with meat.

Recipe from: http://www.food.com/recipeprint.do?rid=213880

I would try using beef or chicken to these recipes in place of the pork.  Any of these varieties would make a killer Mexican meat recipe.

enjoy~
 

saying “no” to His blessings

Over the years, during this time of the year…   the harvest season – the pumpkin season

        we have taken out all of our books about autumn, leaves, apples,  and pumpkins

                                and place them in a basket to read or look at.

among this array of books is one called Too Many Pumpkins…

this book is about Rebecca Estelle…

each year in the spring she would plant her garden.  She planted carrots and beans, tomatoes and peas, corn and rutabagas.  She grew a little bit of everything-

                            except pumpkins…   Rebecca Estelle hated pumpkins.

She said “no” to pumpkins. 

You see when Rebecca Estelle was young, money had be tight and for an entire month all they had to eat were pumpkins.  Baked pumpkins, steamed pumpkins, stewed pumpkins, pumpkins for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  So, she decided she would never eat pumpkins again.  She did not want to even look at one…

She said “no” to pumpkins…

One Fall day while she was raking her yard, a huge pumpkin truck passed by.  She heard it coming, so she turned away, not to see it. But a huge pumpkin fell off the truck and broke open all over the edge of her yard.  She shoveled some dirt over the broken pieces and buried all evidence of that reminder of lacking. 

When spring came again the once hidden seeds became a plant of green vines.  She decided to ignore it and not water or tend to it, hoping it would wilt away and die.  But the vines just continued to grow. She cut them down, and dug then out, but week after week they continued to grow. She decided to ignore them and not walk on that side of the yard. 

One autumn day, she had forgotten why she did not go to that side of the house and when she walked around the corner, she saw pumpkins growing everywhere.

She had said “no” to pumpkins…   but her Creator had said “yes”

so she took all those pumpkins and made pumpkin, bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cake, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin tarts and pumpkin cookies…

A rich harvest of pumpkin goodness…

hoping to get rid of them all to the people in town.  But when she could not carry all those pumpkin dishes she knew the people would need to come to her.  She made jack o lanterns and lite each one along side the yard and path and the people came.

Young and old… everyone in town came. They enjoyed  fellowship together as they ate the pumpkin delights and as they left she blessed each one of the towns people with the blessing she said “no” to, giving away every baked item, every lantern and a bag of seeds for them to start their own harvest of blessing.  She gave away everything that reminded her of the pumpkins she had always hated…  except a handful of seeds, that she tucked away until next spring…

seeds of healing…

       seeds of restoration…

                 seeds a redemption…

                         seeds of blessing…

        The hubs and I once said no…       to  the Lord…    no to His blessings…

We said “no” to children…

              out of hurts…             out of fear…          out of lacking…

we said “no” - 

Yet, He knew our hearts….          He knew our hurts…              He knew our fears…

and He said “yes”  -

and one by one…

He replaced those seeds of fear with the seeds of love…

      He replaced those seeds of hurt with seeds of healing…

             He replaced those seeds of lacking with seeds of plenty…

     Our “no” to  His blessing…   became our “yes” to all He had for us…

 

and one by one these seeds of blessing are being multiplied for His glory…

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.    ~James 1:17

Living in His Blessings~

Menu Plan Monday

I want to get back to posting my menus online.  This helps me when I am planning our monthly meals.  I can look back at old menu plans and I do not have to come up with all new ideas, this saves some of the brain work for me.

Our October Monthly Menu looks like this:
I post this on my Fridge and then write the weekly menu plan on my chalk board painted fridge. I love my chalk board section of our fridge.



This weeks menu is:

Monday – Ranchero Chicken
(did not get the chicken out) so I made soup and quesadillas with all the left over veggies in the fridge, needed to use them up.
Tuesday – Black Bean Burgers
Wednesday – Tater Tot Casserole
Thursday – Panda Express Noodles
Friday – Pizza Bread Sandwiches
Saturday – Chicken Sandwich Bar
Sunday -  Meatball Soup




I will be posting these recipes later in the week as many of them  are ones I do not have on my blog.

I have found that having a meal plan is essential for this family…  especially if they want to be fed.

Enjoy your week~

Souper Sunday

I love that Autumn weather brings a desire for comfort food, the kind that warms the belly.  I love soups and it is soup and sandwiches on Sunday during Autumn and Winter in our household. So, I have been reviewing some of our favorites:

EASY CROCKPOT POTATO SOUP

QUICK AND EASY BLACK BEAN SOUP

MEATBALL SOUP

CHICKEN WILD RICE SOUP

COWBOY STEW

TACO SOUP

SPICEY CHICKEN SOUP

and looking for some new ones -

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

By Lil' Luna

A yummy and easy homemade version of Chicken Noodle Soup.

Ingredients

• 6 cups water
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes crushed
• 1/2 cup celery diced
• 2/3 bag homemade-style egg pasta
• pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a large pot combine 6 cups water, chicken breasts and salt. Boil until the chicken is cooked completely.
2. Remove your chicken from the water and let cool. Cover with Saran Wrap and place in fridge.
3. Strain the broth from the cooked chicken so that broth is clear. Return broth to your pot.
4. Add carrots, celery and crushed chicken bouillon cubes to your broth. Bring to a boil.
5. Add your noodles once soup is boiling. Simmer for approximately 15-20 minutes.
6. Dice your chicken into cubes while your soup is simmering. Add chicken to the soup and simmer for 5-10 more minutes. Add pepper to taste.

and

Crock-Pot Hawaiian Chicken Chili

Ingredients

• 2-3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 C onion, diced
• 1 C green pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (20 oz) can pineapple chunks, drained w/ juice reserved
• 1 (10 oz) can Ro-Tel Tomatoes, or diced tomatoes w/ green chiles
• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (14. oz) can kidney beans, drained
• 1 (14.5 oz) can black beans, drained
• 1 C prepared BBQ sauce
• 3 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger

Instructions

1. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper and brown in olive oil just until they have some color but are not cooked through.
2. Place chicken in crock pot and top with onion, bell peper, tomatoes, beans, BBQ sauce, and 3/4 C of the reserved pineapple juice.
3. Stir chili powder, cumin, and ginger into the chili and set crock pot to cook on LOW for 6- 8 hours, or HIGH for 3-4.
4. Remove chicken from chili and shred into bite-sized pieces. Return to chili and stir in pineapple chunks. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

http://www.heatherlikesfood.com/crock-pot-hawaiian-chicken-chili/

and

Chicken Pot Pie Soup Recipe

  Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Ingredients

• 2 cup chicken – diced and cooked
• 3 Tbsp of unsalted butter
• ¼ of Yellow Onion
• 4 celery stalks, diced
• 1½ cup thawed broccoli
• ¼ cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup 2% of Milk
• ½ tsp of Red Pepper Flakes
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of black pepper
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie or Pizza Crust

Instructions

1. In a large pot ( over medium heat) – melt butter – add onions, celery, broccoli – cook for 5 minutes
2. Add in flour – stir constantly for 1 minute
3. Add in liquids and seasonings – broth, milk, cream, pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes.
4. Add chicken
5. Cover for 10 minutes – stir – cook for 5 more minutes
6. During this time cut out dipper – about 4 inches each. Bake on parchment paper at 450 for 8 minutes
7. Pour soup into a bowl- sprinkle cheese on top and garnish with a dipper
8. Enjoy!

http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2013/10/chicken-pot-pie-soup-recipe/

I am looking forward to trying these new ones for our “Souper Sundays.”

Enjoy~