new year

Wow. Last published post, July 13th!!
Yeah, you can say the rest of the summer and the fall (and the winter so far?) had gotten away from me. We had what seemed visitor after visitor and then trip after trip and while it's true that I let life and lazyness get in the way of smart meal planning more often that usual, it didn't completely disappear as the void in this blog would have you believe.

But it's a new year with a new start and it's good to be back!
I have some really yummy recipes that I've used a lot (in the last six months) and I want to get them on here to record and share. I've got a new motivation to keep up with the recording of recipes on here as I went to whip up one of my New Year's Dinner staples, one which I only had a bookmark/link to and it was gone. I almost cried. So from now on at the very least, all my faves are being typed up or pasted on these pages here so I know they won't disappear on me!!

Here's one to get us started...
It's been really really cold in our neck of the woods ever since Christmas (woke up to -6° this morning) and while I'm not normally an "I like soup" kind of person very often, these arctic days have had me whipping up a pot or two more often. This soup I've actually made twice in the last two weeks. Yummy!
It's a quick and heartier replacement for my usual Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup you can find here.

Here's the recipe snatched directly from Picky Palate:
(thanks Jenny!)

Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, finely diced
4 celery stalks, diced
6 large carrots, peeled and diced
4 Cups fresh baby spinach leaves, coarsely chopped
4 cans chicken broth
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
6 oz dry chow mein stir fry noodles (they work awesome in soup!!)
Pinch of salt and fresh cracked pepper
Pinch of Lawry’s Garlic Salt with Parsley

1. Heat oil in large dutch oven over medium heat. When hot, saute onion, bell pepper, celery, carrots and spinach for 5 minutes or until vegetables are softened. Pour in chicken broth and add chicken breast. Bring to high heat until just starting to boil. Reduce heat and add in noodles. Stir until softened, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, season according to taste with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Simmer until ready to serve!!

8-10 large servings

[my notes: both times I made this I've actually just picked up a ready to go rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and shredded it right off the bone... yummy and easy! I also have had some extra fresh mushrooms on hand and have chopped those up and added to the veggies. Totally the kind of soup that you can just throw together whatever you have on hand.]

I made this last Friday evening with some sweet potato fries and some warm beer bread while we had friends over for dinner... friends who have been fighting colds and sickness and pneumonia for the past couple of weeks... in between sipping and exclamations of "yummy!" my friend said, "Oh, I can tell this is making me better already!"