Sunday, February 18, 2007

Soup and surprises







Look what arrived in the mail this weekend!It was a wonderful package from my "Yarn Focus Challenge Secret Pal". There is a gorgeous skein of red sock yarn called "Candy Stripes". I am not sure if she dyed the yarn. It has a "Kettle dyed" look to it. Then there is a Clover thread cutter. I have always looked at these in the catalog. I am anxious to try it out. There was the cutest little notepad and card. Thank you so much Secret pal....it was an unexpected surprise. In my last post, I posted about the "Blanket of Hope" that Rebekah is working on. Here are my squares for the project. The purple square is a pattern from page 8 of the "Second treasury of Knitting patterns". It is called the "Ripple Stripe" pattern. The wine color square is called "Square Lattice" from page 7 of the same book. I mentioned in another post....this book is well worth the money. It is a valuable resource. In other knitting....I am working on a pair of slipper socks. from a great little pattern. I will share those with you in the next post. they are just about finished. Julie was making chicken soup the other week. I have been craving some ever since. I just finished making a huge pot for our lunches this week. The recipe is from Paula Deen and available on the Food Network .It is my very favorite recipe for chicken soup. It has a wonderful combination of seasonings. Here is the recipe and I hope you enjoy it.

The Lady's Chicken Noodle Soup
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen


Stock: 1 (2 1/2 to 3-pound) fryer chicken, cut up
3 1/2 quarts water
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 bay leaves
3 chicken bouillon cubes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Soup:
2 cups sliced carrots
2 cups sliced celery, with leafy green tops
2 1/2 cups uncooked egg noodles
1 cup sliced mushrooms
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/3 cup cooking sherry 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 cup grated Parmesan,
3/4 cup heavy cream, optional
Seasoning salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Crusty French bread, for serving

For the stock: add all ingredients to a soup pot. Cook until chicken is tender, about 35 to 45 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool. Remove and discard bay leaves and onion. You should have approximately 3 quarts of stock. When chicken is cool enough to touch, pick bones clean, discarding bones, skin, and cartilage. Set chicken aside.
For the soup: bring stock back to a boil, add carrots, and cook for 3 minutes. Add celery and continue to cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Add egg noodles and cook according to directions on package. When noodles are done, add chicken, mushrooms, parsley, sherry and rosemary. Add Parmesan and cream, if using. Cook for another 2 minutes. Adjust seasoning, if needed, by adding seasoning salt and pepper. Enjoy along with a nice hot crusty loaf of French bread.
I am off to get a piping hot bowl right now.