Friday, February 20, 2009

Rusted Sun: baby food

A friend of mine from college, Alisa, has the sweetest little twins & she recently posted some of the stuff they've been eating, well, lots of the stuff they've been eating! I love her list of things I never would have thought to feed Addi so here is a link to it if you are interested. There are some really good ideas here including seaweed. FYI, Addi also really & surprisingly likes Baby MumMums(they look like styrofoam). I found them at Walmart so I don't think they are too difficult to find elsewhere.
Rusted Sun: baby food

The BEST EVER Chicken Soup

This recipe is from my mother in law. When I asked her for the recipe she said a little of this and some of that... arg, that wasn't what I wanted to hear! I didn't know how to cook so I needed measurements, exact instructions, but that wasn't to be so now I make it with a little of this and some of that too! So, I'll just tell you what I do & you can try it out for yourself.

1. First I grab 2 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts & toss them in a large pot of lightly salted water to boil.
2. While the chicken is boiling I dice up potatoes (about 4 med. size), 1/2 a white onion, and a bunch of baby carrots (the regular big carrots make it taste funny in my opinion).
3. Next I check to see if the chicken is done. If it is I pull it out of the water & toss the veggies in. If it's not I just let it boil longer until it is & mix up the stuff in #6 while I wait.
4. While the chicken is cooling a little I add the spices: thyme, parsley, bay leaf, rosemary(chopped up b/c Derek doesn't like the stick-ness of rosemary), some garlic salt, sage, and chicken bouillon cubes (5 or 6). I measure the amount of bouillon cubes just based on taste so I crush them up & sprinkle them in so the dissolve really fast. By the way, I use all dried spices, they work just fine.
5. Then I cut up the chicken & return it to the soup. My mother in law tears it up but I like them cubed for some reason (maybe it's more consistent & I seem to like that).
6. After the chicken goes back in I whisk together a can of evaporated milk and a can of cream of chicken soup (not reduced fat, cuz that's yucky) & pour it into the pot.
7. Finally I add about a cup of rice (minute rice works nicely) & let it simmer until everybody's ready to eat.

The recipe sounds involved but it's really pretty simple once you get it down & figure out the spice amounts that you like. I really just dump some in so I don't know how much exactly to tell you. Maybe one of these days I'll measure them out but for now this is it.

This really is the BEST chicken soup I've ever tasted. It is especially nice on a cold day and the next day, and the next day, and the next..... Enjoy!