Chedder Chicken Soup

Sorry this is not a great picture but it is a great soup.  I've had a few people ask me for this one.  It's from Eating Better: Recipes and tips from Home Economics teachers.  This was a cookbook someone gave me when I was married.  All the recipes are from home ec teachers throughout Utah, Nevada, and mostly California.  I actually haven't tried too many from this cookbook, but this one is excellent.  It was submitted by Laurie Owen of Challenger Middle School, San Diego, CA.  I actually prefer the soup with less chicken and more potatoes, and often time I don't have the corn or bacon since I don't always have those things on hand.  But it still always tastes good.

Chedder Chicken Chowder

2 slices of bacon
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup red bell pepper, diced
2 cloved garlic, minced
4 1/2 cup chicken broth
1 3/4 cup red potatoes, diced
2 1/4 cup frozen whole kernel corn
1/2 cup flour
2 cups 2% milk
3/4 cup chedder cheese, shredded

Cook bacon until crisp.  Remove from pan and set aside.  Add chicken, onion, bell pepper, and garlic to drippings and saute for 5 minutes.  Add broth and potatoes and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender; add corn.  Place flour in bowl, stirring with a wire whisk gradually add milk.  After it's mixed add to soup.  Bring to boil, then reduce to medium heat and simmer 15 minutes to thicken.  Stir in chedder cheese and top with bacon bits.

Yummy homemade ketchup (allrecipes.com)

So here is a jar of some ketchup I made, the recipe is not much like a regular ketchup, I like it a lot more.  It's not quite as sweet.  I show it in a jar, but I didn't can it.  I would never can a recipe that hasn't been tested.  Botulism is a real serious thing for a child to get and it most commonly occurs with home canned foods. Much of my family thinks I'm a little extreme about canning correctly. This is what comes of taking food science and nutrition classes in my major.  When I do make it, I make enough for a few jars and since it's warm when I put it in the jar it does seal the lid, but I keep it in the fridge.  It can keep for quite a while in th fridge.  I don't follow the recipe in the sense of disposing of anything from the tomatoes, it might not be the best consistency for some things but it's more nutritional.  I love it on hash browns, hamburgers, and breakfast burritos.  Some of the ingredients are really hard to find so I show the substitute that I use.

 

Ketchup (allrecipes.com)

• 6 large tomatoes, quartered (I just puree them in blender instead of doing it after cooking)
• 1 bulb fennel, chopped (1 tsp crushed fennel seed)
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup molasses (3 TBSP brown sugar OR ¼ c dark corn syrup)
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 10 whole cloves (1 ¼ tsp ground cloves)
• 2 whole star anise pods (1 tsp anise extract)
• 1 tablespoon salt

1.      In a large saucepan combine tomatoes, fennel, onion, garlic, sugar, molasses, vinegar, cloves, anise pods and salt. Reduce over low heat until mixture becomes very thick.

2.      Puree mixture in a blender and strain through a mesh strainer. Chill and store in refrigerator.

 

 

Mom's Strawberry Cheesecake

I can turn down most every treat, I can't say that I even enjoy most treats when I don't turn them down, but cheesecake is certainly the exception.  I consider cheesecake one of my weaknesses. I don't think that I have ever refused any cheesecake offered to me, they are all so delicious.  This recipe is the no-bake one I grew up eating.  The best thing about this no-bake cheescake recipe is the crust.  It's not a graham cracker or cookie type crust, it's made with pecans or walnuts, need I say more?  

Crust:
Mix together 1 cube of melted butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup crucshed pecans or walnuts, and 1 cup flour and put in a 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350 until it begins to brown.  Then take out of the oven and crumble.

Filling:
1--8 oz package of cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 cup whipped cream
Blend cream chees and sugar together with fork.  Add to the whipped cream and put over the cooled crust.

Strawberry glaze:
Boil 1 cup strawberries in 1 cup of water.  Mash with a potato masher. Strain juice and discard the rest.  Stir together 3/4 cup sugar and 2 Tbsp. cornstarch and add to juice.  Add 1 tsp. lemon juice and if desired red food coloring to the mixture.  Cook until thickened.  Cover filling with slices of strawberries and spoon glaze over strawberries.