Hearty Chicken Noodle Soup

This recipe comes from my neighborhood cookbook and we love it, but I haven't made it very often because the directions are messy. I'm going to attempt to clear them up here so that my mind can rest.

2/3 of a 16 oz. bag of Country Pasta noodles

Cook noodles according to package directions, drain and set aside.


4 cups chicken broth

1 small cube chicken bouillon

3 carrots, peeled and diced

2 ribs of celery, diced

1 small onion, diced

Put all ingredients into a large soup pot, bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and cook vegetables for about 10 minutes or until they're soft.

Add to the vegetables and chicken broth:

2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup

2 cups chicken, cooked and diced (I used a rotisserie chicken)

1/4 cup melted butter and 1/3 cup flour whisked together

1 cup milk

Salt and pepper

With a large whisk, blend ingredients together. Add cooked noodles and stir with a large wooden spoon.

Fresh Raspberry Pie

I had the brilliant idea to use something from the weekly specials at Kohler's (the local grocery store that advertises in the Lehi Free Press) in a recipe from the Lehi Historical Society Cookbook, make and photograph the recipe and publish it alongside the weekly Kohler's ad. The only hitch is we get the new ad on Monday and the paper is put together early on Tuesday. That means 24 hours to find the recipe, get ingredients, make it, take a picture of it. Are you sweating too?! It worked, though! And this pie was DELICIOUS. I cheated with a Marie Callendar's pie crust, but as always, back off.

1 c. sugar

1 c. water

3 Tb cornstarch

1 Tb white corn syrup

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 tsp red food coloring

3 Tb dry raspberry flavored Jell-O

1 quart or 4 cups fresh raspberries

1 pre-baked pie crust

In a heavy saucepan, combine sugar, water, cornstarch, corn syrup, salt, and food coloring. Bring to a boil and cool until nearly clear and thick. Add Jell-O and mix well. Cool. Fold in whole raspberries. Pour into baked pie shell.

Refrigerate. Serve with fresh whipped cream. (The recipe adds, "or Cool Whip," but you're better than that.)

Maya Angelou's Cold Potato Salad

I tried a lot of potato salad recipes before this one, but zero after this one. KnowwhatI'msayin'?! You'll need the Costco mayo jar for this :).

6 c. peeled, diced, cooked potatoes

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 c. finely diced celery

1 c. chopped dill pickles

1 c. sweet relish

8 large hard-boiled eggs, 4 chopped, 4 whole

2 c. mayonnaise

Fresh parsley, chopped

First! A perfect hard boiled egg: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Gently place each egg into the boiling water (I use a spoon). Continue to boil for 12 minutes. Drain water quickly and fill the pot with cold water and as many ice cubes as you can fit. If you have time, refrigerate the eggs for a while until you're ready to use them. About 90% of the eggs peel easily and perfectly.

Back to potato salad. Combine potatoes, onion, celery, pickles, and chopped eggs. Whisk mayo and sweet relish together. Pour a third of the sauce over the rest of the ingredients and stir, then pour the next third and stir, then the final third and stir. Slice the remaining four eggs and arrange on top of the salad in the bowl. Dust with parsley. Refrigerate for a few hours, or for as long as you can before serving.

Salmon with Cucumber Dill Sauce

Salmon is my favorite. I was craving it while I was at the grocery store yesterday and the guy at the fish counter (I was at Harmon's, btw) bore his testimony of Verlasso Salmon when I asked for salmon. They're raised in ocean water! Not so fishy taste! Vitamins! Whatever - wrap it up. But! It's the best salmon I've ever tasted. We used Allyn's recipe from the second Sisters' Cookbook, but I cut the sauce recipe in half as I always do and that's how I've listed it here. (It's still a lot of sauce.)

Salmon

4-5 lbs. fresh salmon filets

Olive Oil

Lemon Pepper Seasoning

Fresh Chopped Dill or substitute dry dill

Prepare a large cookie sheet by getting a big enough piece of tin foil to cover the bottom of it, then crumpling it up a little and spreading it out flat on the cookie sheet. Spread a little olive oil around with a paper towel on the tin foil.

Place the salmon filets skin side down on the foil-covered cookie sheet. Pour a little olive oil on each filet and rub it in with your fingers. Sprinkle each filet with lemon pepper and then dill. Sometimes I bake the fish in a 425 degree oven for about 17 minutes, which is fine. This time I did 10 minutes in a 425 degree oven, then I moved the fish to the second-to-the-top rack (about six inches from the top of the oven) and broiled it for four more minutes. That made the top a little crisp and it was perfectly cooked throughout without being dry. I recommend the broiled method if you can trust your oven. (Set a timer for 3 minutes on the broiler so you can keep a close eye on it.)

Cucumber Dill Sauce

1 c. peeled, seeded, and diced cucumbers

1 1/2 c. mayonnaise

3/4 c. sour cream

3 T. lemon juice

2 T. fresh or dried dill

3 tsp. lemon pepper seasoning

Whisk together mayo, sour cream, lemon juice, dill and lemon pepper seasoning before adding the cucumber. Refrigerate for a few minutes before serving.