Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup

I threw this soup together for dinner last night and it turned out really well.  I've made on-the-fly chicken noodle soup in the past but this is the only recipe that I felt was worth sharing.  It tastes even better the next day for lunch!

Recipe
2 C. rotisserie chicken, white meat, no skin, cut into small bite-size pieces
2 C. cooked penne pasta (I used Trader Joe's high fiber penne)
3 C. chopped carrot, celery & onion (I used about 1 1/2 C. carrot, 1/2 C. onion and 1 C. celery to total 3 C.)
12 C. fat free chicken broth (I used Swanson's)
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp olive oil
~1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (2-3 shakes of the container)
4-5 grinds of fresh black pepper

Add olive oil to dutch oven and heat over medium.  Add carrot, celery and onion and cook until onion is translucent and carrots/celery are slightly soft.  (Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil for the penne, and cook penne according to package directions).  Add garlic and cook for a minute or two.  Add chicken broth and spices and bring to a boil.  Turn heat down to low, add rotisserie chicken, and simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Add penne just before serving.

Comments
 - You could cook the penne right in the soup pot but I prefer to cook it separately so that it doesn't get too soggy, and so that the pasta starch doesn't cloud the broth.
 - In the past I've made chicken noodle soup that uses sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, etc. and I've found that those herbs can really overpower the soup.  This time I just added pepper which gave the broth a hint of spice.

Rating
5/5

WW PointsPlus
4 (makes 6 servings)

Corned Beef & Cabbage Soup

Usually I make corned beef and cabbage in my crock pot every year for St. Patrick's Day, but this year I thought I'd try soup.

Recipe
Corned Beef & Cabbage Soup

Comments
 - The leeks caused this soup to be fairly sweet, so next time I might use one leek and one small onion instead of two leeks
 - I bought a ~2 lb corned beef brisket and cut off all of the visible fat before adding it to the soup
 - I didn't have any parsley on hand so I skipped it

Rating
3.5/5

WW PointsPlus
7

Homemade Baby Food (Part 2)

Anna is almost done with her Stage 1 foods and has honestly liked almost everything she has tried! Green beans and pumpkin were a challenge but I'll give them another try in a week or two.  She is eating solids twice a day, so she gets her "new" food at one meal and then I'm trying to do "old" food combinations at the other meal.  By "old" food I mean foods she has already tried.  I'm trying to do as many veggie+veggie and fruit+fruit combos as I can so that she doesn't get used to having a sweet fruit with her vegetables.  I've mixed avocado with both fruits and vegetables.

With the fruits I have found that a cocktail muddler (like this) is helpful when mashing avocados, bananas, etc.

Fruits
Apples (did not freeze, Target brand adult unsweetened applesauce thinned slightly with breastmilk)
Avocados (did not freeze, mashed with a bit of breastmilk)
Bananas (did not freeze, mashed with a bit of breastmilk)
Mango (made & froze, pureed in blender with some water)
Peaches (made & froze, bought frozen peach slices, thawed and pureed in blender with some water)
Pears (made & froze)
Plums (made & froze)
Pumpkin (did not freeze, used canned pumpkin)

Vegetables
Beets
Cauliflower
Summer Squash/Zucchini

Orecchiette, Cauliflower, Arugala & Proscuitto

I found this recipe on Pinterest recently and made it for dinner last night.  Mike and I both really liked it, despite the fact that I had to make quite a few adjustments.

Recipe
Orecchiette, Cauliflower & Proscuitto

Comments
 - Here are my swaps:
       Arugala --> Fresh baby spinach
       Proscuitto --> Thinly sliced deli ham
       Grape tomatoes --> Whole tomato, cut into pieces about the size of grape tomatoes
       Fresh sage --> Dried sage (about 1/2 tsp)
       Orecchiette --> 8 oz Dreamfield's rotini pasta
 - For the most part I think my swaps were fine but I think you'd definitely get a different flavor by using arugala and proscuitto instead of baby spinach and ham
 - Make sure to save some of the pasta water as the recipe says - I ended up using about 1/4 to 1/3 C

Rating
4/5

WW PointsPlus
6 (makes 4 servings)

Ham & Navy Bean Soup

My grandma used to make a soup kind of like this, so I made up my own version this past weekend.

Recipe
6-8 C chicken broth
5 cans navy beans, drained and rinsed (leave 2 cans whole, then mash 3 cans)
1/2 lb cooked ham, cubed
1 C carrots, cut into half moons
1 C celery, diced
1 small onion, diced (~3/4 C)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil

Heat olive oil in stock pot over medium high heat.  Add carrots, celery and onion and cook until slightly soft.  Add garlic and saute for about one minute.  Add the beans, ham, bay leaf, pepper and 6 C of chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for at least 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.  After 30 minutes, add additional chicken broth until you reach your desired consistency.  If possible, refrigerate for at least 1/2 day before serving to let the flavors combine.

Comments
 - I ended up using almost all 8 C of chicken broth
 - If you'd rather not mash the beans by hand, you can just add them whole to the soup and use an immersion blender to puree the soup a little bit
 - I ended up refrigerating this for almost 24 hours before serving - well worth the wait!

Rating
4/5

WW PointsPlus
9 (for 1 1/2 C serving)

Dark Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Thank you to Pinterest for this delicious recipe! I think these are way better than plain chocolate chip cookies.

Recipe
Dark Chocolate Caramel Cookies

Comments
 - Baking these on the tinfoil is key - I just slid the tinfoil off of the cookie sheets when the cookies were done to let them cool on the counter

Rating
4/5

Crock Pot Chicken Chili

Last weekend my brother-in-law Darrik texted me a photo of chicken chili that he was making, which inspired me to make some of my own in the crock pot this week.  This recipe is great because you can throw it together before work in about 5 minutes and then cook it on low all day.

Recipe
12 oz frozen chicken breasts
1 C frozen corn kernels
1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-oz can chili beans with sauce
1 15-oz can Rotel tomatoes with green chiles
1 28-oz can tomato sauce
1 packet McCormick's slow cooker chili seasoning

Add all ingredients except chicken to crock pot and stir to combine.  Add whole chicken breasts (I kind of submerged them about halfway in the sauce).  Cook on low for at least 6 hours.  About an hour before serving, remove the chicken breasts, shred with two forks, return to crock pot and stir to combine.  I topped my chili with reduced fat shredded colby jack cheese, fat free sour cream, and a few crushed multigrain tortilla chips.

I had to send a photo back to Darrik so here's the final presentation.  I couldn't rotate the photo properly but you get the idea!

Comments
 - Normally I prefer ground beef in a red chili, but this was really good and I definitely did not miss the ground beef
 - The McCormick's seasoning is fairly spicy so if you don't like a lot of spice I would nix the seasoning packet and just add a bit of chili powder to taste just before serving

Rating
5/5

WW PointsPlus
6 (makes five 1.5 C servings, does not include toppings)