Egg Drop Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 cups filtered water
• 1 cup desired fresh vegetables washed and prepared
• 2 cubes or 2 teaspoons vegetable bouillon
• 2 eggs, cage free brown eggs preferred

1) Combine water and vegetables in blender and pulse a few times until vegetables are as small as you desire (or you can skip this part and leave the vegetables in large chunks)

2)Pour the vegetables and water into a saucepan and bring to a boil.

3) Beat the eggs in a small bowl

4) When the water is boiling, add the bouillon and stir to dissolve.

5) Finally, continue to boil as you slowly and gradually add in beaten eggs while stirring.  Turn off heat and allow to sit 2-3 minutes to completely cook the eggs.

Makes about 3 servings (1 cup)

Really Easy Homemade Pasta Sauce

It is great to make your own sauce from fresh tomatoes, but sometimes I just don't have that many tomatoes around to do it with, or the time to cut the tomatoes up and stuff :) I made this simple sauce yesterday for my visiting friends and one suggested I put it on my blog so here it is:

3 cans of canned tomatoes (14 1/2 oz, any variety)
1 small can of condensed tomato soup (optional, this thickens the sauce a little)
1/2- tsp sage and oregano and 1 T minced onion and 1/4 tsp garlic powder (if the tomatoes were unseasoned) or season to taste.

Blend up the canned tomatoes is the blender (1 can at a time if using a small one like I do. I use the Magic Bullet). Put them in a large pot on the stove over medium to high heat. Add the tomato soup and seasonings
You can also add some other cooked and blended veggies. I like to use spinach (cooked and drained well and only use about 1/2 cup or less or the sauce will be very green but still taste yummy), shredded zuchini, other squash varieties cooked . . . endless possibilities:)

This amount served 6 people.

Traditional White Sauce

White sauce is a basic for many sauces and soups. When I first started making white sauce,. as a teenager, the book I used for the recipe is the Better Homes and Gardens (the one with the red and white checked cover that many of us grew up with). Now I just know the recipe:

1) Decide how many cups of white sauce you need.
2) For each cup of white sauce needed, use 1T butter and 1T flour. Melt the butter then add the flour and stir together and cook over medium-low heat for 1-2 minutes until it is starting to turn golden brown. Careful not to burn it or your whole sauce will taste burned! Keep stirring it the whole time.
3) Then add one cup of milk for each tablespoon of flour and butter you used. (Use whole milk or cream for a nice creamy sauce, or use whatever milk you have--even reconstituted powdered milk works well but takes a little longer to thicken) Keep cooking and stirring over medium-low heat. (using a wire whisk helps the flour and milk combine easier without lumps). Keep stirring often as you cook or the milk will burn. If you want it to thicken faster you can turn the heat up a little but be careful to keep stirring it until it is the thickness you want.

Tips: After a few minutes if it is not as thick as you want you can mix a little cornstarch into some COLD milk or water and add it in. If it is too thick simply add some more milk.

For ALFREDO SAUCE, add about 1/4 Cup parmesan cheese per cup of white sauce at the end of cooking.
For CHEESE SAUCEadd desired amount of shredded cheddar cheese or cheese whiz or velveeta at the end of cooking and cook and stir until melted.
For use as a CREAM SOUP BASE (instead of using canned cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup) add in 1 teaspoon of chicken, beef or vegetable bouillon per cup of white sauce.

Pasta Sauce from Fresh Tomatoes

My neighbor offered to let me come and pick tomatoes. It was fun and I made a great sauce out of them:

-about two dozen medium-sized fresh tomatoes washed and diced
-2 Cups of frozen shredded zuchini (thawed and drained)
-1 small acorn squash (cut in half, steamed in microwave and then scooped out of shell)
1/2 tsp each of garlic powder, basil, oregano, and sage
-1 small can of tomato paste (optional--will help the sauce thicken)

Add all obove ingredients to a large crock pot and cook on high for four hours. Can add in parmesan cheese or browned ground beef.

Homemade Chicken Broth

To make this taste REALLY good it takes at least an hour, but it is well worth it!

Chicken pieces (whatever you like to use. I used a whole chicken including the back, cut in pieces. Frozen chicken is just fine)
2 bay leaves
salt
1 medium or large onion (yellow or white) chopped
4-7 cloves of garlic mashed and peeled
carrots ( I used a few baby carrots)
celery (use the pieces you normally throw away including the leaves and stocks. Don't chop these up just leave them whole since you remove them later)

1) Put the chicken in a large pot. 2) Cover with water (at least fill the pot half-way, or more if you want more broth). 3) Add in the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil then cover the pot and turn down to low for one hour. 4) Then remove the chicken and carefully separate the chicken from the bones to use for whatever you like. 5) Drain the broth through a collander (Just remember you are saving the broth so don't forget and drain it into the sink! I have started to do that before :) If you are going to use the broth to make soup, you can remove the cooked carrots and return them to the soup. But make sure you don't return any bones or the bay leaves. 6) Now you use your own creativity: Taste the broth and add more salt, garlic powder, pepper, orggano or thyme . . . the possibilities are endless. I like to look at soup recipes and choose which spices I want to try. If it still tastes too thin, chicken bouillon can be added but try only one tsp. at a time so it won't get too salty.

Enjoy this broth in your favorite recipes! Remember to refrigerate and use within three days or freeze it for longer storage.

Summer Chicken Noodle Soup

I LOVE to make soup! During the summer I miss it 'cause It just seems too hot to make it very often. I made an exception with this one and it is actually good served as a cool soup too.

1)Make homemade chicken broth or use 1 tsp of chicken bouillon for each cup of broth you want. It really depends on how much soup you want to make. Rule of thumb is about one cup per serving. Bring the broth to a boil.

2) Add in some pasta (if it is uncooked, if using already cooked pasta or cooked rice you can wait to add it until the very end) I used small shell pasta today.

3)Prepare the veggies you want to use. This time I used 1 small yellow summer squash and 1 small zuchini chopped and some baby carrots (just left as is--or can be chopped into small pieces) If you are using broth made from bouillon, it would really taste better with some fresh chopped onion and smashed and peeled garlic added in with the vegetables. Add to the pot of boiling broth when the pasta is about half- cooked and cook just a few minutes until tender-crisp.

3) Add cooked and chopped chicken.

4) taste and add in some seasonings if you need to. I just put salt and pepper or red pepper on the table since each of my family members have different spice preferences.

Variations: This makes a traditional "thin broth" soup. If you want a thick and creamy soup it is very easy. Just stir in a can of cream of Chicken soup with a wire whisk. just watch for lumps and make sure to stir them all out. Or, even better, you can make your own "white Sauce" and add it into the soup at the end.

Remember that this can be made with any kind of pasta or with Orzo or rice. Leftover veggies instead of the ones listed here or some frozen veggies (broccoli, peas, mixed) and it even tastes good without the chicken as just a vegetable soup.