Aunt Ethel's Chicken Noodle Soup

This might be my most used recipe over the years, a hearty yet healthy chicken soup that everyone loves!

1 whole chicken or chicken breasts, about 3 1/2 pounds
2 quarts water
2 teaspoons salt
3 large carrots, cut diagonally into 1/4" slices
2 large celery ribs, cut diagonally into 1/4" slices
1 medium onion, sliced
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon sage
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 Tablespoon chopped dried parsley
3 cups noodles, homemade or purchased

Combine chicken, water and salt.  Cover and cook until chicken is tender.  While chicken cooks, prepare vegetables and make noodles.  Remove chicken, reserving liquid.  Let chicken cool, then cut into bite size pieces.  Add vegetables and seasonings to hot liquid.  Cook vegetables until tender, 10 or 12 minutes.  Drop in noodles and cook for 8 to 10 minutes.  Add chicken and heat through.

If you want a thick soup:  Melt 1 cube margarine and stir in 1/2 cup flour.  Stir in 1 can evaporated milk. Reduce heat of soup and stir in milk mixture.  Stir constantly until thickened.

Homemade Noodles:

1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
2 Tablespoons milk

Add flour to egg, milk and salt mixture.  Stir in flour.  Knead a few times.  Cover and let stand 10 or 15 minutes.  (It will be easier to roll out.)  Roll out to about 18 x 20 inches.  Let dry about 1 1/2 hours.  Cut into 1/2" strips.

Ruth noted the following:  "Aunt Ethel adds a few chicken bouillon cubes but be careful because they can make the soup too salty.  I found that the whole chicken makes a more flavorful soup than chicken breasts & you probably don't need the bouillon cubes to give added flavor."

Oven Beef Stew

Ruth's Recipe Box has received its first request!  Christine Bryan mentioned her boys wanted her to get the recipe for "that really good stew Grandma made that time we were at her house."  I found the recipe and made it twice, once in the crock-pot and once in the oven.  It turned out just as yummy either way.  True to form, Mom didn't write any instructions, baking temperature, or baking time.  I looked up another oven stew recipe in one of my cookbooks and went with that baking temperature and time.

2 lbs. beef stew meat (dust with flour and brown in a little hot oil)
1 c. onion, chopped
4 carrots, sliced
3 potatoes, cut into chunks
2 ribs of celery, chopped
1 can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can golden mushrooms
1 cup water
3 Tbls. pearl tapioca
10-12 green peppercorns
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 pkg. frozen green peas
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Layer browned meat, onion, carrots, potatoes, celery, tomatoes, peas and mushrooms in large oven-proof casserole dish with a lid.  Mix soup, water, bouillon cubes, tapioca, peppercorns and Worcestershire sauce and pour over stew.
Cover and bake at 325 degrees for 3 to 4 hours.  (If you prefer to use a crock-pot, cook at a low temperature for about 7 hours.)  Remove stew from the oven and let it sit for about 10 minutes before serving to help the sauce thicken up.

Corn Chowder

Cook 1/4 lb. bacon.  Let bacon cool and then crumble.
Using a small amount of bacon fat, saute 1/2 cup diced onion until tender in a large pot.
Slowly stir in 1/4 cup flour, 4 cups milk, 2 one lb. cans of cream style corn while cooking over medium heat.  Meanwhile, cook together in boiling water 1 1/2 cups diced potatoes, 1/2 cup celery diced, 1/2 c. carrots diced.  When vegetables are just tender, add to corn mixture.  Add crumbled bacon.  Top with cheese, if desired.

This recipe came from Leola Ord and was dated January, 1987.  Leola was one of Mom's dearest friends in Covina.  One of the many things they had in common was their love of good food.   My sister Marie fondly remembers Mom and Leola attending a weight loss group (probably in anticipation of an upcoming cruise) and each week after weigh-in they would "celebrate" by going out to lunch!