chicken noodle soup

There's nothing better when you're sick then homemade chicken noodle soup. I'm pretty sure this is a wide known fact. My husband and I have both been sick for a couple of days. Ryan decided he wasn't "feeling" chicken noodle soup... I tried to come up with something else easy for dinner that sounded appealing. I came up with zilch. I decided I didn't care what he thought, I was going to make it anyways for myself. He had canned spaghettios for dinner. Needless to say, my dinner was WAY better!

 

Have I mentioned that it's still freezing here... it's supposedly spring, I couldn't tell. There is still snow on the ground and temperatures are in the 20's most of the time. The weather up here gets real old, real fast. It's not even the weather, it's just the winter. Spring, Summer and Fall are generally gorgeous... when it starts. We just had a blizzard this last week. I'm ready for our next duty station already. But let's get back to that remedy for cold weather and being sick...

 

After trying this soup, I could never go back to that canned stuff. This recipe is the epitome of easy. How much more perfect could it be for when you're sick?! Fast, easy and I generally have everything on hand to make it.



Ingredients
1 large onion, chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled
3 medium celery stalks
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
3 packages (2.8 oz each) chicken flavor ramen noodle soup
7 1/2 cups water
3 Tbsp chopped parsley

Directions

• Rinse celery and peeled carrots, cut both into slices, about 1/4" thick. Set aside with onion.



• Rinse chicken breast under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces. Spray a 5 qt casserole pan with oil, let it heat up for a couple of minutes. Add chicken to pan and saute. After a minute or so, add in onion, salt, pepper and garlic. Continue to cook until chicken is cooked all the way through.



• Stir in carrots, celery, seasoning packets from ramen noodles and water. Bring  soup to a rapid boil, then reduce temperature to low and cover. Simmer for 15 minutes.



• Break noodles into small pieces and stir into soup. Increase heat to medium and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Just before serving, stir in parsley



For what it's worth, I buy minced garlic by the jar at the grocery store so that I always have it on hand. Therefore, I skip fresh pressing garlic cloves and just use the measurement table on the jar. Like I said before, I'm all about easy and convenient. Also, I occasionally use a little bit more chicken depending on what I have thawed. All of the amounts are pretty flexible depending on what you like :)

 

 

 

On the military side of my blog, Ryan has gotten news he's heading to WLC in April. WLC stands for warrior leaders course, it's a month long gentleman's course that every soldier is required to pass before they are promoted to a sergeant first class. Most soldiers take WLC before they are promoted to staff sergeant though, which is the next promotion in line for the hubs. It will be a little while before he is up for SSG though. Anyways, so he'll be in WLC which is a month long gentleman's course. Gentleman's course meaning he'll work Monday through Saturday but have Sundays off and he will get to come home at night, but still have very long days. What counts is that I still get to see him and talk to him, unlike a lot of other schools. Most importantly, I don't have to sleep alone at night <3

 

 

chocolate cherry cake

I'm sure you don't remember me, it's been over a year. I started the blog on a whim initially and then I got busy with life. Recently, I had a friend ask me why I stopped posting delicious recipes and another old friend ask for the link to my blog. People do care! Just kidding, I know they do. Recently I had felt like cooking was more of a chore instead of a passion like it used to be. I'm trying to get back to that. I also have a lot more free time on my hands again, I am out of work for a while due to a knee injury. So, that only means one thing, I should blog right?!

 

I'll share one big thing that has happened in the last year, my husband, Ryan, was promoted from specialist to sergeant. I could not be more proud of him. He worked his ass off during a month of training in California at NTC (National Training Center) and it paid off when he got back to Fort Drum. He only got one weeks notice to study up for the board and get his class a's ready. He studied his little heart out and ended up passing with flying colors and was told he did the best out of everyone who went to the promotion board that day. These two pictures are from the pinning ceremony when I got to rip off his specialist rank and "pin" his sergeant rank. I could not be more proud of him :)

 

I want to share a recipe for a rich and delicious dessert today. Chocolate Cherry cake. It's yummy and perfect for that chocolate craving that comes around just about every month if you catch my drift. It wont stay around long once you've had a piece. So, let's get to it!

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup boiling water
1 container (8 oz.) cool whip, thawed
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling, chilled

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two round pans with wax paper. (I use 9" pans and they work out perfectly)
• Combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large mixing bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in boiling water. Don't freak out when the batter seems thin, it's supposed to be that way. Pour into the two pans evenly.
• Bake 19 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Leave in pans for about ten minutes then carefully remove and let cool completely on a wired rack.
• When the cakes are completely cooled, it's time to put it together. Put the first cake on the bottom of a serving plate. Next, add half of the cool whip, followed by half of the cherries. Top with the second cake, remaining cool whip & cherries. Chill in the fridge at least one hour.

This is the result of craving some serious sweetness. I am normally a cook of easy things. I like convenient but delicious foods. With that being said, I was nervous about making homemade cake. Totally not hard, but doing anything for the first time makes me nervous. But let me tell you... best decision ever. This is an easy recipe and SO delicious! Hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!