Chicken Tortellini Soup

Good morning/afternoon/evening kids!

This recipe was really one that just fell together. My friend Casey had posted a couple weeks back looking for slow cooker type recipes to start cooking at home more with. It made me realize that I really need to start using my slow cooker more because it just kind of sits in my cabinet. I couldn't resist cooking some of the ingredients for this recipe on the stove, but it all comes together in the slow cooker.

At first, I was going to make a Chicken and Corn chowder but I had no potatoes. I just can't imagine chowder without potatoes. Then, I was going to make a Cream of Chicken and Mushroom soup, but Jon had drank my entire gallon of milk in 2 days. What is he, a growing 14 year old? Then, I was going to make a Chicken Chilli but really didn't feel like putting anything tomato in the soup. I just wanted it to be a clear type soup. So, I landed on just doing a Chicken Noodle but realized I had just cooked up some tortellini the day before, so I threw those in there and voila! Delicious. Hope you all like it! And I hope you enjoyed the unnecessary evolution story of this soup.

Sorry I've been mostly posting chicken recipes recently. I am constantly looking for new chicken recipes and I'm hoping you guys are too. I will mix it up with desserts and maybe some breakfast items in the very near future, I promise!

2 32 ounce containers of Chicken Broth
1 cup celery, chopped
1 1/2 cup carrot, chopped
2 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cup mushroom, chopped
1/2 cup onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 cup gravy*
15 ounce can of corn
15 ounce can of beans (I used kidney)
1/2 tbsp parsley
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp poultry seasoning
2 bay leaves
2 1/2- 3 cups chicken, cooked and shredded**
2 cups tortellini, cooked as directed on package.

Turn on slow cooker, add in stock, carrots and celery. In a medium skillet on medium-high heat, melt butter. Add in mushrooms, onions and garlic. Allow to cook for 3-4 minutes until mushrooms are browned, and onions and garlics are softened. (Warning: your kitchen is going to smell unbelievably delicious during this stage. Family members may not be able to wait for the slow cooker to finish its job.) Add gravy to mushrooms, onions and garlic and whisk together until well combined. Add gravy mixture to slowcooker. Add in corn, beans, parsley, thyme, poultry seasoning and bay leaves to slow cooker. Allow to cook 5-6 hours on high or 7-8 hours on low until vegetables are tender (particularly the carrots). Add in the chicken and pasta at the end and allow to cook with soup for about 15 minutes just to heat through.


*Instead of gravy, you could also use a cream of chicken soup or cream of mushroom soup. Those soups contain MSG, so I elected to use gravy. If you don't want to make a homemade gravy, you could buy those McCormick gravy packets to throw it together.

**Like I told you guys with the Chicken Soft Tacos, I buy those rotisserie chickens at Costco. So, for this soup recipe, I used the chicken for the soup, and made a gravy out of the juices.

Leftover Turkey Pot Pie

Sorry I don't have a picture for this post. Hopefully it's yumminess makes up for the lack of picture. This was only my second attempt at a Turkey Pot Pie. The first attempt was meh. It was good, but nothing to write home about. This second one was incredibly easy to throw together. I used some leftovers from Thanksgiving and some canned veggies that I had in my pantry.

I am definitely usually the type to use fresh vegetables. However, I made this the day after Thanksgiving and I was not in the mood to do over the top cooking the next day. I wanted to throw something together that was delicious and quick and get on my way to my closing shift on Black Friday at work. You guys can feel free to swap in the fresh veggies if you'd like. A 15 oz can is a little shy of two cups of fresh, chopped vegetables.

I also used the Bisquick biscuit mix for the topping to cut some more corners. You could also use a ready made pastry sheet, usually in the freezer section of the grocery store. Funny story about Bisquick. As you guys already know, I watch Paula Deen religiously. She is always using a dry biscuit mix for her recipes. I searched my grocery store high and low looking for a biscuit mix and couldn't find it. I finally voiced my frustration to my mom. She then informed me that I can just use Bisquick. I've always known Bisquick as a pancake mix, had no clue you could use it to make biscuits. It is dangerous that I now have a fast and easy way to make delicious biscuits. :O

Leftover Turkey Pot Pie

1 cup gravy
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 15 oz can of diced potatoes
1 15 oz can of corn kernels
1 15 oz can of peas & carrots
2 1/2 - 3 cups shredded turkey (or rotisserie chicken)
1/2 stick salted butter, diced

Biscuit topping:
1 cup bisquick mix
1 cup milk
1 stick of butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking dish with butter. In mixing bowl, combine gravy, cream, chicken stock, poultry seasoning, salt, cream of chicken soup, potatoes, corn, peas & carrots and shredded turkey. Pour into prepared baking dish. Place pieces of butter throughout the filling. Combine biscuit mix, milk and butter together and pour over top of filling. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.

Enjoy!

Glazed Carrots

This is Jon's favorite recipe of my dad's. You all know by now that Jon hates veggies so for this to be his favorite it saying something. It could be the butter and brown sugar, but hey, they're still veggies right?

7-8 carrots - do not peel, just slice into 1/4 inch slices

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of water

Place water and butter in saucepan and cook over medium heat. Add carrots. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, and add brown sugar. Cook for 40 minutes stirring occasionally.