Soups on Our Menu: Chicken Noodle Soup

Since we like having chicken noodle soup at weekends, I am sharing my way of making the soup.

What you need:

(yield: for two persons)

• 1 chicken breast cut into small pieces,
• 1 bay leaf + dash cracked black pepper,
• some onion - diced,
• a bit of oil to fry the onion,
• a few baby carrots cut into pieces,
• 1 can cream of chicken,
• 1 chicken bouillon cube,
• salt and pepper,
• some pasta,
• some dried parsley.

How to make the soup:

1.  Put the chicken breast pieces into a pot (not a very big one), cover with cold water, add the cracked black pepper and bay leaf. Cook the meat at 4 till it is done (usually it takes about 20 minutes or so).
2. Fry the diced onion for a few minutes (4-5), until it is soft.
3. Add the onion and the carrots to the pot with the cooked chicken pieces.
4. Cook it all till the carrots are soft.
5. Add the cream of chicken to the soup, stir it well and keep on cooking (at 4).
6. Add the bouillon cube, boil the soup. Season with salt and black pepper as you like.
7. Cook the pasta in a separate pot, according to the instructions given on the pasta package.
8. Drain the pasta. Put it into soup bowls, pour the chicken soup over the pasta.
9. Add/pour some dried parsley to each bowl/serving.
10. Serve and enjoy. 😊

Our Early Valentine Cakes

Our Valentine weekend cakes are ready. 💑

Smaller heart cakes

And a bigger one :-)

What I used to make them:

• 1 box yellow cake mix + what the instructions on the cake box say (water, eggs and canola oil),
• 1/2 can cherry pie filling,
• some powder sugar + a few Tbs hot water to make the icing,
• decorating 'beads'.

 

The cherry part is hidden inside of course 😐.

Have a happy weekend!

12 Cakes12 Months: Mixed Fruit Cake

I need to tell you about the December cake to close the 12 Cakes 12 Months project. It was quite an all year long challenge and searching for a new recipe was time-consuming. Besides, experimenting with the unknown recipes was also risky as we were never sure what we would get and whether the cake was worth trying at all. In this meaning, the project got a bit old during the year. It was often easier to make a cake which we had already had and which we liked or use a cake/cobbler mix when there was not much time for baking.

However, in December I came across that really good recipe for a cranberry loaf cake. I did make it for Christmas. Although the recipe calls for fresh cranberries, I used dried fruit mix - cranberries, cherries, and blueberries.

The cake looked and tasted similarly to the Polish traditional Christmas 'keks' which is a fruit cake as well. Actually, when my husband saw the December cake, he thought it was the kind of Polish cake which he had eaten during our November stay in Poland.

Anyway, the December cake was very popular with our guests who visited us on Christmas Day. It was really tasty, especially when served warm (after 20min microwaving before serving).

I made the cake again in January and we enjoyed it too. Needless to say, it 'disappeared' quite quickly as well.
I am going to keep the recipe by the Southern Lady. Very likely, the fruit loaf cake will become part of our Christmas traditions.

All in all, during the entire project, we experimented with 12 cakes/recipes. The ones which we liked best (besides the December one) were
mandarin pie,
vanilla cake,
pineapple cake,
coconut pie, and
blueberry cake.

It was all worth trying - I am glad I found quite a few, new and enjoyable cakes. On the other hand, I admit I am glad the challenge is over and now I can make any cake whenever I want to or choose not to bake anything at all.