Barefoot Contessa's Homemade Chicken Stock

I am completely and utterly in love with this soup.

I'm not sure if it was the rustic look of all of the ingredients thrown together in the pot, the unbelievable smell of the fresh herbs simmering on the stove, or the comfort of being able to put it together while working with my mother in the kitchen, but I LOVE this soup!  The stock was so rich and dark that it almost looked more like a beef broth.  I'm pretty sure that just the idea of this soup could instantly cure any ailment and it will certainly be my new 'go to' chicken soup.

(This chicken stock will last for 5 days in the refrigerator and 6 months in the freezer.  It is a great one to make ahead and keep on hand to use as needed.)

Homemade Chicken Stock
3 (5 pound) roasting chickens
3 large onions, unpeeled and quartered
6 carrots, unpeeled and halved
4 celery stalks with leaves, cut in thirds
4 parsnips, unpeeled and cut in half
20 fresh parsley sprigs
15 fresh thyme sprigs
20 fresh dill sprigs
1 head garlic, unpeeled and cut in half crosswise
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

Place the chickens, onion, carrots, celery, parsnips, parsley, thyme, dill, garlic, salt, and pepper in a 16-20 quart stockpot.  Add 7 quarts of water and bring to a boil over high heat.  Skim any foam that comes to the surface.  Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 4 hours.  Strain the entire contents of the pot through a colander, discarding the solids.  Pack in quart containers and refrigerate.  When the stock is cold, remove the surface fat and refrigerate again. (Makes 6 quarts.)

Source: Back to Basics, Barefoot Contessa

A sincere apology and bribery through French Onion Soup

To begin with, I owe my followers a sincere apology for my absence over the past few months.  I promise I have a good excuse, but I'll get to that in a moment.  To make it up to my blogging friends, and to thank you for your patience, I am sharing the most incredible French Onion Soup today.  I made this as a special Valentine's Day treat as it is one of my husband's favorites.  The recipe is another winner from The Pioneer Woman, and like the rest-- this one does not disappoint.  It does take a little bit of time, but not a whole lot of energy.  The house smelled amazing and it was the perfect starter for a special meal.  As a special note, the flavor of the white wine really does come through, so make sure that you use one you wouldn't mind drinking. My only regret was that I would have loved to brown up the cheese a little bit.  It was nice and melted, but not as bubbly as I would have liked.  Unfortunately, my crocks were not broiler safe and I can't quite rationalize a kitchen torch at this time.  Maybe one day.... :)

Before I get to the recipe, I do want to share that I will be adding a new feature in coming days.  Part of my absence was due to the new diagnosis that my son is allergic to cow's milk.  Figuring this out has been a true miracle as he has been a completely different child since eliminating milk products from his diet.  His digestive system has been completely turned around and the child is now willing to eat regular meals.  He's three years old and for the first time is able to eat normal amounts of food, instead of picking as he always had before.  The poor thing looked at me the other day and said, "I'm happy because my tummy doesn't hurt anymore."  Hard to hear from your little one!  I've been doing a lot of research, trying to find foods that are made without milk products, and recipes that fit within his new dietary needs.  You wouldn't believe the items that have milk products in them-- it truly has been an education!  One thing that I have found is that it can be very difficult to find kid-friendly, dairy-free recipes.  Many of the specialty items that you can find locally are incredibly expensive and I have had to learn to make many new items from scratch to control what he does consume.  I'm hoping that if I share what I do find, and have success with, then I might be able to help someone else in a similar situation.  I've learned so much from the blogs and sites that I have found and would love to be able to pass some of that along.  Please watch for these special dairy-free features coming soon!

French Onion Soup
1 stick butter
4-5 large yellow onions, halved from root to tip and sliced thin
1 cup dry white wine
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups beef broth
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
Worcestershire sauce, to taste
French bread
Swiss (or Gruyere) cheese

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  In a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven, melt butter over medium-low heat.  Add your sliced onions and cook, covered, for about 20 minutes.  Place the entire soup pot in the oven, with the lid slightly offset to allow the onions to brown.  Cook the onions in the oven for 1 hour, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and burning.  Remove the pot from the oven and place it back on the burner.  Add the wine before turning the heat back on.  Stir in the wine, scraping off the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.  Cook on medium for about 5 minutes (or until the wine is able to reduce).  Add the beef and chicken broth, the Worcestershire Sauce and the minced garlic.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice the bread into thick slices.  Butter one side and broil over low heat, allowing the bread to become browned and crispy.  When the soup is finished, ladle it into an oven-safe soup crock.  Top with the bread and the cheese.  Grated works best, but you can use sliced if you have it.  Broil until the cheese is melted and bubbly.  (Please be sure to check your crocks-- mine were not safe to go above 400 degrees in the oven, and this seemed to be a common trait of the soup crocks.  I simply melted my cheese at the max temperature.)  Serve immediately out of the oven.

Source: The Pioneer Woman

Cranberry Chicken

Contrary to popular belief, I am still among the living! :) I so miss my blogging friends, but haven't been able to find the time to update this site as much as I'd like. I've still been cooking and baking a ton and hope to be able to get more of the recipes posted! In the meantime, I've been keeping an eye on all of your blogs and have been keeping quite a list of recipes I'd love to try.

Fall is one of my favorite seasons, and I especially love some of the traditional foods associated with the season. To me, fall is all about comfort foods-- and this is one of them! My grandmother used to make this chicken dish and just the smell of it baking brought back so many memories. It's a great classic dish that people of all ages love. Best of all, it is one that you can easily keep ingredients on hand for. I've eaten it many times, but this is the first time that I have actually made it myself. It was so easy that I can definitely see it worked into our normal rotation.

Again, I apologize for my absence and promise to share many great recipes in the months to come!

Cranberry Chicken
Assorted chicken pieces
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 bottle french salad dressing
1 can whole cranberries
salt and pepper to taste

Wash chicken pieces and place in a 9 x 13 glass dish. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle one envelope of dry onion soup mix evenly over the chicken. Carefully, spread the salad dressing evenly over the chicken. Follow with the cranberries, spooned over the dressing. Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour, 15 minutes. Uncover and brown for another 15 minutes.

Mom's Potato Salad

This potato salad is the one that my mom has been making for as far back as I can remember. Notice a theme to my sister's and my posts lately? I guess that tends to be the case after any holiday... we all gravitate towards those traditional family meals that we grew up loving. This potato salad is, by far, one of my favorite things that she makes. . . though I don't believe it's one of her favorites to make. I guess I owe her extra big for when she does it! ;) One thing I will warn about is that I have inherited my mother's "make too much for every meal" trait and I really don't measure when making this side dish. I've done my best to estimate. I'm really not exhaggerating when I say that I typically use almost a 10 pound bag of potatoes to make it. Like I said, it's a sickness.

Mom's Potato Salad
5 pounds Russett potatoes
1 bunch green onions (or 1 medium leek)
6-8 hard boiled eggs
1 jar mayonnaise
White pepper to taste
Garlic salt to taste

Thoroughly wash the potatoes and place in a large pot with the skins still on. Cover with water and boil until just fork tender. DO NOT overboil as your potatoes will fall apart when cut. Remove from the water and peel the skin off. Dice the cooked potatoes into bite-sized pieces. Chop the hard boiled eggs and the green onions (white and green parts). Combine with the jar of mayonnaise and season to taste.

Stained Glass Jello and Independence Day!

It's a little late, but I hope that everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! We had our family over to celebrate the holiday and were able to celebrate my birthday as well-- bonus! :) We also were able to have a cousin over who we, unfortunately, don't get a chance to see often. All in all, it was a nice, family-centered day! Since all the kids were in town, I wanted to make a few items that I thought they would enjoy. I made the cookies above to serve alongside the wonderful cheesecake my sister made for dessert. If you haven't seen it yet, check out her blog here.

When I saw this jello on the Brown Eyed Baker, I knew I had to make it. I am a big jello fan myself and I knew it was the one thing I could put out that all the kids would eat. The colors were great and it was really easy to make. My only warning is that it is done in stages and each stage does have to sit in the fridge for a while, so make sure you allow yourself enough time.

Stained Glass Jello

4 (3 ounce) boxes Jello in different colors (I used blue raspberry and strawberry)

14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (I used Knox as recommended)

Water

For each flavor, dissolve one box of Jello in 1 cup of boiling water. Since I used 2 boxes of each flavor, I just doubled the water and poured both into an 8 inch square container. Chill at least 3 hours, or overnight. After chilling the flavors, cut them into small blocks. Carefully mix the blocks in a 9×13-inch pan. In a separate bowl, sprinkle 2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin into ½ cup cold water. After the gelatin blooms, add 1½ cups boiling water and dissolve. Add the can of condensed milk. Stir and let cool. Pour cooled milk mixture over Jello blocks in 9×13 pan. Skim off any small bubbles that are created when you pour the condensed milk on the Jello pieces. Chill overnight or at least 3 hours until firm. Cut into blocks or shapes and serve.

Source: The Brown Eyed Baker

**Stay tuned... the BEST potato salad is coming soon!**