Marry Me Chicken Soup

  

Maybe you haven't heard about the “Marry Me Chicken” trend. I hadn't. But, evidently, Marry Me Chicken is a dish that's soooo irresistibly good that the person you make it for will want to marry you. 

Well, I can guarantee that my beef-loving husband would not board the "trend train" for that one. He will eat chicken dishes. But he much prefers beef-focused meals. 

But, when Jill sent the recipe for Marry Me Chicken Soup and I had some leftover chicken from preparing a Core meal, it was like a sign that this would be one of those occasional times when I add chicken to the meal rotation. Brooke was her family's biggest fan of this soup. And if it's good enough for Brooke ... well, I guess it's good enough for Grandpa, too.

We had plenty of soup for leftovers. Bonus! As with any recipe that includes pasta, you'll have to add a little water, chicken stock, milk or cream to thin it out when reheating. As pasta sits and gets cold, it absorbs the liquid. 

Ironically, after the soup leftovers were gone, I had a recipe for Marry Me Chicken from Taste of Home show up in the email inbox. The writers of that article and recipe claimed Tiktok was behind the recent spread of the Marry Me Chicken trend with its sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan cream sauce. Hmmmm - Tiktok. No wonder I didn't know anything about it.

If these cold days of winter have you chilled to the bone, I'll recommend Marry Me Chicken Soup. My beef eater liked it, too. (Probably not as much as me, but that's life. And the cook's prerogative, right?)

 

 Marry Me Chicken Soup

Adapted from https://realfoodwholelife.com 

based on recommendation from Jill

 

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, small diced
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 ½ teaspoon salt, divided
1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 6-oz can tomato paste
1 quart chicken stock
2 cups water
1 teaspoon sugar
⅓ cup sundried tomatoes in oil, chopped
3 cups diced or shredded cooked chicken
2 cups small-shape pasta (uncooked) such as orecchiette, ditalini, farfalle (I used ditalini)

To Add at the End

½ cup heavy cream
⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups baby spinach
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

Heat a large heavy bottom pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the olive oil, onion, and ¼ teaspoon salt and black pepper. Cook until the onion begins to soften, about 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently. Sprinkle the onion with the garlic powder and thyme, then cook until fragrant, about 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add the tomato paste and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.

Add the chicken stock and 2 cups of water, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add 2 teaspoons salt, the sugar, sun dried tomatoes, and chicken, stirring to combine. Cover, and bring to a rolling boil.

Add the pasta, stirring to ensure the pasta doesn’t stick. Cover, reduce to a strong simmer, and cook until the pasta is just cooked through, about 8-15 minutes, depending on the pasta shape. Uncover and stir occasionally to prevent the pasta from sticking together or anything sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Turn the heat off, uncover, and add the cream, Parmesan cheese, vinegar, and spinach, stirring to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

CrockPot Swiss Chicken and Stuffing

I'm a fan of Crockpot cooking. 

 

Fix it.

Forget it for several hours.

Add some sides.

Enjoy a hot dinner with minimal effort.

 

I saw the recipe for CrockPot Swiss Chicken and Stuffing from Plowing through Life in a Facebook link. Thinking it might be a nice alternative for a "holiday" meal for just Randy and me, I tried it out. Though beef is our usual go-to meat, it was a tasty addition to the CrockPot meals I keep on standby.

 

I made it again when chicken breasts were on sale at my local grocery store. I put it in before going downstairs to work, and the CrockPot did the work for me.  I added green beans and a salad and viola! Dinner was ready with minimal effort and mess.

Crockpot Swiss Chicken and Stuffing

Adapted from Plowing Through Life 

 

3 to 4 chicken breasts

6-8 slices Swiss cheese (or equivalent amount of grated Swiss cheese)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/4 cup chicken broth (or water with bouillon)

1 box stuffing mix

1/4 cup butter, melted

 

Line Crockpot with liner or spray with nonstick cooking spray. 

 

Put chicken in bottom of crockpot in a single layer. Place at least one slice of cheese on each piece of chicken. (I had some Swiss cheese in a block leftover from another recipe. I just grated a good amount of top of the chicken. I probably used more cheese than the original recipe called for.) Mix cream of chicken soup and the broth. Pour over chicken. Sprinkle stuffing over soup layer. Pour melted butter over stuffing.

 

Cover and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours. 

 

Note: This was the second time I made this recipe. The first time, I cooked it 3 hours or so and the stuffing didn't get as dark on top. This time, it cooked at least 4 hours. (I should have checked it a little earlier.) It tasted great; it just got a little dark on top.

 

Plowing through Life (a blog from a farm in Ohio) says you can convert this recipe to the oven. Use 6 to 8 small chicken breasts and the same amount of stuffing and other ingredients.  Bake in a 9 x 13 pan for 45 to 55 minutes or until a digital meat thermometer reads 165ºF.

 

Serve with veggies and a salad.  

This was when I left it to cook about 4 hours. I would suggest the 3-hour cooking time - or, at least, check it. I was downstairs in the office and didn't check it until noon.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

I could eat soup every day during the winter. Really. Now if I could just convince Randy of that. 

In reality, he's easy to feed. He doesn't complain, though he will give subtle hints about what he prefers. He doesn't prefer peanut butter. Or lemon (unless it's in his iced tea or our family-favorite Lemonade Dessert. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but I have my idiosyncrasies, too.) As you might expect from a Kansas beef producer, he prefers beef over chicken. 

But he still will eat chicken on occasion. And he doesn't complain when it makes an appearance on the menu. I love chicken and noodles in any form - over mashed potatoes, in a casserole or a soup. This Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup was a hit with both of us.

January was National Soup Month, but I don't quit making soup when the calendar flips to February (or March, for that matter). Soup always is a great warm-up when the skies are gloomy and the wind chills are hovering way below the freezing mark like they have been this week. 

It's Groundhog Day today, and Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. That is supposed to signify another 6 weeks of winter. If Phil is right, I guess there will be plenty of time to put this soup on your meal plan.

The recipe came from Sally's Baking Addiction. Her blog is a go-to for baking for both Jill and me, but I really hadn't seen a lot of main-dish recipes on the site. I'm glad this one caught my eye.

She used rotisserie chicken in her soup. I don't have that option at my hometown grocery store, so I just seasoned frozen chicken breasts and microwaved them. The other ingredients were all ones I had in my fridge or pantry. 

Serve with relishes, crackers and fruit. And you'll have a meal that warms you from the inside out. 

 Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

 

1 tbsp. butter

3/4 cup chopped yellow onion

1 cup sliced or diced carrots

1 cup sliced or diced celery

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. to 1/2 tsp. ground pepper (to taste)

1/2 tsp. ground thyme

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

8 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups potato, diced

2 cups cooked chicken, shredded or chopped

1 cup half and half or whole milk

3-4 cups uncooked noodles (I used 3 cups)

Melt the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven (4 quart or larger) over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until vegetables have softened. Stir in flour and seasonings. Cook for 2 minutes.

Add the chicken broth and diced potatoes. Stir, then increase the heat to medium high. Bring the soup to a boil, without stirring and boil for 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover the pot, and allow to simmer 25 minutes or until the potatoes have softened. Taste the soup and add more seasonings to taste, if desired. 

 

Add the chicken, half and half and noodles. Cook for 10 minutes until the noodles are tender and the soup has thickened. Once again, taste the soup and adjust the seasonings to taste. 

 

Refrigerate leftovers for up to a week. To reheat, you will likely need to add a little additional chicken broth (or bouillon in water) since pasta absorbs the liquid.

Makes about 12 cups of soup.

NOTES:

• For the chicken: You may use rotisserie chicken (if you have it available in your area). You could use leftover chicken or turkey. I just seasoned some frozen chicken breasts and microwaved them until done, then cut them up.
  
• Sally's Baking Addiction says to use 3 to 4 cups of WIDE egg noodles. I didn't have wide noodles. You can use regular-sized noodles or other pasta or 1 cup uncooked rice. 
• Also from Sally's - Slow Cooker Instructions: Soften the onion, carrots, celery and garlic on the stovetop, as directed in the recipe. Transfer to a slow cooker and add chicken broth. Allow to cook for 2 hours on low. Then add the potato, chicken, half/half and noodles. Cook on low an additional 1 to 2 hours. 

***

WINNER, WINNER!

And now, a little bit of housekeeping: Diana Hemphill is the winner of the blogiversary gift celebrating my 13 years of Kim's County Line. She chose the notecards. Thanks to all who commented and participated! 

Slow Cooker Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

The slow cooker may be the solution for a month that's set to overdrive. Calendars are packed with extra helpings of holiday and school events. There's the inevitable rush to decorate the house for Christmas and create memorable holiday goodies.

But the family still needs to eat real food, too. Slow cooker to the rescue! While you run around crossing things off the list, the Crock Pot simmers away, creating a warm, savory soup that smells as good as it tastes.

Jill made this recipe first and recommended it when everyone in her family was a fan ... not always easy when there's an (almost) 4 year old and 15 month old sliding up to the table. And even though it doesn't have beef - my farmer's preference - we can celebrate the poultry farmer on occasion, don't you think?

Ironically, I made this poultry-centric soup on a day when we were working cattle. (I could do my own Chick-fil-a commercial, but I'd use a beef breed instead of a dairy cow. That always bugs this Kansas farm wife!)

Anyway, I put the ingredients in the Crock Pot before the vet's arrival and walked back into the house with lunch ready to go. I added some cheese and crackers, washed some grapes, and we were ready to warm up!

Slow Cooker Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

1 lb. chicken breasts (not frozen; cut large breasts in half)
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 to 1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. dried sage
1/4 tsp. dried rosemary
1 large or 2 small bay leaves
2 tbsp. butter
6 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup wild rice/brown rice blend

Add ingredients into a 6-quart slow cooker. Cook on low for 4 hours or until chicken breasts are cooked through. Rice should be done around the same time. Remove bay leaves. Shred chicken, then stir back into soup and serve.

Depending on the kind of rice you use, it may not be cooked through at 4 hours. If that's the case, shred the chicken, then keep in the refrigerator until rice is tender, then stir into soup and let warm for 5 minutes before serving. (Note from me: My rice was done in that time frame.)

***

Today, I'm linked to the ladies at Weekend Potluck. Thanks to them for featuring my Apple Cider Streusel Bread for last week's Potluck! Click on any of the links to visit the hosts' blogs and find lots of other yummy recipes for every day or for the holidays:

• Sunflower Supper Club ~ Kim & Julie
• The Better Baker ~ Marsha
• Frugal Family Favorites ~ Tabitha
• Sweet Little Bluebird~ Mary
• The Country Cook~ Brandie

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

This chicken dinner was a winner.

Jill found the recipe on Pinterest. We collaborated on making it when I was at Jill and Eric's a few weeks ago. I haven't figured out how Pinterest works for sure, but I'm fairly confident Crispy Cheddar Chicken will stay pinned on Jill's board so she can make it again. (And I'm trying to figure out whether I want to switch to the Facebook timeline so I can be on Pinterest, too. Any thoughts? I'm admittedly change challenged.)

Randy prefers beef. It's "What's for dinner," you know. But he did think this recipe was good ... for chicken.

By the way, do you know where the phrase, "Winner, winner, chicken dinner!" comes from? Years ago, every Las Vegas casino had a 3-piece chicken dinner with potato and veggie for $1.79. A standard bet back then was $2.00, hence when you won a bet you had enough for a chicken dinner. So now you know the rest of the story.

Enjoy!

Crispy Cheddar Chicken
Recipe from the blog, Jamie Cooks It Up!

4 large chicken breasts
2 sleeves Ritz crackers
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup milk
3 cups Cheddar cheese, grated
1 tsp. dried parsley

Sauce:
1 14-ounce can cream of chicken soup
2 tbsp. sour cream
2 tbsp. butter

Cut each chicken breast into 3 large chunks. In a small food processor grind up the Ritz crackers. (Or use a rolling pin.)

Pour the milk, cheese and cracker crumbs into 3 separate small pans. Toss the salt and pepper into the cracker crumbs and stir the mixture around to combine. Dip each piece of chicken into the milk then the cheese and finally the cracker crumbs.

Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and lay the chicken inside the pan. Sprinkle the dried parsley over the chicken. Cover the pan with foil, and bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove the foil; bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the edges of the chicken are golden brown and crispy.

For sauce: Into a medium-sized sauce pan, combine the cream of chicken soup, sour cream and butter with a whisk. Stir it over medium high heat until the sauce is nice and hot. Serve over the chicken. (The photo doesn't show the sauce. We did make it, but my photos didn't turn out. It made a good topping for both the chicken and the potatoes.)

(If you want step-by-step photos of the process and beautiful photos, click on the Jamie Cooks It Up! link right under the name of the recipe.)

Notes: I had a lot of cracker crumbs leftover. You may want to try the recipe with just 1 to 1 1/2 sleeves of crackers. Same goes for the cheese. Start with 2 cups of cheese and then add more to the bowl, if needed. Once the raw chicken has touched the cheese, you have to throw out anything that's left.

Time: 15 minute prep + 45 minutes baking
Yield: 7 servings

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I'm linked today to several food blog hops. Check them out at Made from Scratch Tuesday at Mess Hall to Bistro; Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace; Two Maids A Milking Tuesday recipe link; and at Naptime Creations.

Dinner Guest

I've never been much of a mathematician, so I'll not even venture a guess on how many meals I've put on the table over the years.

The majority of those meals, of course, served my family. We live 15 minutes from the closest town. We don't eat out much.

So it was quite a treat to be the guest and not the cook when we visited Jill and Eric last weekend. Jill is a fan of Kraft Foods recipe website. For one of our meals, she served Bruschetta 'n' Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Breasts from that website.

Man, I'm glad I taught that girl to cook ... Yummy!

Here's the recipe:

Bruschetta 'n' Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts

1 can (14.5 oz.) Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/4 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 pkg. (6 oz.) stuffing mix for chicken
8 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts (2 lbs.)
1/3 cup Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian with Parmesan Dressing

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix tomatoes, 1/2 cup cheese and basil in medium bowl. Add stuffing mix; stir just until moistened.

Place 2 chicken breasts in freezer-weight plastic bag; pound to 1/4-inch thickness.

Remove from bag; place, top sides down, on cutting board. Repeat.

Spread chicken with stuffing mixture.

Roll chicken breasts up.

Place, seam side down, on 13- by 9-inch baking pan.

Drizzle with dressing.

Bake 40 minutes or until chicken is done (165 degrees F). Sprinkle with remaining cheese; bake 5 minutes or until melted.

Serves 8.

Prep time: 15 minutes.
Total time: 1 hour

Recipe Notes:

Jill didn't have whole chicken breasts. They used chicken tenderloins because that's what they had. They used the same procedure; it just made more roll-ups, and it didn't take quite as long to bake.

Eric is the chief "pounder" at their house, mainly because they need a meat mallet. Yes, it's on their Christmas list, but for now, Eric has been pounding the chicken breasts with a big metal spoon. He's kind of handy to have around that way.

They also had some pork loin in the fridge. Eric also flattened some of the pork loin and Jill made roll-ups with that meat as well. Both meats were yummy!

Jill has also made a variation of the original recipe.

For South-of-the-Border Chicken, make these substitutions, also from the Kraft website: Use diced tomatoes with bell or jalapeno peppers, Mexican-style shredded cheese instead of mozzarella cheese and chopped cilantro instead of basil.

Enjoy ... even if you don't have someone else to make it for you!