Cathy's Favorite Chicken Noodle Soup

1 lb chicken tenderloins
Salt and Pepper
1/2 - 1 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion, diced
1-2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 heaping teaspoon fines herbes
1/2 teaspoon sage
1 teaspoon thyme
32 ounce carton chicken stock
1 can Campbell's cream of chicken soup
Water (6-8 cups, approximately)
10 ounce bag frozen peas
1 tablespoon minced parsley
1 tablespoon lemon juice
16 ounce pkg fine egg noodles

Season the chicken tenderloins with salt and pepper.  Heat the oil and butter in a large stockpot until the butter is melted and starting to bubble a little.  Add the chicken and cook over medium-high heat until they begin to brown, then turn them and cook another 3 or 4 minutes.  Add the onion, celery and bell pepper and cook 2 or 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the fines herbes, sage, thyme and chicken stock and bring to a boil.  Cook until chicken is completely cooked and tender about 10 minutes.  Stir in the cream of chicken soup, water, peas, parsley and lemon juice.  Turn heat up to high and bring to a full rolling boil.  Stir in the egg noodles and cook 3 minutes (or until done).

Serve at once.

Excellent soup if I do say so myself!  And perfect for dinner when you've got a cold!

Note: I usually remove the cooked chicken before adding the cream of chicken and water.  I chop up 2 or 3 pieces into small chunks and add them back into the soup and then save the rest of the chicken to make chicken salad for lunch the next day!  Two meals for the price of one.

Jimmy Dean's Hearty Sausage & Potato Soup

3 medium potatoes, baked, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
1 lb Jimmy Dean Hot Sausage
4 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup flour
3 cups chicken broth
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried thyme)
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup half and half
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add the sausage and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is browned and crumbled.  Sprinkle in the flour and cook for 1 minute.  Gradually stir in the chicken broth and bring to a boil, stirring frequently until the mixture begins to thicken.  

Stir in the thyme and baked potato cubes and boil for about 5 minutes.  Reduce heat to low and stir in the milk, half and half and Parmesan cheese.  Cook 5-10 minutes, stirring often, until hot through. Season with salt and pepper, as needed.

Very good soup!!  

Creamy Heirloom Bean Soup

2 cups mixed heirloom beans, washed
1 onion, chopped
1 heaping tablespoon bacon grease
2 quarts chicken stock or low sodium chicken broth
4 sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 cup heavy cream

Put the beans, onion, bacon grease, chicken broth and thyme in a slow cooker.  Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours or until the beans are tender.  Just before serving, stir in the salt, pepper and cream.

This is excellent!  Adapted from a recipe found on Pinterest & Bon Appetit.

Sausage-Veggie Soup

OK, here's one of my favorite quick and easy dinners: Sausage Veggie Soup, served with Garlic Bread Sticks (New York's Original Garlic Bread Sticks - in your handy dandy freezer case at the grocery store!) This is one of those meals that I go to when I forget to set something out of the freezer....I always keep a pound of Jimmy Dean Sausage that I have browned and crumbled, in the freezer. I do the same thing with ground chuck. So, here's the soup:

Sausage Veggie Soup

1 lb sausage (I like Jimmy Dean's reduced fat sausage but this is great with Hot or Sweet Italian too)

1 chopped onion

1-2 cloves minced garlic

Splash of Worcestershire sauce

Pepper (I use black pepper and a 6 Pepper Blend or some crushed red pepper flakes) to taste

Italian Herbs to taste

1 16-24 oz jar your favorite spaghetti sauce

1 large container chicken stock

1 can dark red kidney beans or black beans

10-16 oz pkg frozen veggies (I usually use mixed vegetables but whatever's in the freezer is fine)

Brown the sausage in a large pot or Dutch Oven with the onions (throw in some chopped bell pepper if you want) and the garlic. When browned, splash in the Worcestershire and add pepper and herbs to taste. Pour in the spaghetti sauce, chicken stock and beans. Add water if too thick. Heat to a gentle boil until everything's hot. Add the vegetables and cook until done. Great with Garlic Toast. This is also good with a handful of small pasta....(which I cook separately so it doesn't get overdone), and add to the bowls before I ladle in the soup. I HATE overcooked pasta!

Hamburger Ramen Soup

1 lb ground chuck

3 packets Beef Flavored Ramen Noodles

3 packets Oriental Flavored Ramen Noodles

4 tbsp lite soy sauce

1 tbsp Chinese hot mustard

4 tbsp duck sauce 

1 tsp Chinese Five Spice powder

1 tbsp crystallized ginger

16 oz pkg frozen broccoli, cauliflower & carrots combination (or Oriental veggie mix)

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, corn, green beans, etc)

8 1/2 cups water

Brown and crumble the ground chuck in a large Dutch oven. Drain and discard any grease. 

Add the 6 spice packets from the Ramen noodles (only use 4 if you need to cut back on your sodium), the soy sauce, hot mustard, duck sauce, five spice powder and crystallized ginger. Stir in the frozen vegetables and the water. 

Bring to a boil and cook 5 minutes or until veggies are done. Stir in the Ramen noodles and cook about 2 minutes or until noodles are just cooked....do not overcook the noodles! Serve immediately.

This is quite possibly my favorite noodle soup of all time. It makes enough to serve 4 normal people, but John likes it so much he can easily eat half of it by himself AND he'll even eat the leftovers for breakfast!  

Note:  I use the leftover packets of hot mustard and duck sauce that come with our Chinese take-out for this recipe!