I did it. No one died. Everyone seemed to like it. I’ll put my recipe down here first & the shenanigans after that… because Threads gave me some shenanigans. Trigger warning for Nonnas worldwide:I put brown sugar in jarred sauce. Proceed with caution.
Preheat oven to 375° (Next time I may do 350° for a longer time, but we were in a but of a hurry.)
Brown the beef in a pan on the stove with some of all your spices to taste. (I could/should have included onion here.)
Mix the ricotta, one bag of the shredded cheese, the grated parmesan, a bit of the shredded parmesan, the eggs, fresh parsley, & shredded zucchini in a large bowl, again with all the spices including the garlic.
This filled two 9×13″ glass baking dishes for me. I think I layered them both a bit different. Follow your heart. Put sauce on the bottom, sprinkle in some brown sugar, the dry lasagna noodles, the ricotta mixture, the ground beef, some more shredded cheese, more sauce, more noodles, and just keep going. I did put a very little bit of water in the jars of sauce to swirl around & empty more.. and put that into the dishes too. Sprinkled cheese and made sure there was lots of sauce on top of each.
Cover them tightly with foil & put them in the oven for 50 minutes.
Take out, sprinkle on some more of the shredded parmesan, cook for another 10 minutes.
Pull out, rest for a bit, then serve.
Notes:
Like I said, lower & slower next time. Maybe 350° for an hour then uncover & go for another 15 minutes?
Carrots may be good in with the ground beef… and/or mushrooms?
Maybe spinach in the cheese mixture or as another layer. Let’s get some fiber up in here.
I don’t generally like sausage, but if you do it’d be good here for sure.
What would you do?
🍝
Readers, let me tell you… people have feelings about calling that strip of pasta a “lasagna noodle.” There is also the fact that “American” lasagna has ricotta, but traditional does not. I was even told that because I added shredded zucchini it is no longer lasagna. I have made it replacing the pasta with long thinly-sliced zucchini planks and still called it lasagna.
People have lost their damn minds. No one knows that food and language evolve over time and across regions and even households?
I did plug my ingredients list into Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, & Copilot to see what they would churn back out, but honestly I didn’t follow through with any of their advice.
I look forward to your thoughts about lasagna, your tips, tricks & recipes, and the nuance of semantics involving pasta naming conventions in the comments. How do you layer yours? I feel like I need a way deeper pan. Do you go “traditional” and eschew ricotta? Do you call lasagna noodles lasagna noodles or are you pretentious?
It’s cheeseception. I wanted to try that cheesy beer bread in some grilled ham & cheese sandwiches… and I needed some soup for the side, right? Why not up the cheese level with my old broccoli cheese soup or my potato soup? I thought the fiber from the broccoli may be beneficial. 😆
Roasted Broccoli Cheddar Soup and a Cheesy Beer Bread Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwich
I probably should have stuck with a traditional tomato soup to combat the absolute decadent richness, but this soup was pretty damn good. I want to try to make a roasted butternut squash soup eventually too… but not sure that would pair well with this sandwich?
I did spice-up my original broccoli cheese soup recipe. This could be a full meal, or a side to a nice turkey or roast beef sandwich. Recipe down below. That’s what I did this time. I’ll probably make it slightly different next time. Everyone does that, right?
As far as the sandwich, I just cooked some lunchmeat ham for a few seconds on the panini grill, sliced up the cheesy bear bread, buttered the outsides with softened butter, and stacked it with some individually wrapped cheese slices… cooked on high on the countertop grill to sear & melt it all at once. I should have gotten a side view, but I was hungry.
Fresh real bacon would be incredible here, maybe more of it… or even bits of cubed ham.
You could skip the beer & do 1½ cups of water with the ham bullion or Better Than Bouillon. I like to use Straub Amber to cook too.
I wonder if a red bell pepper would be good in this too?
This makes a large pot, so hope you like leftovers.
My apologies to vegans, the lactose-intolerant, and the dairy-allergic.
🥦🧀🥣
OK, so how would you make your broccoli cheddar soup? Can I call this broccoli cheddar when it also includes other kinds of cheese? What are your thoughts on the roasting? Would you try this? Do you have a broccoli cheese soup go-to recipe? How about any tips & tricks?
Apparently beer & cheese have been on my mind lately. I saw a post by @swampmuse on threads of some cheesy beer bread and it looked awesome. She was cool enough to share her recipe. That got me thinking about beer cheese dip because of the shared ingredients. I was in a cooking mood last night. I’ll definitely be making the bread again, and the cheese dip would be great for pretzels… so maybe new years or a cold October night?
They were good together. I wonder if beer cheese bread in beer cheese dip is meta, or merely going hard?
I hardly drink any more, and the big bird was out of Yuengling bottle six packs & only had Straub Amber can 15 packs… so, I ended up with 2 big-ass 24 oz. cans of Yuengling Traditional Lager.
Brush additional melted butter on top @ 35 minutes.
Notes: I’m a dumbass, I left all the butter for the end when I should have mixed it in. Next time! I may have went heavy on my pinch of salt, too. I did brush all the butter on at 35 minutes, & it went for another 15 minutes, & was perfect. I think I will also sprinkle some additional shredded cheese on the top at the 35 min. mark… because, I mean… why not?
My 10 year old said he “thought it was going to be gross because it looked all bumpy” but was an immediate fan upon tasting.
Thank you so much to @swampmuse for the original post, the inspiration, and the recipe!
Beer Cheese Dip 🍺🧀
I had this on my mind, looked at a bunch or recipes online, and just winged it.
Ingredients:
1 16 oz. block of Velveeta
1 8 oz. block of cream cheese
1 cup beer
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar
1 cup shredded Gouda
ground mustard to taste
white pepper to taste
yellow mustard to taste
Instructions:
Cube up the Velveeta & cream cheese, put it in a crock pot on high.
Toss on the mustard powder & white pepper to taste, add a dollop of yellow mustard.
Stir it every 10 min. or so until it’s melty.
Add in the beer, stir.
Add in the shredded cheese, stir.
Stir.
Be incredibly patient.
Stir.
Notes: It takes longer than you think & looks weird until it hits that “just right” point. This is probably a different time estimate for every appliance. You could obviously do this in a sauce pan or double boiler if that’s what you’ve got. The mustard is an emulsifier and helps with smoothness. I picked white pepper over garlic or hot sauce as other recipes noted. I also skipped Worcestershire sauce as some recommended as it can contain anchovies, and weirdly anchovies can trigger shellfish allergies. Dropping some jalapeño or poblano from the garden into this also would have been pretty killer.
Overall, these recipes are just a guide, and you can go all anarchy on them. What kind of beer do you like to cook with? What kind of cheese or spices would you add or swap out for? And, what would you dip in it? Would you did the cheesy beer bread in the beer cheese dip? Got any recommendations on either recipe?
🍻🧀🍺🍞🍻
While you’re making or eating these, consider rocking out to these playlists…
So, yesterday I made spaghetti with homemade meatballs. Today, I wanted a meatball sub. I was thinking I still had some good buns from New Year’s day. They were not good. I had already melted the butter. The store-brand white bread was calling to me. A sandwich? No, a club.., Something worthy of shenanigans.
Behold: The Meatball ClubLook at that toasty goodness.Open up & say “Mmm!”If you don’t cut it diagonally, you’re doing it wrong.
It seemed to be a hit on various social media platforms, so I thought I’d share the love. If you make one, please, post the photo, tag me (@AiXelsyD13 on just about everything), and let me know how it was!
The Meatballs:
I have shared my meatball ingredient secrets a quadruple of times:
I generally don’t measure, and make them different every time. This time I fried them on medium-high in a large pan on the stove & a tiny bit of EVOO.
The Sauce:
OK, gonna level with you. I am not Italian. This is going to make some people mad. I use jarred sauce. This was the cheap Aldi stuff. Usually we get that or the Prego Three Cheese. I add brown sugar & Parmesan/Romano shake cheese. Sometimes, I even add shopped garlic, onion powder, or “Italian Seasoning.” This time it was just brown sugar and cheese. I don’t measure. I toss a little in with abandon. I like the sweetness & it cuts the acid.
The Club:
Get your stuff…
¼ stick butter
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Parsley or (Italian Seasoning)
6 or so leftover meatballs.
Shredded cheese (I had Gruyere & Swiss, but I would probably go for Mozzarella or Provolone, but the stuff I had was fantastic.)
“Shake Cheese” I had the cheap Giant Eagle brand Parmesan/Romano blend.
Three pieces of white bread.
Do it…
Pre-heat the oven to 390° on the air fryer setting.
Melt the butter w/ garlic powder, onion powder, & parsley to taste in a microwave save bowl in 30 second intervals, stirring in between until it’s a liquid.
Put the bread on a baking dish, brush on the melted butter after a good stir. (I just did the top sides.)
Air fry for 2 minutes, & it gets almost crispy on top, the bottom was nice and toasted.
While you’re doing that nuke the meatballs & sauce on a microwave safe plate for 2 min. (or longer if needed.)
Pull the toast out. (I cut the meatballs in half with a spoon then scooped them and the sauce on to two of the slices of bread.)
Top the meatballs with the shredded cheese.
Put the “shake cheese” on the 3rd slice of bread.
Put it back in on air fry for for 4 or 5 minutes.
Pull it out, assemble it like a tower of gluttony, then slice it diagonally with a giant serrated bread knife for dramatic effect.
Take a photo to share & make people hungry.
That’s it. It took a little bit of time & prep, but it was worth it.
Notes:
If you cook & have your own meatball or sauce recipe, of course do that.
Use whatever kind of cheese you want, shredded, or sliced, or whatever.
I would guess you can use the oven on 375°-ish on a regular setting for a bit longer times, or a counter top air fryer.
You could also probably do all of it in the air fryer from cooking the meatballs to melting the butter if you have the appropriate vessels.
If you slice it in rectangles and not triangles, you are a psychopath.
Discussion:
If you’re out of sausage or sub buns, or hot dog buns, what are you using? Pita? Tortilla? Soft Pretzel? Dinner Rolls? Bisquick? Crescent roll dough?
Please, tell me in the comments how wrong it is to use jarred sauce or add brown sugar.
Share with me your meatball secrets.
Do you like the powdery shake cheese or the fancy stuff?
I love to put together a holiday meal, especially thanksgiving. I have it down pretty good to corral the chaos.
Turkey in the electric roaster!Thanksgiving Dinner Plate!
First prepping the turkey & stuffing…
I do the bird in the electric roaster, stuffed, for 15-ish minutes per lb. @ 325° Farenheit. I roasted in the preheated pan on full for about 45 minutes at the start before turning it down. I inject the turkey in a few sports with a mixture of melted beer, butter, & spices. I usually rub some softened butter on top and toss on lots of seasoning there too. I usually pour a bottle of beer and a box of turkey broth in the bottom, & include some carrots, celery, & an onion.
Don’t worry about samonella with a stuffed bird. Take it to 165°. Always use a food thermometer. Some of the dark meat of the turkey will be overcooked but it will still be juicy & delicious. I haven’t killed anyone with my turkey yet.
The extra stuffing can be made into stuffing balls, but I put it in the crock pot. You just have to stir it, & maybe add extra turkey or chicken broth if needed or it will stick to the sides a lil’ burnt.
Do the math, & time it so you’re pulling the turkey out about a half an hour before you want to serve it.
I cut up the butternut squash first, & put it in the fridge for when I needed it.
I peeled & quartered the potatoes, let them sit in cold water (& turkey broth).
Cut up & prep the brussels sprouts & carrots, you want to pop them in about 45 min before you plan to eat.
Prep the squash & put it in right after the brussels sprouts.
Turn on the potatoes, by the time they cook & you do your thing… it the other stuff should be ready to go.
Others brought even more sides… cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, & rolls!
If I make green bean casserole, I pretty much use the Campbell’s recipe or French’s Fried Onions recipe… sometimes with an added can of mushrooms, fresh green beans, & maybe even some bacon pieces or ham.
First, the recipe. Then, the story. ‘Cause the other way around is a thing that everyone hates now.
Lasagna & Meatballs
I don’t measure much. I had stuff from Aldi, Shop ‘n Save, & Giant Eagle by the time I was done. The kids helped. They have been into helping to cook lately. We like meatballs on the side, not meat sauce in the lasagna. Get out of here with your sausage or pork or pepperoni too, this is BEEF territory.
We eventually decided on…
Ingredients:
A box of no-bake lasagna noodles from Aldi.
A 2½ lb. package of ground beef from Aldi.
Fresh spinach from Shop ‘n Save.
Fresh parsley from Giant Eagle (could’t order it from Aldi or Shop ‘n Save via Instacart.)
A tiny tub of Ricotta from Aldi. (Instacart size fail.)
A giant tub of Ricotta from Giant Eagle.
2 Aldi zucchini.
A 2-cup bag of “Italian Blend” cheese from Aldi.
A 1½ cup bag of shredded parmesan & romano cheese from Giant Eagle.
A 1½ cup bag of shredded mozarella cheese from Gaint Eagle.
2 eggs
“Shake cheese” – Used both Parmesan & a Parmesan Romano blend.
A bag of “Italian Seasoning” croutons from Aldi.
Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian dressing.
3 jars of the cheap Aldi marinara sauce. (It is way better than the supposedly more delicious and expensive ones.)
Condensed Tomato Soup
Brown Sugar
Various spices no, I didn’t measure:
“Italian Seasoning” {Whatever that is.)
Dried spice-rack Parsely
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
White Pepper
Coarse Ground Black Pepper
Sea Salt
Whatever Aldi “Seasoned Salt” that looks like the Lawry’s Seasoned Salt bottle or McCormick Season All is.
🌡️ Cook temp: 400° F
⏱ Prep time: This isn’t Food Network, All Recipes, or Martha Stewart & Snoop Dogg. How do I know? I had a 6 year old and a 4 year old helping. So, it was slow.
Get out all your pots, pans, utensils, cutting boards, and stuff before you cook. If you have children helping, get paper towels. Get the ingredients out. Wash your hands. Wash the eggs. We used 2 large mixing bowls, and an inordinate amount of oddly shaped glass baking dishes.
Chop the parsley & spinach like a madman (or mad woman, or mad person of a non-specific gender). Have the kids help. They love sharp knives. It’s important that they respect them and that you watch closely. Very closely. We sometimes use one of those still sharp plastic lettuce knives for stuff like this. I didn’t measure. We used about the whole bunch of parsley & a handful and a half of spinach.
Slice up that zucchini as thinly as possible. I don’t have a mandolin, so I did that instead of the kids. Actually, I would still do that if we had a mandolin.
We divided the parsley & spinach about equally into the 2 mixing bowls. I talked about that thing where you add the same flavors across different dishes to tie them together, but I have no idea what the word for that is.
In the meatball bowl, we tossed in the ground beef & the croutons. We smashed the croutons first. Oh, that was fun. It probably got out of hand, but the bag didn’t pop.
We also poured in some Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian dressing in the meatballs. Amount? Yes. Until it looked good. This is one thing I won’t bend on. It is far more superior that any other Italian dressing.
The we dropped in some Italian Blend shredded cheese & some shake cheese. Measuring is for the timid. Eyeball it. Use the force, let it guide you.
Mix it with your hands, roll into balls, and pop in into a glass baking dish, or 3 odd little ones. We spaced them out. I mean, you could use a baking sheet, and I used to prefer them in the electric skillet, but this is so easy. We put all of the above spices in there too. And sprinkled a bit on the outside once formed.
We washed out hands again, and I set that in the oven & set the timer for 23 minutes because I couldn’t decide between 20 or 25.
We poured the marinara & tomato soup in a pot, added some brown sugar (just a bit), shake cheese, parsley & italian seasnonings, & garlic.
The kids stirred that. And stirred that. And stirred that.
We put the ricotta in the 2nd mixing bowl already containing spinach & parsley.
Add eggs, the rest of the “Italian Blend” cheese bag, some shake cheese, and some minced garlic… and whatever spices you want. I told the kids here about depth of flavor in using the dried parsley vs. the fresh parsley and minced garlic vs the garlic powder… but I don’t know if they were paying attention. They had just cracked eggs and we were about to mess with a giant gooey bowl of cheese.
Go easy on that white pepper if you have it. It goes a loooong way.
Spread the sauce on the bottom of your biggest glass baking dish.
We layed out the no-boil noodles. It was my first time using them. I think it went pretty well. They fit 4 across and 1 at the end in our pan.
On top of the noodles we did half of the ricotta mixture, the Parmesan/Romano shredded cheese, the zucchini, sauce, more noodles, the rest of the ricotta mixture, the shredded Mozzarella cheese, sauce, noodles, more sauce, and a mix of the Parmesan/Romano & Mozzarella cheeses.
We like cheese. The kids tasted the different shred varieties as we layered. Ian liked the Parmesan/Romano & Molly liked the Mozzarella.
I covered that in foil & put it in the oven for 45 minutes. Then I uncovered it & let it go for 15 minutes.
The extra sauce goes on the meatballs.
Ooh. I snuck the story in on you didn’t I? Wow. Would you like to speak to the manager? You might like my other blogs about meatballs or meatloaf or wedding soup… or any of my food stuff. The kids went absolutely primate-poop over the meatballs. The no-boil noodles were fine. I liked that they were al dente. There was enough liquid that I didn’t add any like the box suggested. Be a rebel! (OK, I asked for opinions on FB for that first on my page & in an Aldi recipe group.)
So, I have always wanted to make wedding soup, but have never tried it. Until now. Skip to the end if you just want the recipe and none of my shenanigans.
Wedding Soup à la AiXeLsyD13
Wedding soup recipes abound on the internet. Some people are vehement that theirs is the “right” way. Apparently the inclusion of pasta is a beans-in-chili-like debate. I would guess that it depends on your region, heritage, and family traditions. I have none of these ties. I’m just a yinzer that likes food. I did reach out via Facebook to see how others do it. I wanted to try to make the soup because of the tiny pasta, I think. I may have also made some other “controversial” decisions.
Pasta. Even though real Italians apparently don’t include pasta in their soup, I am not Italian. Not remotely, even. Seriously. My wife got me the DNA thing for my birthday a few years back and I’m apparently super English, Scottish, Welsh, & Irish with a bit of Scandinavia and the Iberian Peninsula thrown in. I had to Google the Iberian Peninsula. So, as a Yinzer I am making a stand with pasta in the wedding soup because that’s how I have seen it. Orzo looked too much like rice,and rice in soup is gross. (I know, it is an entirely different consistency. Just accept the fact that rice in soup is gross, you’re wrong if you disagree, and read on.) I did most of my shopping at Aldi, but they had no tiny pasta… so I went to Giant Eagle and got Acini De Pepe. I could have also easily gone with what Barilla calls Pastina (neat tiny stars!) and apparently is not even a thing or it’s a generic thing.
If I would sub out cheese tortellini/farfalle for pastini/acini de pepe in the wedding soup, I could get all my ingredients at @AldiUSA. #fb
I chose to make the meatballs myself, because I like making meatballs. They’re big-ass meatballs because I have poor portion control and couldn’t use the mellon-baller to effectively help reel it in, and who wants a little tiny meatball anyway? I used beef, because cows are tasty. I typically don’t do the lamb/veal/pork mix in any meatballs or meatloaf, so why start now? I also opted for ground beef in lieu of chicken or turkey, because beef. Sheep are for making blankets, not eating… unless you like eating meat that tastes like wool blankets.
In my meatballs, I use Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian dressing & crushed seasoned croutons. I also tossed in some extra spices (onion & garlic powder, salt, pepper, and whatever “Italian Seasoning” is), two eggs, and parmesan/romano “shake cheese.” (Does anyone else call it that?) I generally crush the croutons with my hands, but since I was apathetically trying to make smaller meatballs and my 3yo was my helper, I put some in a sandwich baggie and smashed to crap out of them with the shake-cheese bottle. Why use bread crumbs when you can smash stuff? I could totally skip the dressing & toss in whatever spices… but I tried this one time with meatballs to go with spaghetti or lasagna and we liked it, so it stuck. We cooked them in 2 frying pans, because it seemed quick. I like to bake meatballs sometimes too. This really could be a 7-day damn project of soup.
A lot of wedding soup recipes call for shredded chicken. I never really noticed it in the wedding soups I had eaten until at a recent wedding where they left the chicken in sizable chunks. Maybe it was an accident? I have no idea, but I liked it. I felt like I was taking a bite of something instead of creepy little chicken strings being used as a garnish. Also, I decided to cheat and not make stock… or I probably would have roasted then boiled the shit out of a chicken carcass and produced some shredded chicken as well as tasty stock. I grilled the chicken in the manliest way possible outdoors over an open flame like our cavemen ancestors. OK, I cooked it on a counter-top panini grill and attempted to give it some nice criss-crossed grill lines before letting it cool and cutting it into “cubes” with less knife skills than Stevie Wonder. I wanted to know I was eating chicken. I probably put some season salt on it.
I made a mirepoix, I think. I put some butter in the bottom of the soup pot, and heated up some finely chopped carrots, celery (stalks and some of the leafy top), onion, & a bit of parsley and the lazy-people chopped-up-already in a jar garlic. Did those last two mess up the mirepoix? Salt and pepper went in there too, because the Food Network says to season every step or something like that.
Then I added some random boxes of stock & broth from Aldi. Really. I couldn’t decide. So, I got lowfat (that’s all they had) chicken stock, chicken broth, and low sodium chicken broth. They were all those creepy giant juice-boxish containers that no doubt every chicken aspires to reside in someday. I almost bought a vegetable stock, but didn’t. How do you get vegetable stock anyway? Isn’t that just broth? Isn’t the difference between stock & broth the inclusion of bones?
After that, I added the meatballs and chicken and let it boil for a bit. Maybe on like 7 or 8? I hate when recipes say “medium-high” heat. Give me a number, damnit. There are numbers on my oven. Are they there for no reason? How long? I don’t know. Long enough to chop up the “fresh” spinach.
I went for the fresh spinach in a plastic box at Aldi. I didn’t see any with the produce, didn’t catch it in frozen, and bought a can as backup just in case. They didn’t have any endive or escarole that I noticed. I wasn’t sure about Kale but may try that next time. I probably could have added the canned spinach too… it could have used a bit more maybe? Although, my meatball helper who crushed about 4 or 5 meatballs after we cooked them wasn’t a big fan of the soup itself because “big kids don’t like spinach sometimes.” She will eat pasta, grilled chicken, carrots, and meatballs all day every day. But the spinach was a no-go I guess. I think I added about 4 cups of water and 2 chicken bullion cubes in there somewhere.
I added the spinach and the box of acini de pepe at the same time. I let it go for the recommended 9 minutes. I know I had been advised to not do it that way. Cooking the pasta separately first then adding the rest of the soup over it in a bowl would be the level-headed thing to do. I was ready to eat by that point though, so in it went.
It was delicious on the first run if I do say so myself. Upon having leftovers, the acini de pepe swelled to ridiculous proportions. Ha ha. Next time I will cook the pasta first or only use half of a box. Or, I will do it the same way and have wedding pasta. Your soup means nothing to me! My total meat and carb domination can not be culled.
Well, on to the recipe if you even made it this far:
Non-Italian Wedding Soup Recipe:
This is not your ordinary recipe. I don’t measure much. I just throw stuff into a pot, especially with meatballs and soup. Obviously, use whatever you have on hand. Make substitutions. This is a recipe in the loosest sense of the word. This is how I did it this time. I may do it different next time. There probably are some good details above that I neglected to mention down here.
The Meatballs:
3 lb. Ground beef (I think it was 80/20?)
Seasoned Croutons (grab your favorite)
Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian dressing
Seasonings
2 eggs, beaten.
Parmesan/Romano “shake cheese”
One day when making meatballs, I grabbed the dressing & croutons because they were on the counter. We were probably having salad with our spaghetti or lasagna. It’s just breadcrumbs & oil with some seasonings in it. I usually smash the croutons by hand, but crushed some of these with a plastic sandwich bag & the Parmesan cheese container since I was trying to make smaller(ish) meatballs. I added some more spices (see below) with the beaten egg, and mixed the meatballs by hand. I used a fancy mellon-baller with an ice-cream-scoop like trigger mechanism that my mom had given me for a few of them, to measure… but they got out of hand easily and I had my 3yo helping. So, they were probably bigger than they needed to be. How much dressing and croutons? Eye it. I do. I like meatballs that are mostly meat, not bread.
The Soup:
A few handsful of Carrots (I started with the baby-cut ones because the kids snack on them.)
Maybe ⅓ of a bunch Celery? (I chopped up the stalks & some leaves.)
An Onion
Fresh Parsley
Spinach – I got a box of the “fresh” stuff from Aldi.
Grilled & poorly diced Chicken Breasts (I did mine on the panini grill)
Home-Made Meatballs (…or use frozen ones from the store.)
3 creepy juice-box-like broth/stock containers. I literally got 3 different kinds of chicken broth.
4-sh cups water
2 chicken bullion cubes
Minced garlic in Olive Oil (because I’m lazy & don’t want to mince my own.)
Butter (enough to cover the bottom of your soup pot when it melts)
Parmesan/Romano “shake cheese”
Shredded Parmesan (Aldi had a fancy little container.)
De Cecco Acini De Pepe
I started out with the butter melting on the bottom of the soup pot, then added the carrots, celery, onion, & some parsley. I sauteed that for a bit, then dumped in the 3 weird juice boxes of chicken broth/stock over top of that and brought it to a boil. I reduced the heat a bit, and added the chicken and meatballs. I let it get back to a boil and added some of the shredded Parmesan & Parmesan/Romano shake cheese to the broth. I let that simmer for a bit and eventually added -ish more cups of water and 2 chicken bullion cubes. (Maybe beef bullion would have been cool here?) Once that boiled again, I added the pasta & spinach & boiled for another 9 minutes. It was tasty. I burned my tongue. Let it cool. Be patient.
Spices…
Season All
Paprika
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Crushed Black Pepper
Sea salt
White Pepper
Crushed Red Pepper
Italian Seasoning
Parsley Flakes
When I refer to seasonings or spices, it could have been any combination of these. I just grab & shake whenever.
Please, let me know if you tried your own inspired by this one. Let me know if you do your own a totally different way. Let me know what I did right, or let me know what I did “wrong.” Thanks for reading!
So, I made some really easy turkey noodle soup yesterday. It turned out to be pretty delicious, and I lucked out because a lot of the ingredients were on sale.
My cell phone takes absolutely terrible photos, but trust me... this was delicious.
In the morning, I popped 2 turkey breast cutlets into the crock pot, piled on top of chopped baby-cut carrots & celery. I added some a cup of water with a chickenbullion cube… and piled on some spices; Poultry Seasoning, Season All, black pepper, garlic, sage, and parsley. I should have probably added an onion, but I forgot.
8 hours later, I boiled some wide noodles in 2 cans of turkey broth, 2 cans of vegetable broth, and 2 cans of low sodium chicken broth. When the noodles were cooked, I chopped up the turkey boobs, and dumped the contents from the crock pot into the boiling pot of noodles for the soup… I added a little more water, another bullion cube, and simmered for a while.
Result? Rather effortless yet delicious soup.
I found myself wondering if the broth & noodles would have cooked well in the crock pot. Will noodles cook well without the boiling & just the saturation? Would they eventually fall apart if over-cooked?
I’ve also done something similar with a rotisserie chicken… I’ll sauté the carrots, celery, & maybe garlic & onion with some butter in the soup pot, then add chicken and/or vegetable broth, boil the noodles, & add chicken.
How do you make chicken or turkey noodle soup?
How do you make your other favorite kinds of soup?
Have any secret ingredients?
I generally put in cayenne or something else hot… but I’ve been told to cool it with the spices for a while thanks to G.E.R.D. lately. Sometimes I add beer to soups… just because I can. I dunno if it’d go well in chicken or turkey noodle though?
I can’t wait to make stuffing again. It’s ridiculously tasty. I love the carb overload. Maybe I will get those goggles, and I need to pick up some Yuengling. A week from tonight, I should be in the process of creating this awesomeness.
I’ll show you my stuffing recipe if you show me yours.
Maybe this year, I’ll try to make some Potato Filling too. There are a bunch of recipes for it out there. Maybe stuffing balls would be good… Now I’m hungry.
Stuffing has got to be my favorite Thanksgiving food. I remember Thanksgivings past where my dad & I would fight over the stuffing bowl like it was filled with gold, diamonds, and (for me) guitars. The stuff is perfect. Alone, with turkey, with gravy… the decadent amount of carbs is ridiculously awesome.
Last year was my first ever attempt at making stuffing… and my grandma told me that it tasted just like hers. Is there a compliment better than that? I had used as a guide an old recipe that my grandfather & grandmother had both used when making holiday meals. My mom lent me the old cook book with my grandfather’s notes last year, I collected some others, and I made scans for myself (Updated URL).
I say “guide” because it’s not always an exact science when doubling/tripling recipes… and there really aren’t any cooking directions… it’s just a guide to make the stuff. Also, I tend to do a lot of “oh, that looks about right” and a little bit of “hey, let’s add a little of this” in the kitchen, as most people comfortable there usually do.
A lot of times I see stuffing recipes online, on TV, or in the little books by the cash register at the grocery store… and they include sausage, apples, raisins, (yuck!) nuts, or even peppers, carrots, or mushrooms (all of the latter of which I’ like to try some time). The philosophy behind this recipe seems to be a K.I.S.S. one. I like that. It’s a very simple accompaniment, and the taste that my mind goes to every time I think “stuffing”.
This year, it was definitely a two person effort. I don’t know how I would have done it without Bethany and all four of our hands. We made a lot of stuffing. Sadly, I didn’t think to chronicle the thing with photos like I sometimes do with new recipes… but I did want to make a guide with my own notes, so when I do this next year, I remember what I did differently this year. I know I altered things slightly last year, but the details were a little fuzzy. I figured that if I’m going to do it for myself, I might as well share, right? Plus, we got compliments from two moms, two grandmas, and an aunt… all excellent in the kitchen themselves!
I did take a photo today, because really, what’s a food blog post without a photo? Perhaps I’ll see if my mom got any with her camera and amend the post later.
This year’s effort was delicious, if I do say so myself.
This is my first time really writing out a recipe… so pardon me if it’s a little convoluted or long winded. I don’t want to miss anything, and I hope to get it all in the right order as well as make it an entertaining read.
Here’s what you’ll need to do it the same way I did…
Food:
5 loaves of bread (equaled 56 cups once cubed)
1 bundle of celery (3 cups, chopped – the rest can cook w/ the turkey or be a snack)
Monday night, get your loaves of bread, open the bags, and put the loaves on cookie sheets before dinner. Leave ’em out on a table or counter while you do your thing.
Right before your favorite prime time TV shows come on, set up a station on the coffee table in front of the couch with the cookie trays of bread, some cutting boards with knives, and the pans out of your electric roaster. Cube the bread and fill the roasting pan. When I say fill it, I mean fill it. It will be ridiculously full.
Cover it with paper towels, and set it on the kitchen table that you only use when company comes over anyway. Over the next few days, stir it a few times a day, whenever you think of it. This will get it nicely & slightly stale. If you’re going to be doing anything that smells, like using cleaning chemicals, put it in the oven… but don’t turn it on. It’s nice & warm & dry & not stinky in there. The bread will absorb that stuff and the stuffing will taste like Mr. Clean made it.
Wednesday night, get out your turkey… and pull the disgusting papery bag of giblets out of the neck cavity, and the neck out of its butt. (Why exactly do they put the neck in the butt, anyway? Who’s idea was that?) Boil the giblets in your can of vegetable broth, or just use plain water… or even turkey or chicken broth. I thought the vegetable broth would add a nice flavor. I boiled them for a nice long time, and let it cook down quite a bunch.
Finely chop up your celery & onions… or use the Magic Bullet, like I did. I’m not real big on chunks of slimy or crunchy stuff in bread-like consistency foods. I probably had half of each chopped finely, the other half rendered to near-paste by the genius little piece of equipment that list the Magic Bullet. I’m sure any food processor would work.. but this one is easy to pot pout of storage, use, and clean when you’re done.
Then I popped out the electric skillet to sauteé the onion & celery mixture… probably in some Country Crock & a bit of extra virgin olive oil… adding some of the spices mentioned above, and maybe even some paprika… although, they don’t come the totals listed above. These are the aforementioned “oh, that looks about right” and “hey, let’s add a little of this”. You’ve sauteed stuff, you know how it works. I love this step because it turns the onions from gross into awesome… especially the Spanish onions. The sweet onions are oddly enough not as sweet to me when cooked.
Next time, I’m totally getting a pair of swimming goggles or those glasses that I’ve seen at Bed, Bath & Beyond for when I chop & pulverize the onions. I was crying like a little girl who just watched a car run over a kitten.
I popped the onions and celery into separate containers for the ‘fridge to save for Thursday morning.
Next, I pulled out the giblets and chopped them into tiny pieces, & put them with the reduced broth from cooking into a 3rd refrigerator bound container to be used on Thursday morning.
Go to bed. You have to get up early.
Thursday get up about an hour before your turkey needs to go in the roaster oven, and start to mix all this crap together.
Add the dry spice ingredients to the now stale-ish cubed bread. Good luck not getting any on the floor.
Chop the fresh parsley.
Nuke your butter in a microwave safe bowl, add it to a large mixing bowl, crack open the 10 eggs, and whisk away.
Add the fresh parsley to the buttery gooey egg mixture.
Add 2-3 cups of the broth from the giblets, and the finely chopped giblets to the now even gooier butterier egg mixture.
This is where I got the bright idea to dump in some Yuengling. It wasn’t a whole bottle… but I had it out & only needed about ½ cup for my butter/garlic/beer turkey injection/baste, so I dumped some into the gooey buttery gibletey mixture, and drank the rest… all before 8:00 am.
Dump the celery & onion concoction on to the bread, mix around, and then dump on the gooey buttery gibletey Yuenglingey mixture. This is where it was imperative that there were two of us. Bethany opted to use her hands to mix while I poured. The mixing gets easier when it’s wet, as it goes down a little. You should probably wash your hands before you do this. Not that I think you’re stupid or anything… but there are signs out there all over the place… so someone somewhere must need reminded. Use soap, and hot water.
Now, this needs to come out of the roaster so the turkey can go into it… and you should be doing this around the same time as turkey prep… so stuff what you can into the turkey carcass’ various cavities, and put the rest in the crock pot. I had Bethany scoop it into a bowl small amounts at a time as I stuffed it into the bird, so I wasn’t touching raw poultry and the stuffing that wasn’t going into the bird. She made it clear that she wasn’t touching the raw dead bird, or sticking her hands into it.
I sewed up the turkey and popped it into the roaster to cook, and then put the stuffing in the crock pot on low to cook for the same amount of time.
Everyone told me last year that stuffing + crock pot = bad idea. This is where I say that you could not be more wrong. It was perfectly moist and heated well throughout. I did break the cardinal cock pot rule by removing the lid every hour or so and stirring a little so it didn’t stick to the sides or burn. This worked well, except that I didn’t get the bottom well enough. You could add more liquid throughout if t looked necessary… or not stir if you like the crusty part as much as the other part. If you use the crock pot enough, you get to know what works for yours. Pop it on to warm or off a while before you eat.
When the turkey’s ready, the stuffing’s ready. Stuff yourself silly, send people home with leftovers, and eat for breakfast, lunch, & dinner the next day.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the process, and I’m sorry for jumping tenses. I think I did anyway. All over the place. Maybe Dave and Kristin can give me some pointers on that.
I’d love to know what you think of this recipe, and how you do your stuffing. I’m always up for trying things new ways… and I’m always up for eating stuffing. In fact, even better — make some, and invite me over for dinner!
World (and Lunar) Domination 