COLD WEATHER BLESSINGS

Here in my fair neighborhood, it's cold.  Not bitter cold--that's to come in a couple of days--but cold.  On days such as these, I am grateful for cold weather blessings....


a challenging 1000 piece puzzle....

....a very warm fire.....

...a nice cup of homemade gluten free chicken noodle soup (recipe will be at end of this post) served in a nice soup mug given to me for my birthday by really nice friends.  There was also a matching soup tureen, ladle, and five more matching mugs ...makes you wish you were here, huh?  Bad news is that it was also supper last night and this mug of soup is the last of it.

It's the little things along with big things that require our thanks.

CREAMY CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP 

1 T. butter or margarine 

1 lg. onion, chopped

3 c. chopped cooked chicken 

3 (1 4.5 oz.) cans chicken broth

1 (10.75 oz.) can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted 

1 (10.75 oz.) can cream of chicken soup, undiruted

1 (8 oz.) pkg. spaghetti, broken into smaller pieces  

7 celery ribs, diced

6 medium carrots, diced

1t. poultry seasoning 

1 t. pepper

1 t. grated lemon rind

2 c. milk

2 c. (8 oz.) shredded sharp cheese

Melt butter in Dutch oven over medium heat; add onion and saute until tender. Stir in chicken and other ingredients; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, simmer for 45 minutes, stir in milk; return to simmer. Remove soup from heat and let stand ten minutes.  Sprinkle each serving with shredded cheese.  Makes 12 cups.

This recipe is good just as it is; however, I often adapt in these ways.  Firstly, I never use the lemon rind.  For the soup in the mug pictured above, I omitted the mushroom soup and only added one can of low sodium healthy heart cream of chicken soup along with the broth called for and extra broth from cooking the chicken.  I added no milk nor cheese and used gluten free noodles and it was delicious that way.  So...with that said, play with it to suit your needs but be aware l/2 t. of poultry seasoning makes a lot of difference in the taste.  Enjoy!