My Chicken & Noodle Soup

Chicken & Noodle soup always taste good but especially in the fall or winter. I have made this enough I don’t use a recipe but basically it’s about the same every time. Homemade noodles are probably the best to use but found I don’t do noodles well! I used to use Reams noodles & their flat dumplings; you can find them in the frozen food section. They are the best store bought noodles I have found.

A few years back I found some noodles at a local bakery, Butler’s, in Van Wert, Ohio. They were as good as any homemade I have eaten. I started using them & then found that Waltz Meats bought his noodles from Butler’s & sells them along with his canned chicken & beef. If you are not local you won’t be able to find these, so just use a good noodle product or make your own.

The next thing you need is some good chicken, I spatchcocked one & did on my smoker at 325 deg until an IT of 180 deg, pulled & let cool. If I am making a small batch, 8 oz. of noodles, I use half the chicken for a large batch, 16 oz. of noodles I add the breast meat from the other half. For this chicken I rubbed some seasoned butter, Lawry’s seasoned salt no MSG, under the breast skin & brushed on the chicken. I basted it once during the cook. It took about an hour & a half. A rotisserie chicken would work too or bake one in the oven. I have also made some that was tasty with canned chicken.

I made my own broth for this batch, 2 to 3 quarts of water, 2 or 3 stalks celery, one med. onion, a handful of baby carrots, a bay leaf, 1 Tbs. kosher salt, 1 Tbs. poultry seasoning, and a few turns of the pepper mill. I had some chicken backs & giblets frozen I added, brought to a boil then simmered a couple of hours. I skimmed off some of the fat, removed the chicken & veggies then strained the broth & left on low until I was ready to finish the soup. Don’t skim off all the fat, my cousins Dad said soup is no good unless it has eyes, a little fat, on top. If you don’t make your own stock use at least one quart of chicken broth & water as needed.

When my chicken was done I let cool & returned the broth to a boil & added 8 oz. of noodles. I also added a handful of sliced carrots and a Tbs. of mustard. I lowered it to a slow boil & let the noodles cook about an hour before adding the chicken. You could add some chopped fresh parsley or a Tbs. of dried at the end. It adds some flavor & color. Add more water if needed at this time. Let simmer awhile before serving along with some crackers, I like butter on mine, or some good crusty bread & butter. Enjoy!

Soup Fixins

Chicken ready for the Smoker

Chickens Done

Broth's On

Soup's on

My Bowl w/my no knead bread

Smokin Don

Smoked Turkey & Bacon Sandwich

Yesterday I made chicken & noodle soup, good cold weather food! I made my own broth & spatchcocked a chicken to do on my smoker. My wife would be away so after I did the chicken I turned the smoker down to 300 deg & added 5 slices of bacon. It took about a half hour to brown up. I planned a sandwich with some of my no knead bread; since it didn’t raise well it was perfect for a sandwich. I had some smoked turkey breast a friend had done on his Treager, just enough for a sandwich. I threw it in a skillet with a little olive oil, placed 3 slices of bacon on & topped with a slice of Swiss cheese. I covered it with a lid and while it was heating I toasted the bread in another skillet.

I saved some of the chicken skin & nuked it in the microwave until crispy & had it along with the sandwich. I topped the sandwich with some Philly cooking cream, Santa Fe flavor. It was not the healthiest meal but I garontee it was mighty tasty!!

Bacons Ready

My Plate

Another View

Smokin Don

Muffin Pan Mozzarella Stuffed Meatloaves

Yesterday I made a loaf of no knead bread to have with my supper. It turned out a little flatter than usual but still was pretty good. My supper would be four of the mini meatloaves and some potato onion stacks all in my muffin pan. While these were on the smoker I did a spaghetti squash in the oven. I don’t know why I was thinking an hour to an hour & half for the meatloaves. I put them on at 225 deg for a half hour; I then inserted a temp probe in a meatloaf. It was already at 140 deg so they would get done way before the potatoes would. I went to 325 deg & in 10 min I took the meatloaves out of the muffin pan & placed on the left side, cooler side of the grill and the potatoes on the right. After a total of an hour & 15 min the potatoes were fork tender so went inside I got the spaghetti squash ready & sliced the bread. I pulled the meatloaves & potatoes and served all up. The meatloaf recipe came from foodnetwork.com. I mixed all up & an addition was about 2 Tbs. of ketchup. I used 1 lb of ground chuck & ½ lb of pork sausage. I divided the mixture into fourths, formed a patty, added a ¾ inch chunk of fresh mozzarella cheese & folded the meat around. It made four 6 oz meatloaves & next time will go for 8 oz loaves. I had made some sauce from a 6oz can of tomato sauce, a good Tbs. of tomato paste, a Tbs. of balsamic vinegar & about ½ tsp. of Italian seasoning. I placed a spoonful on each meatloaf with 1/2 hour left to cook. I placed a spoonful on each plate & served the meatloaves on top. I can see now I need another muffin pan to do potatoes early & then add one with meat. Luckily I didn’t dry the meatloaves out & it all tasted pretty good. This will be a keeper recipe for me & next time will get the potatoes on an hour before & figure on 45 min to one hour additional for the meatloaves.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meatloaf Ingrediants

No Knead Bread

Ready for the Smoker

About Done

Spaghetti Squash

Taken After Cold

My Plate

Smokin Don

Bacon Spam

When the wife is away the cook will play. My wife went out with her lunch bunch for dinner & a play so it was a good time to cook what I wanted. I bought a can of Bacon Spam I wanted to fix and do a test on some muffin pan potatoes I wanted to have with some Mini Meatloaves tomorrow night. I know I am kinda on a muffin pan kick right now! I laid the Spam on its side & cross sliced it about half way through ½ inch apart & sprinkled on some Cajun seasoning. The cross slicing allows it to open up some & give more edges to brown up. I sliced up two Gold Potatoes about ¼ inch thick leaving the skins on and sliced 8 slices of sweet onions as thin as I could. I melted 3 Tbs. of butter with some garlic powder & Lawry’s seasoned salt brushed the potatoes on each side & altered with the onions in my muffin pan. I put the Spam directly on the grate on Smoke mode 180 deg for ½ hour then went to 225 deg & added the muffin pan with the potato & onion slices. In another ½ hour I went to 325 deg. In another hour & half all looked done, I had basted the potatoes with the butter several times. I was confident I could get the potatoes done tomorrow with the meat loaves, they tasted good & the Spam was great, almost over done, but the crispy edges were good.--------------------- Bacon Spam

Potatoes & Onions

About Done

Spam

My Plate

Smokin Don

Leftover Pork Fried Rice

Last nights supper was quick & easy, it also tasted good. I had some leftover pork loin, rice, & peas, perfect for some fried rice. I chopped up a sweet onion, two cloves of garlic, & some red pepper. Diced up the pork & seasoned with some soy sauce. I beat two eggs & fried in a small skillet, then diced it up. When I do a stir fry I like to get all ingredients ready & in bowls, the cooking goes pretty fast. I had a steel wok, it’s probably somewhere in the garage gathering dust, but always had a flat bottom one since I have an electric stove. Anymore I just use my regular skillet but have found you need to do it at a lower heat or you wind up with rice stuck to the bottom of the pan. I start on med heat, two or three Tbs. olive oil & let heat up about 5 min. Throw in the onions, garlic, & peppers, cook until getting a little soft. Throw in the diced pork & heat through, since it was already cooked just need to heat up. Add a couple drops of sesame oil. Throw in the peas & turn heat to med low. I am stirring some during each addition. When this is all heated throw in the rice, then finally the egg. Stir & add more soy sauce if needed. I had done some Texas garlic toast to have with the fried rice. Sometimes I like to add some celery or water chestnuts for a little crunch. I didn’t measure anything but you can see from the bowls there was about equal amounts. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My Ingredients

All Stirred

My Plate

Smokin Don

Muffin Pan Chicken Stacks

I have had a cold for a week now so I haven’t cooked much. I did do a pork sirloin roast that didn’t come out the way I wanted so I didn’t bother posting it. I wanted to try something different in my muffin pan so I thought this one up. I would layer chicken breasts, onions, & red peppers, on a slice of bacon for a chicken stack.

I bought a package of 3 skinless, boneless breast halves. I had planned to flatten the breasts & cut to get 12 slices for my 6 cup muffin pan. I had drilled 3 holes for drainage in each cup earlier to do chicken thighs. When I was ready to do the breasts they were like sized so just sliced each half length wise, about ½ inch thickness; then cut in half crosswise. This gave me the 12 slices I needed.

I marinated half in Lawry’s Mexican Chili Lime marinade, & the other half I drizzled with red wine vinegar & some Penzey’s Galena Street chicken rub. In the fridge for an hour before assembling the stacks. I suppose it’s a little silly to use skinless breasts then replace it with bacon! Well the bacon sure makes chicken taste better!!

I assembled the stacks about an hour before cook time, a slice of bacon, a chicken slice, a ¼ inch slice of onion, a slice of red bell pepper, another slice of chicken; then fold the bacon over & secure with a couple presoaked tooth picks. It’s best to do 3 at a time, I did 3 on one side with the marinade then the other 3 with the seasoning, so I could keep them separate. These went back in the fridge for another half hour, while I fired up my smoker.

I figured on an hour & half, ½ hour at 225 deg, then finish at 300 or higher. After ½ hour at 225 deg I went to 300 deg. I removed them from the pan & on the grill after the ½ hour at 300 deg & inserted a temp probe in one. My sides were some pecan wild & long grain rice & frozen fresh peas so I got them cooking to be done with the chicken. After 45 min at 300 deg the bacon needed browned up some so went to 375 deg for the last 25 min. So cook time was a total of one hour 40 min. IT was at 160 deg which was actually in the center where the onion & peppers were. Bacon was crisp & chicken plenty done.

I served my wife & I one each of the flavored stacks, & some rice with peas over top. We both thought the Penzey’s seasoned ones were best; the chili lime marinade didn’t add much taste. I think these would also be good with a BBQ sauce over top or some other good sauce. The onions I used were some sweet onions from Peru & they are about as good as Vidalia onions.

Marinade & Rice

Chicken Slices

Onions & Peppers

Making up the Stacks

Ready for the Smoker

On the grill & Ready

My Plate

Smokin Don

Spatchcocked Organic Chicken

Thanksgiving is over, all our children made it home safe, it’s been rainy & cold, and I am kinda in the Holiday letdown mode! It was fun to cook for a large bunch once again. On Saturday I bought two organic chickens, two bunches of asparagus, & elbow pasta for Mac & cheese. I planned on spatchcocking the two chickens and doing them & the asparagus on my Traeger smoker. I would have it for a late lunch Sunday before our daughter headed back to St Charles, IL, and our son & family headed to Cincinnati to fly home to Las Vegas, Nev. Our son & family had already made plans to eat at their favorite pizza place & visit with friends. I told my wife & daughter they should go out to eat then I would not have to cook at all. I stayed home with the dog!

Monday I planned on doing the two chickens for our supper. I would have plenty of leftovers & could take some to my Mother. I always figure in some for Mom when I cook, she is 90 years young today, Nov. 29th!

Sunday evening I spatchcocked the two chickens, I cut 3 slices a little into the meat, in each breast half, two in the thighs, & one in the legs. I placed them in a large Dutch oven dish, poured the marinade over & in the fridge overnight. My thinking here was it would let the marinade impart more flavor, more of the fat would render out while cooking & help crisp up the skin.

Monday I got my Mac & cheese ready to put in the oven. I had just bought a cast iron smoke box, some lump charcoal, and some apple wood chips. I wanted to try this & see if I could get more smoke & the apple wood flavor in the chicken. I loaded the box with some of the lump charcoal & apple wood; lit the charcoal with a propane torch & then I fired up my Traeger & it settled into 180 deg. I took each chicken out of the marinade just letting drip some then on a tray & sprinkled with some Penzey’s chicken & rib rub. I placed them in the smoker. I left them on smoke for one hour then turned it up to 375 deg until I the IT of the legs & thighs were at 185 deg, this took another hour. My Mac & cheese was in the oven for 45 min. & I had some Allen’s seasoned cabbage heated up.

The chicken was great, moist, & skin was crispy, even though a little too brown. Next time will stick with my usual 325 deg until about 165 to 170 IT & then go to 375 deg to finish. My Mac & cheese was good & the cabbage was good. I had completely forgotten about the asparagus I had & would have been a little better than the cabbage! The forgetting comes with my age!

My trial with the smoke box didn’t work too well, only about half the wood burned, as you can see in the photo. I need to get the charcoal burning hotter and placing on top of the heat shield instead of the grate may work better in my Traeger. The ignition temp of most wood is around 340 deg.

For our supper last night my wife had the breast & I had a leg & thigh. I have one & a half chicken leftover. A half chicken will be for my Mom & I will make creamed chicken from the other. For tonight’s supper we will have the creamed chicken over Texas garlic toast, the leftover Mac & cheese, and some of the forgotten asparagus!

Printable Marinade Recipe

Organic Chicken

Spatchcocked & sliced

Marinating

Seasoned & ready for the smoker

After 1 hour on smoke

Ready & you can see here all the wood in the smoke box did not burn

Ready to serve

My wife's plate

My Plate

Smokin Don