I love a nice, light yogurt parfait in the mornings.  But some mornings, a cup of yogurt just isn’t going to cut it.  I like to have heartier breakfast fare stashed in the freezer for those occasions.  These sandwiches are so easy and delicious you’ll want to keep a large stash on hand for grab and go convenience on busy mornings.  This is one of those convenience food swaps that takes a few minutes to prep but if you are going to make one you might as well make a dozen.

Breakfast Sandwiches

• 12 english muffins or mini bagels
• 1 pound bacon or 12 sausage patties
• 12 eggs
• 3 cups shredded cheese or 12 slices of cheese

1. Toast english muffins or bagels, set aside.
2. Cut bacon in half and cook or cook sausage patties.  Set aside.
3. Grease a muffin tin and either crack an egg into each muffin space and lightly beat or beat eggs together in a bowl and pour into each space.
4. Bake eggs at 400°F for 10 minutes or until almost done.
5. When eggs are almost set cover each egg with 1/4 cup shredded cheese.
6. Return to the oven until cheese is melted.
7. Remove egg/cheese muffins and allow to cool.
8. Assemble sandwiches and allow to cool completely.
9. Wrap in plastic wrap, then store in a freezer bag in the freezer.
10. To reheat, unwrap and microwave for 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds, checking every 30 seconds.

These are also good in the refrigerator if you will eat them within a week.  Just warm up for 30 seconds in the microwave.

Is there anything better than a steamy, salty bowl of chicken noodle soup when you’re feeling sick?  The heat of the broth soothes throats and clears sinuses while the bits of chicken and noodles fills uneasy tummies.  Soup keeps you hydrated and gets you started on the right track towards building up your immune system with vitamins and antioxidants from the veggies.  It is also a great healthy lunch paired with a sandwich or sent to school in a thermos.

This soup is really easy to make if you have chicken meat and broth on hand, but even if you don’t it isn’t too labor intensive.  For the best flavor: buy a chicken the day before you want to make soup, that night salt it and roast it in a 400°F oven for 1 hour.  Remove the meat and refrigerate.  Simmer your chicken carcass, covered in water, in the crock pot overnight.  In the morning, strain the broth and get the last bits of chicken meat off your carcass and refrigerate both. Now you are ready to chop up the veggies and heat up the soup whenever you want it.

Mom’s Chicken Noodle Soup

• 2 quarts chicken broth, homemade or best quality
• 2 cups cooked chicken meat
• 4 carrots
• 3 stalks celery
• 1 onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp chicken base
• 1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
• 1 tbsp chopped celery leaves
• 1 tsp fresh chopped tarragon (optional)
• 6 oz egg noodles
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Heat chicken broth to a boil.  Add chicken and vegetables.
2. Cover and simmer about 20 minutes or until carrots are soft.
3. Add chicken base, herbs, and noodles.
4. Cook ten minutes more or until noodles are soft.
5. Salt and pepper to taste-you may not need any additional salt.

You can make the soup ahead of time and freeze it but you’ll want to leave out the noodles (and add them in when you serve it) or only partially cook them so they don’t get too mushy when reheated.  You can also make this soup with assorted bone-in chicken parts rather than a whole chicken, such as chicken leg quarters or bone-in breasts.

I love the flavor of jalapenos when they are properly de-seeded.  A couple of seeds in there and they are too hot for me but the flesh itself lends a fresh flavor to dishes with just a hint of heat.  We often make jalapeno poppers by stuffing jalapeno halves with cream cheese, wrapping them in bacon and grilling them.  I love to dip mine in ranch dip and I wanted to re-create that combination in a soup.

I really liked how this soup turned out.  Fresh, tingly heat from the jalapenos meets smooth, tangy cream and salty bites of bacon-Mmmmmm.  This soup is actually very good hot or cold, so if you are straddling the divide between summer heat and a frosty fall try some of this for dinner or lunch.  If you don’t want the soup too spicy be sure to get most of the seeds out of your jalapenos.  The cream and cheese tempers the heat quite a bit so don’t be too afraid-and if by chance you do get it too hot just add more cream or cheese until it calms down.

Jalapeno Popper Soup

• 12 jalapenos, mostly de-seeded
• 1 red onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 4 oz cream cheese, cubed
• 1 lime, juice
• salt and pepper
• bacon, cooked and crumbled for garnish
• sour cream for garnish

1. In a blender, add roughly chopped jalapenos, onion, and garlic.  Add cream.
2. Puree mixture until smooth.
3. In a stock pot, melt butter.
4. Sprinkle with flour and cook, stirring frequently, until golden.
5. Add jalapeno mixture, stirring frequently.
6. Add chicken stock and cream cheese and bring to a simmer.
7. Simmer soup, stirring occasionally, until soup is thick and slightly reduced about 30 minutes.
8. Add lime juice then salt and pepper to taste.
9. Run soup through the blender one more time if texture is not smooth.
10. Serve hot with bacon and sour cream.

Don’t forget to tell me your favorite fall foods!

Oh man, oh man, I can’t wait til it gets cold at your house because you are going to love this.  Think about a ladle of steaming gravy, roasted chicken, and tender vegetables spooned over a mound of creamy potatoes.  The potatoes melt into the hot soup, swirling throughout the bowl.  Comfort food.  For realz.

I always use frozen vegetables when I make pot pie.  The day I buy a bunch of fresh veggies is the week I never get into the kitchen to cook anything.  I love frozen vegetables but I don’t like the frozen mixed vegetables, I buy each individually.  Instead, I buy the thinnest young beans, petite sweet peas, and crinkle cut carrots-all from the freezer aisle.  Feel free to use any combination of veggies for this, or even the mixed veggie bag, this is just the way we like it.  Frozen veggies are usually par-cooked and just need to be warmed up in the soup.  If you use fresh vegetables consider cooking them before adding them to the soup.

For those of you who are worried that pot pie over mashed potatoes is too much starch: think a bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy-heavy on the gravy-with some tender chicken and vegetables scattered over it.  We didn’t find it too starchy at all.

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

• 1/2 cup butter
• 8 oz mushroom, sliced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 2 cups milk
• 3 cups cooked chicken meat
• 1/2 cup frozen crinkle cut carrots
• 1/4 cup frozen green beans
• 1/4 cup frozen peas
• 1/4 cup frozen corn kernels
• salt and pepper

1. Melt butter in a large soup pot.  Add mushrooms a handful at a time, lightly browning each batch then pushing them to the sides and adding the next handful to the center.
2. With the last batch of mushrooms, add onion and garlic.
3. Saute mixture until onion and garlic are soft. Sprinkle flour over mushroom mixture.  Stir and cook several minutes until flour is golden.
4. Add chicken stock and milk and heat to a boil.
5. Simmer soup, stirring frequently until thickened.
6. Add chicken and frozen vegetables, heat soup until hot, stirring occasionally.
7. Salt and pepper to taste, serve over a scoop of mashed potatoes.

Serve with biscuits or shapes cut out of pie crust or puff pastry (or you could forget the potatoes and serve in a bread bowl).  If you store or freeze the soup be sure to store it separate from the mashed potatoes.  Otherwise, when you reheat the soup the potatoes will melt completely and throw off the texture.

Puff Pastry Stars

• 1 sheet puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten
• grated parmesan cheese
• salt

1. Thaw a sheet of puff pastry for 40 minutes at room temperature. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Unroll and cut into small shapes with a knife or cookie cutter.
3. Place on a baking sheet and brush with beaten egg.
4. Sprinkle each shape with grated cheese and salt.
5. Bake 15 minutes.

I usually use leftovers or buy a rotisserie chicken at the store when I know I am going to make a pot pie, but today! at the store! no rotisserie chickens!  So for this one I grabbed a fresh chicken (Is it just me or do raw chickens feel like newborn babies to anyone else??) and did a no-fuss roast chicken instead.  You can also quickly poach a few chicken parts in water or broth.

Simple Roast Chicken

• 1 roasting chicken
• salt

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Place chicken in a roasting pan and sprinkle with a palmful of salt.
3. Roast chicken for about 60 minutes or until juices run clear.
4. Remove meat from chicken, saving all skin and bones for making chicken stock.

This is actually a pretty quick weeknight meal despite the length of this post.  Set your puff pastry out to thaw.  Peel and chop your potatoes and set them on to boil.  Start the soup.  While the soup is simmering, cut the puff pastry shapes and put them in bake.  When the soup is done, keep hot and mash your potatoes.  Done.