Magical Things

You're fired! Thanks for all the recipe suggestions for my abundance of specific pantry items....or not. Anywho, oh well. Today is Tuesday! It's above freezing outside!!!! Hallelujah. Comfort Food Week (last week) ended with a fantastic Chicken and Noodles dinner. It was everything I could hope for in a comfort meal. It warmed me up on the inside, tantalized my taste buds, pleased everyone, and made tons of leftovers ;). Here's how it goes:

Chicken and Noodles

1 Whole Chicken (~4 lbs)
Carrots (optional)
Onion (optional)
Celery (optional)
Water
Big pot
Flour
Milk
Frozen Egg Noodles (16oz package)
Big pot
Yummy seasonings (I use Sweet Smokey Pepper, Garlic Salt, Onion Salt, and poultry seasoning and pepper)
Gold Medal Wondra Powder

Take whole chicken and cut it up into breasts, legs, thighs, wings, etc...If you don't know how to cut up a chicken, I suggest you learn, but until then you can buy "cut up chicken" or just use various chicken pieces of your choice....or have your MIL come over and do it for you ;) I don't cut up chicken...bad experience trying to separate leg quarters...long story lol Put in big pot and add enough water to cover, dump in your seasonings***, carrots, onion, celery etc. Simmer until chicken is done. Although this takes awhile, you don't wanna rush it. There's lots of magical things going on in the pot... Once done remove pieces of chicken and de-bone, then re-add to pot. Bring to boiling again and let simmer 30 minutes. This will create ALOT of chicken broth...which is freezable in proper storage containers**. Remove some of the chicken broth, you don't need as much as you would think, as you don't want this to be soup, until desired amt of liquid remains. Add frozen noodles, cook 5 minutes. While noodles cook, take a tightly covered small dish (I use a tiny pyrex bowl with a tight fitting lid) add 1/2 cup of milk and 4 Tbl flour. Shake until smooth. Add a cup of milk to pot and add flour/milk mixture and stir. This should thicken it up some. IF its not thick enough, add Wondra right to the pot. It's a "quick mixing flour for sauce and gravy" this stuff is AMAZING. If you've ever had trouble with a white sauce thickening or runny gravy, you need this product. SOOO much better than corn starch or regular flour. Add a little, stir, let thicken, and repeat if necessary. When to desired consistency....its done!!!! We serve over top Mashed Potatoes.

**TIP: Pour chicken broth into ice cube trays, freeze, and place in freezer bags. Each cube is approx 1 oz.
***TIP: Keep trying it! Add additional seasonings as needed. I can't tell you how much of what to add, it all depends on personal preference.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. Tweek it to your needs and let me know how it goes! I'm excited to hear about your results in my recipes. Any feedback would be appreciated!!!