It’s time for the best Chicken Noodle Soup recipe that I created for the Crazy Cooking Challenge this month.

Tina from Mom’s Crazy Kitchen hosts this challenge every month and the reveal date for the fifth month of the Crazy Cooking Challenge has finally arrived. I was excited to find out it was Chicken Noodle Soup as I had just whipped a batch for another challenge and decided just to find another soup recipe for that one which was still a month or so off in the distance. Plus, I love making soup at home, because I can control what goes into it.

To check out past months of the Crazy Cooking Challenge you can visit these links:

• Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
• Ultimate Macaroni and Cheese Recipe
• World’s Creamiest Mashed Potato Recipe
• World’s Easiest Fudge Recipe

I found my recipe this month over on For the Love of Cooking. I chose this recipe, mainly because I like to make my own noodles so I needed a recipe that called for that. It turned out excellent and while I made a few minor tweaks, the recipe stands perfect on its own.

Here’s the recipe:

For the soup:

• 8 cups homemade chicken stock (or store bought)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion diced
• 1-2 cloves of garlic diced finely
• 1 1/2 cups of carrots diced
• 3 stalks of celery diced
• 2 tsp good chicken bouillon (I use Herb Ox)
• 1 bay leaf
• Sea Salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme or basil
• 1 1/2 cup cooked chicken diced (I use meat from leftover roasted chicken)
• Fresh parsley, chopped

Sauté onions in olive oil until soft, about 3-4 minutes. Add garlic & cook for 30 seconds. Add broth & the remainder of ingredients. Cook over medium low heat for 1-2 hours.

For the noodles:

• 2 cups of flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup of milk

In a medium mixing bowl combine the flour, salt, egg and milk. Mix until you produce a slightly sticky ball of dough. Flour the counter and roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness. You want them very thin because they thicken when cooked. Cut noodles (I use a pizza cutter) to desired size and place on wax paper. Let the noodles dry out on the counter for at least 1 hour before adding them to the soup.
About 30 minutes before serving soup, drop noodles in and cook. Add some fresh chopped parsley right before serving. Enjoy.

Check out the other recipes in the challenge:

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on January 7, 2012.

Sorry for the blurry picture, but this is SO fabulous, I wanted to make sure you could at least have some idea of what it looked like. Stuck with lots of leftover ham from the holidays? This great recipe will help use up some of the ham and make a meal that is fit for a king. Plus, the kids love it, so you can’t get any better than that. Usually I sprinkle some cheese over the top of it just before serving and its absolutely perfect. Plus, it’s REALLY easy to make!

Ham and Potato Chowder Recipe

1/4 c. melted butter
1 med. onion, minced
3/4 c. diced ham
1/2 c. chopped celery
2 c. finely diced raw potatoes (we use different kinds each time – sometimes whatever we have leftover)
1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 – 1/2 tsp. pepper (depends on how strong you want it)
4 c. milk

In a large saucepan, melt the butter and then saute the onion and celery. Add the ham and saute as soon as the onion starts to turn “milky/clear”. Add the potatoes and cook about 10 minutes or so longer. Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the flour, the salt and pepper. Mix well. Add the milk and return to the heat. DO NOT LET BOIL. Stir and allow the mixture to warm slowly. Needs to be served immediately because chowder will continue to thicken upon standing. If this happens, you can add some warm water to the chowder to thin it out a little and give it the desired consistency. Enjoy! Double the recipe if you would like to freeze a batch. Chowder will be thinner when you serve it next time. Can be refrigerated for about 2-3 days if stored in an airtight container. Delicious!

Ham and Potato Chowder Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on January 24, 2011.

Ok, so it might not be YOUR perfect Chili recipe, but it is ours. It is just spicy enough to be ‘real’ Chili, but consumable by children – which is important in my house. And you could easily add peppers or more chili powder to make it a bit spicier. I usually add until its the desired taste. They key to this recipe however is cooking it as long as you can. It gives it more flavor.

So here it is:

The Cook’s Perfect Chili Recipe

1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 c. beans (we like Kidney)
1 can Rotel
1 lb. ground turkey
3 16 oz. cans tomato sauce
3 Tbs. chili powder (or more to taste)
2 Tbs. garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

In a skillet brown the ground turkey with a little bit of the chopped onion and some salt and pepper. Drain and remove meat and set aside. Saute the onions and peppers in the skillet without cleaning it. In a large stock pot, place the ground turkey and the sauteed peppers and onion. Add tomato sauce and chili powder. Cook on medium heat for approximately 1 1/2 hours or so. I usually start mine at about 3:00 and we sit down to eat at about 6pm. This allows it to simmer on the stove about an extra hour (sealing in the flavors).

We had this for dinner tonight, and I think everyone had at least two or three bowls. Yummy!!

Perfect Chili Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on September 14, 2010.

My children actually eat salad. I know. I was amazed too. But they seem to enjoy it. So based on that, I like to play around with ingredients and try different kinds of salads and ingredients to see what they will eat. This one was a big hit, and we’ve made a few modifications to it over the years which I will share in different recipes over the next couple of weeks. Enjoy – and be prepared for some good eating!

Delicious Cobb Salad Recipe

a few heads of Lettuce (we like to combine different types (watercress, romaine and spinach are our favorites but you can use any type)
2-4 sliced tomatoes
1 lb. crisp, cooked bacon
1 lb. chicken, cooked and cubed
6-12 Hard-boiled eggs
2 Avocado’s, sliced into small pieces
16 oz. Roquefort cheese
3/4 c. chives
Salad dressing – see recipe below

Wash lettuce. Tear into pieces and allow to dry on a towel. Add to large salad bowl. Add all ingredients. You can add more or less of what is called for depending on the size of the salad you make, your taste for the ingredients. Pour the salad dressing over everything.

Here is the recipe for the salad dressing:

1/4 c. water
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. black pepper
3/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
2 Tbs. minced garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cup salad oil

In a bowl, combine the water, red wine vinegar, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. Next add the sugar, salt, black pepper, dry mustard and garlic. Stir well until sugar has dissolved. Add the olive oil and salad oil and stir well. Pour over salad or put in a bottle to be added during a meal. Shake before using.

This salad is amazing!

Cobb Salad Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on August 15, 2010.

This is the perfect salad at a barbecue. Everyone likes pasta salad and not only is this pasta salad delicious, but it is so super easy to make. You can make it the night before and serve the next day.

Cold Pasta Salad

1 lb. thin spaghetti noodles, cooked and drained
1 bottle Italian salad dressing
2 tomatoes
1 green pepper
6 green onions
1 cucumber
1 c. cheddar cheese
1 can black olives, sliced
Parmesan cheese

In a large bowl salad bowl, place pasta, cheddar cheese and cut up fresh vegetables. Toss together. Pour in 1/2 of the bottle of Italian dressing. Put in olives and sprinkle with cheese. Let chill for 2-4 hours, then add the remaining salad dressing and serve.

Easy Cold Pasta Salad Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on July 15, 2010.

This is one of my favorite recipes for a summer BBQ with hot dogs, hamburgers or chicken straight off the grill. It’s fairly easy to make, and looks quite pretty sitting on the plates ready to eat. But don’t worry, it’s delicious also, but I won’t guarantee it will keep the calories away.

BLT Pasta Salad Recipe

22 oz pkg. of pasta noodles, cooked and drained (we use penne or spiral)
1 pkg. bacon, cubed and fried crisp, then crumbled
1 bunch of green onions, sliced part way up the green stalks, chopped
1 c. small cubed cheese or if you wish to make this faster, just use shredded
1 large tomato, seeded and diced
1-2 cups of Mayonnaise
1-2 tbsp mustard
(if you desire, you can omit the mayo and mustard and use ranch dressing instead – tastes great also!!)
Salt, pepper and/or seasoning, to taste.

In a large bowl, toss pasta with all ingredients except mayo and mustard (or ranch dressing). Add the mayo and mustard. Use more or less depending on how creamy you want the pasta to be. Chill well (at least 2 hours) before serving. Serve on a piece of lettuce.

BLT Pasta Salad Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on February 7, 2010.

My mother gave me this recipe when I was first married. I’ve always loved Dill Potato Salad and she had a great one that she had received from my grandmother.

Dill Potato Salad

1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. mayo
3 Tbs. vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. dill weed
6 c. sliced cooked potatoes
1 c. thinly sliced celery
3/4 c. minced onion
1/2 c. diced peeled cucumber, well drained
1/2 c. chopped green pepper
4 hard boiled eggs, sliced or chopped

In a medium bowl, mix together the sour cream, mayonnaise and dill weed. In a large bowl, toss the potatoes, celery, onion, cucumber, green pepper and the egg. Add the sour cream mixture to the veggies in the large bowl and mix well. Chill in fridge for about 2-4 hours to allow flavors to blend.

Dill Potato Salad Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on August 15, 2009.