Cream of Chicken Soup and The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Well here I am with two very tasty recipes, this cream of chicken soup is easy, hearty and so delicious! There is something so comforting about soups over the cooler months and they come with the added bonus of being economical to make, and hopefully leftovers for the next day. There is nothing like a pot of soup simmering on the stove.

Cream of chicken soup

• 1 whole chicken
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped into small cubes
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 1/3 cup (50g) plain flour
• 300ml carton thickened cream
• 1 cup (150g) frozen or fresh corn kernels
• 1/2 cup (10g) fresh parsley, roughly chopped (optional)
• 2 chicken stock cubes (I use ones that make 2 cups per cube)

Place your chicken in a pot with about 3 litres of water, and season with salt and pepper. Place over a medium-high heat and bring to the boil, then reduce heat to medium. Simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through, try not to boil otherwise this can make your meat go tough. Remove the pan from heat.

You can leave out this step and use a precooked chicken and ready-made chicken stock if you like.

Remove the chicken onto a large plate. When cool enough to handle, remove the meat and shred or roughly chop, discarding the skin and carcass. Strain your stock into a large bowl.

Heat the butter and olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat, then add your onions, carrots and celery, lightly fry until they are tender.

Sprinkle in flour, stir well. Take your pot of the heat and stir in 2 litres of your stock, stirring constantly. Return to the heat and bring the mixture to the boil.

Stir in the cream, shredded chicken and corn kernels and simmer for 10 mins to heat through. Season with salt and pepper. Now at this stage I like to have a taste and that is where the 2 extra stock cubes comes in, taste and if you think it needs it add a stock cube, simmer, taste again and if you still think it needs a bit more add the other one.

This is such a lovely soup : )

My other recipe is chocolate chip cookies! I have tried a few different recipes over the last month, my husband and son happily kept taste testing and giving their valued opinion ; ) this following recipe is the best by far. It makes a good quantity and they store well.

Chocolate chip cookies

• 150g butter, softened
• 80g soft brown sugar
• 80g caster sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 225g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 200g plain chocolate chips or chunks

Preheat oven to 190 degrees celsius

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars in a bowl until creamy. Beat in the vanilla and egg. Sift the flour, bicarb soda and salt, add to the mixture. Mix well to combine. Add the chocolate chips and stir well.

Using a teaspoon, place small mounds of the mixture, spaced well apart, on lined baking trays. Bake in the oven for 8-10 mins, or until the edges of the biscuits are light brown and still slightly soft in the centre. Leave on the tray for a couple of minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Well I have recently taken the time quite a bit of time to clean out and organise my walk in pantry. I remembered reading Rhonda’s blog at Down to Earth a little while ago where she was cleaning out and organising her cupboards, and I thought mine were doing okay, well they were, but wait there was more! A lot more that needed doing, I didn’t realise this of course until I got started and what made me get started??? That horrible word that no-one wants to hear associated with their kitchen…….mouse, “I think I heard a mouse” : (

My husband heard a noise in my cupboard and that set me off! I thought and continue to think of the people who have suffered through mouse plagues and my heart goes out to you. So much destruction and devastation. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to deal with everyday and try and keep your farms going and animals fed. Homes as free as possible from them, they can get into places and you just think “how”??

My mind was set on keeping my food safe and in containers, as much as I possibly can. As well as setting out to trap and bait any trying to call my kitchen home. Living so far from town means my cupboards have to be fairly well stocked, this was in the middle of the chaos…….

Plenty of buckets at the ready, being filled to feed out to the the chickens, they did well that week! I have lots of empty storage containers and jars now. There were things from when I’d tried different cooking techniques and used different ingredients, that I had completely forgotten about or put off doing anything about is probably more to the point. Well a combination of the two : ) you know how it is. But at the end of a long day, order was restored.

Still some more that can be done, but it is a good feeling to have this much achieved for now. I have changed where I keep most of my spices, they are put away in my draw next to the stove, which seems much more practical and convenient, other ideas and improvements will be made or thought of over time. Isn’t it funny when you change something and you wonder “why didn’t I do that all along??” I thought sharing some photo’s might inspire or give some idea’s. I love to see how other people do things and organise, we can always learn so much from each other!

Take care and stay safe xx