NOT YOUR MAMA’S CHICKEN SOUP!!!


Sometimes I just don’t have the time to slow cook a chicken for some great homemade soup. But yet when it’s cold outside that’s exactly what I want! We just had 6″ of snow drop on us with more to follow this weekend.
Yaay some may say…not me! The older I get the less I like winter, but I guess I better grin and bare it because it’s only the beginning!So with that being said, here’s my quickie roasted chicken noodle soup.

Warm and comforting  just like you simmered it for hours, but in reality, it only it took 20 min’s.

The key ingredient is this roasted chicken, that I threw in the oven along with something else I was making the other day, you know, like 2 meals in one! Seasoned with lots of thyme, salt and pepper and olive oil. Actually, it’s the seasonings that makes the soup tastes so good. Now if you don’t have the time to roast some chicken, buy a rotisserie chicken at your favorite grocery store, it works just as well.

Then I simply just shred all the chicken up and stick it in my fridge until I’m ready to make the soup.

Take out your favorite soup pot and add a little olive oil in there. Next sauté 3 cloves of garlic, 3 or 4 diced carrots, 3 or 4 stalks of celery and 1 large onion, sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper.

Add in some great boxed, organic, low sodium chicken broth like the one from Trader Joes, or Costco( or any of your favorites) and a sprinkling of fresh parsley. I used. almost 2 quarts.

In addition to that I always throw in a couple of Parmesan rinds that I always keep on hand in my freezer, it takes the broth to another level, then just toss in your shredded chicken.

I always cook my egg noodles or pasta on the side and add them into the bowl as needed, otherwise they tend to blow up from sitting in the hot broth too long.

And of course, you must top it off your steaming hot bowl of soup with some freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese.

Another quick meal for this busy time of year!!

Buon Appetito!

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" STUFFED PORTOBELLA’S"

This is my idea of FAST FOOD! This is something I make quite often especially when I’m in a hurry, and we’re not in a meat mood.

The ingredients are simple, as you can see above. I usually make a quick marinara with good tomatoes, fresh basil, and garlic. In the meantime, I scrape the gills out of the portabella’s, you don’t have too, but I personally think it makes my sauce dark looking sometimes. Next, I mix some GOOD ricotta with romano cheese, 1 egg, you could use fresh parsley, chopped spinach, whatever! I also mix a little shredded mozzarella in there too, finish with salt and pepper.

Now, layer your pan with sauce, place your caps in, drizzle them with olive oil, and then put sauce as the first layer. Now, take your ricotta mixture and fill your cap up with it. Finally, top it off with a little more sauce. Thats it!! Bake till mushroom gets tender at 375


A nice salad, a glass of wine, and you got a light and tasty dinner!!

Buon Appetito!!!

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AN INVASION OF BUNNIES & A TRIP TO THE BAKERY!!!

For the last couple of days I’ve been helping my girlfriend prepare for a baby shower she is giving for her daughter this weekend. This will be her first Grandchild and as you can imagine she is so excited. Being the friend that I am, I had told her about a shower that I went to over the summer that had these cute little Bunnies made out of washcloths and shower puffs, as party favors. What was I thinking???? So we Googled the directions and off to the craft store she went, buying little eyes, ribbon, and everything else she needed. No problem I thought, we only had to make 36, we could pull this off in no time!!! WRONG!!! She arrived at my house at 9:00 pm after I put a big pot of coffee on. How hard could it be? Well, the folding of the washcloth was hard to figure out! It took us almost 2 hrs. to finally master that! Then we had to figure out how to attach the shower puff, and finally, we had to hot glue all the nose and eyes on. She left my house close to 2:00 am!!! But after about 5 hrs…….

These cute little Bunnies were born!! Aren’t they adorable??? I just had to share them with you!!…. Needless to say, I dreamt of Bunnies that night!!….. Now, on to the bakery part.

Her daughter requested ONE thing only if she was to have a shower, she wanted a Cannoli cake!! My friend, not being of Italian decent,knew I would point her in the right direction. So off we went to my favorite Italian bakery to order her cake!
When I told the Hubby where we were going, he got so excited and said ” make sure you bring me home something!” So with my camera in tow this time, I thought I’d share some pictures with you.

Crunchy, flaky, and creamy “Sfogliatelle !!!”

Don’t these look good?????

Check out the cookies!!!!!! All butter!!!! We each bought a few to have later with coffee, they never made it home ( ha ha)

Hubby’s favorite, fig cookies, like his Mom use to make!!

And finally, this was his little treat that was waiting for him after dinner! Sfogliatelle, and Cannoli. Oh, and by the way, the Cannoli is to die for!!! made fresh to order, creamy and good with a nice and crunchy shell…. I have to say the Cannoli is my favorite!!!

Chicago still has many great Italian bakeries around, but they are getting few and far between. Some of the fantastic ones I remember as a kid are gone, and as the owners are getting up in age it seems the “new generation” of kids aren’t as eager to carry on with the family tradition. Oh, so sad!!! But for now, we’ll savor the “special ones” that are left!!!!

Have a great day!!!!

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