Chicken Soup for the Soul

It's been raining and raining & raining here in Dallas lately, so I've tried to make us tasty foods that will warm us up inside. This chicken soup was really yummy - thanks to tips from Emeril Lagasse :) Try it out if you're looking for something to savor and soothe you inside & out. We also enjoyed Alton Brown's sweet rosemary cornbread pudding with our soup.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs chicken tenders (you could use a 1/2 whole chicken or breasts)
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1 tecate beer
• 2 cups water
  
• 1 medium yellow onions, diced
• 3/4 cup carrots, diced
  
• 3/4 cup celery, diced
• 6-8 button mushrooms, sliced
  
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 6 parsley stems
  
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 1/2 cups Barilla Ditalini pasta
  
• 3 T butter (or more/to taste)
  
• 2 1/4 tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 T chopped fresh parsley
• 2 T olive oil
  

Preparation:

Sauté onion, carrots, celery, mushrooms in 2 T olive oil for a couple of minutes until tender. Add chicken stock, beer, water fresh thyme, parsley, bay leaf, salt & pepper and chicken tenders. Simmer and cover until chicken is slowly cooked. Remove chicken and using 2 forks, gently pull apart and shred. Return chicken to stock mixture and add Ditalini pasta. Cook until tender, add butter and additional seasoning to taste. Remove bay leaf and parsley stems, add freshly chopped parsley. Enjoy.

Sweet Corn Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

• 1/2 onion, diced fine
• 1 T unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1 (15 oz) can creamed style sweet corn
• 1cup heavy cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal, whole grain, stone ground
• 1/2 shredded Parmesan
  
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• 2 cups cubed french bread

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Sweat onions with butter and herbs in an oven safe skillet until translucent. Combine corn, cream, eggs, baking powder, cornmeal, Parmesan, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Add cubed bread and fold to combine. Pour batter into skillet, right on top of the onion mixture. Bake 50 minutes or until set. Cool slightly before serving.