CSA Recipes!

hello summer!  for a while, i've been wooed by the idea of CSA's (community supported agriculture, for the interested).  however, it wasn't until i found out that earth spring was going to have a drop point at my friend laura's house that mike and i started discussing the idea seriously.  it's intimidating to not know ahead of time what veggies you will receive - and what if you get super weird veggies that you've never heard of before, let alone seen in a recipe???

obviously, since i'm writing this blog post, we decided to go for it!  i wanted the extra push to keep trying new things (one of mike's biggest requests when it comes to meals - second to meat and ahead of pasta - is variety!), and when spread over 20 weeks of deliveries, the cost is reasonable.  we also got the fruit share - go big or go home, kids!

we got our first box yesterday, and i was ecstatically excited.  so.much.green.  radishes, collard greens, lettuce, spinach, spring onions, and KALE.  and a quart of strawberries, which i shamelessly snacked on while cooking up the other stuff!

so, over the course of the summer, i'm going to post here the recipes that i've tried and would recommend for these veggies.  enjoy!!

radishes
i used this recipe for whole foods on a budget for our radishes.  even though i greatly respect christy as a blog writer and cook, my hopes were not high - these are RADISHES.  my experience with radishes was low, but my judgment was high.....they always seemed like such odd vegetables.  however, i loved the idea of using the whole radish, and decided to give the recipe a shot!

we didn't have sunflower seeds, so i added a little bit of extra parmesan to the pesto.  also, i used a little extra butter (~1/2 T) while sauteing the diced radishes, and allowed them to brown.

IT WAS SO YUMMY.  the butter really did neutralize the radishes, giving them such a wonderful flavor and texture - we didn't have any meat, but you didn't need any!  i was so nervous about whether mike would go for this.....again, no meat......but he ate his in record speed, and started in on mine!  he reiterated his love for this recipe so much that i'm really hoping we get more radishes next week!!!  i plan to use the rest of the pesto on second batch of pasta with sliced steak over it.  i think that the pesto does need something "fatty" to offset it.

kale
i'm so behind the curve on this, but we made our first batch of kale chips!  i was torn between that and a kale salad recipe that my sister-in-law rocks at the family gatherings....but no regrets in trying this first.  annnnnd, mike loved this recipe, too!  we were like a couple of delinquent kids, standing at the stove, munching them straight off of the cookie sheet.

one tip: if they don't all crisp up (for us, the ones in the middle were piled too much on top of each other), pull out the crispy ones and spread the others back out - stick back in the over for ~3-5 minutes longer.

hurray for summery and healthy eating!

new england clam chowder

this is it!  the last thursday soup post!  i'll continue to post recipes as i try new things, but this is my last recipe in queue.  thank you for reading, and for your comments as you tried them!

mike and i have had a bumpy road of communication within the cooking realm.  when we were first married, he never wanted to give me any negative feedback on my cooking.  later, we had to work on our communication - i always asked him to rate the dishes we ate on a scale of 1-10, but that wasn't the easiest way for him to tell me his thoughts on them.  we're continuing to learn how to talk to each other about cooking........i've learned better questions to ask, and mike is proactive now in giving feedback that i can assimilate.

which leads me to this chowder!  during one of my "i'm tired of cooking the same-old, same-old!" bursts, i asked mike to flip through my cookbook with me, and give me unfiltered thoughts on the soup recipes.  it helped me to learn my husband better!  i would not have guessed the recipes that he would be most excited about.  the leader of these is this recipe.  i made it first, because he was so anxious to try it.  it's lovely cooking for a man who is excited to eat what you're making!!  :-)

overall, we really enjoy this soup.  mike really likes it!!  i enjoy that it is not very fatty, and thick enough to be a filling lunch.  i would be more enthusiastic in my praise, but i want to be real!  i think that the zuppa toscana and chili are still our faves, and the chicken noodle is so healthy that i can hardly beat it.  but this is a fun one to toss into the mix, and is very tasty.  and what an easy way to do seafood!  ;-)

note 1: i use russet potatoes for this chowder; because i blend the majority of it, it has some similarity to mashed potatoes.  don't take that analogy too far, but russet potatoes lend themselves better to the texture i want.

note 2: i received an immersion blender for christmas, and it works like a DREAM with this chowder.  i made a fresh batch monday night, and with mike's help chopping the potatoes, it took less than 30 minutes, start to finish.  however!  if you don't have an immersion blender, you can easily get by without - just use a fork to mash the potatoes against the side of the pot.

note 3: i added 50% more clams than the original recipe called for.  also, my recipe below is double the original - feel free to halve!!

new england clam chowder

6 russet potatoes, cut into 1/2" - 1" cubes (if you have an immersion blender, you do not need to peel)
6 cans oysters (6.25 oz each)
1 large onion, diced, or 2 T onion powder
2 cups half-and-half
4 cups milk
1 T worcestershire sauce
2 t black pepper
1 T crushed thyme
2 T flour

1.  drain oysters, preserving the claim juice.  in total, you should have more than 3 cups liquid.  set clams aside.
2.  add potatoes, onion (or onion powder), claim juice, worcestershire sauce, pepper, and thyme to a large pot.  bring to a boil.  decrease heat to medium-low, and cook, covered, ~15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
3.  while the potatoes are cooking, combine milk, half-and-half, and flour in a large, microwave-safe bowl.  heat on low power (i used defrost) until the milk mixture is warm.  this step is not necessary, but will speed up step #5.
4.  once the potatoes are soft, blend the mixture in the pot with an immersion blender to desired consistency (if you would like no lumps in your chowder, blend entirely.  if you would like potato chunks, then blend 1/2 or 2/3 of total mixture).
5.  add milk mixture to the pot; bring to a low boil.
6.  add clams, and decrease heat to medium-low.  continue stirring for 1-2 minutes, until clams are heated through.

enjoy!  this recipe allows for half to be frozen; it freezes very well.

mom's chili

when mike and i were dating and engaged, i spent a lot of time at his parents' house - mom and pop were always welcoming.  so this story won't make sense unless you view it through the lens of a girl newly dating this great guy, with all the silly insecurities that can come with a new relationship.

i remember one evening i was hanging out in the basement with mike while he finished his stat homework.  when we came upstairs for dinner, the entire floor smelled fabulous!!!  mom had made chili.  not just any chili - HER chili.  and the reason i remember all of this so particularly was because it was the first time that i was "brave" enough to go for seconds......for some reason, i felt comfortable to bring my slippers over and wear sweats - but somewhere in my brain, going for seconds at dinner was intimate enough to be taboo.

not that night.  the chili was tooooo good.  i think my only concern was that andrew would finish off the pot before i could finish my first bowl and dash across the kitchen for more!

naturally, i begged mom decarlo for the recipe, and it has been my "safe" meal ever since.  you know, when you need to make something for company that you don't want to take any risk on??  that's this for me....especially since it lends itself easily to making large batches.  i now make this annually for dinner the night before thanksgiving for the black family, because they're as in love with it as i am.

note 1: the first time i made this recipe myself, i made a weeeeeee little mistake.  i swapped cayenne pepper in for chili powder.  fortunately, i halved the amount i added because it was becoming so much spicier than i'd remembered.  i've experimented a little bit since then, and the recipe below is as i make it now.  however, because mom's original version is golden, i wanted you to have the opportunity to make it purely based on that - to do so, swap out the cayenne pepper below for 6 t chili powder.

note 2: this chili is sweet and tangy; if you prefer your chili to just be beefy, this probably won't work for you!  it has a slightly sweet taste on the front end, with the spice heating you about a second after.  depending on how much cayenne pepper you use, it can be a powerful blaze!  ;-)  when serving to my family, i have my brother bring some of his favorite hot sauces so that everyone can "heat" it to their preference.

mom's chili

1 medium onion, minced
2 lbs ground beef
2/3 c ketchup
1/2 c water
2 T lemon juice
1 T sugar
1 1/2 t worchestershire
1 1/2 t salt
1 t apple cider vinegar
1/4 t dry mustard
45 oz. kidney beans (drained)
3 c tomato juice
2 t cayenne pepper

1.  in large pot, saute onion until it is clear.

2.  add the ground beef to the pot, and cook fully.

3.  add all other ingredients.  adjust heat to medium-high, and bring to a simmer.

this soup freezes well - i can't remember the last time that i didn't double or triple this recipe.  enjoy!!

zuppa toscana

at my last job, we had a group that regularly went to lunch together.  through this group, i tried my first sushi, tested new burger places, and took advantage of lunch specials near and far.  during this enjoyable feasting season, we would often go to olive garden and devour their soup, salad, and bread-sticks deal.  i discovered zuppa toscana for the first time, and fell in love!

when i pinned this recipe, i did so because it reminded me of that soup.  i pinned several others, but this one is the base of my own soup.  i didn't make this soup for our soup tasting night, but it was so yummy, i thought you'd forgive me doing it out of order.  ;-)

note 1: the original recipe calls for this to be made in the crockpot - how lovely!!!  as you'll see, i didn't take advantage of this option.....my own crockpot was busy all weekend with other tasks!  i have added a crockpot adaption of my recipe below; please note, i have not tried this specifically.

note 2: this soup is rich.  the cream shines through in its luxurious glory!  at some point, i may play with using some half-and-half or milk in place of the cream - this soup seems as though it could safely lose a little bit of that milk fat without suffering.

note 3: we LOVE this soup.  i went back for seconds even though i was full.  (shame on me!)  when asked, mike gave it a 9 or 10 out of 10.  his previous favorite, chili, came in second to this one!!!  i'll chalk some of that up to novelty, but still claim this one as a winner for us.

note 4: we used yukon gold potatoes, and i highly recommend using these for soups.  they are a very creamy potato, and do better in a broth than baked.  i also noticed that they cooked faster than the baking potatoes i've used.

zuppa toscana

1 1/4 lb spicy italian sausage

4 large or 6 medium yukon gold potatoes (so creamy!)

1 large or 2 medium onions, minced

1 1/2 T minced garlic

2 c frozen kale, chopped

4 c chicken stock

2 c water

1 c heavy whipping cream
1 T salt (optional)

1.  slice potatoes in half, then in 1/4 inch slices.  the potatoes are so soft, it won't matter that the pieces are a little bit large.
2.  brown sausage in large pot.  our sausage was in links; i sliced these open, and crumbled the meat before beginning to brown it.  cook fully.
3.  add onions to sausage; saute until clear or mostly clear.
4.  pour chicken stock and water into pot.  add garlic and potatoes.  bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer.  continue to simmer until the potatoes are fully cooked, ~10 minutes.  my potatoes did not take long to cook!
5.  use immersion blender to blend soup to desired creaminess - be careful not to lose all of your potato chunks.  alternatively, blend ~1/4 soup in blender, then stir back into the pot.
6.  add heavy whipping cream and kale.  turn up heat to medium high, stirring almost constantly.
7.  taste, and salt if necessary.  my stock has very little salt, so i almost always need to add a little bit.

crockpot aternative

1.  slice potatoes in half, then in 1/4 inch slices.
2.  brown sausage in large pot.  our sausage was in links; i sliced these open, and crumbled the meat before beginning to brown it.  cook fully.
3.  put sausage, chicken stock, water, garlic, potatoes, and onion into your crockpot.  cook on low for 6 hours.
4.  use immersion blender (or traditional blender) to blend a portion of the soup into desired creaminess.
5.  add kale and recover crockpot for 5 minutes.
6.  stir in whipping cream; taste; salt; serve!

let me know how you like this recipe!  also, if you have any tips for where to buy italian sausage that isn't already in link form, please leave me a comment!  i would love to skip the step of cutting open the sausage skins.  :-)

"Soup" post - from Vail!

We are in CO this week, so I don't have a recipe for you today. But, I will share a pic from earlier this week - I cannot get over the beauty of this state!!

I'll bring another recipe next week!

curried sweet potato chowder

remember when i said that not all of the recipes i made were home runs?  time to present you with the big flop - sweet potato chowder!  i so wanted this recipe to work, because mike really likes sweet potatoes, but......no cigar, kids.  it's another one from better homes and gardens cookbook, that unfortunately i played with.  but enough of the chagrin - let's get to the notes!

note 1: the recipe reminded me so much of a potato chowder i made last winter, that i added a step that the recipe did not detail.  i scooped out about 1/4 of the soup into my blender, in hopes of having something like a sweet potato chowder.  the result was something akin to baby food.  oh, how far from my intentions!  should you try this recipe, skip step 5 below.  this recipe should have stayed a soup rather than becoming a chowder.

note 2: i am posting the recipe i made, in part because none of the "fixes" i've since tried worked out perfectly.  i made a large batch, so each time i take some out of the freezer, i try different things to improve it.  adding more milk has been the biggest improvement (which has solidified my thought that i shouldn't have blended to begin with); i've also added more curry and cayenne pepper to help with the bland flavor.  mike often thinks that i overdo the cayenne pepper, but in the case of this soup, he said that the spicy was a good contrast to the sweet potato flavor.

(this soup made me so sad that i wasn't even motivated to take a flattering picture of it! *sad*)

curried sweet potato chowder

6 medium sweet potatoes, cubed
1 large onion, diced
4 c milk
3 t curry powder
1 t cayenne pepper

1.  boil sweet potatoes in a large pot until mostly tender - be careful not to over cook.  drain the water, and set aside.
2.  saute onion in a large pot until clear; drop heat to low.
3.  gently fold sweet potatoes into sauteed onions, then add the milk.
4.  turn heat up to medium, and stir vigilantly.  i found that this mixture was prone to burning, so be careful to scrape your spoon against the entire bottom of the pot.  bring to a boil, then drop heat to medium-low.
5.  scoop 1/4 of soup into a blend; blend until smooth and add back to pot.
6.  add curry and cayenne pepper.

this soup freezes very well, and smells good.  ;-)  i'm sorry to give it such a rough rating here - if you have tried something similar and it worked for you, please leave a comment with your tips!!

sausage lentil soup

i hope that everyone had a great Christmas!  we had a full and wonderful holiday - and have already taken down our decorations!  when you live in an efficiency, the pull of having a few square feet of floor space back can outweigh nostalgia.  ;-)

and now for a soup!  this was my "first" soup to make as an adult.  a friend of mine gave me a copy of the better homes and gardens cookbook for Christmas one year, and it has since become my favorite cookbook.  the recipe below, primarily based off of one from that cookbook, is especially beloved by me because it nursed me through mono - it did!  i swapped in spinach and turkey sausage, and it was the only thing i ate for two and a half weeks.  love it!!

note 1: the picture below shows carrots and celery as the veggies includes; however, i also LOVE this soup with spinach.  frozen works just fine!  also, like a lot of soups, it's very forgiving - i often add 50%-100% more vegetables than the recipe calls for, simply because i have them on hand and want to use them up.  go crazy!!  ;-)

note 2: mike always wants beef sausage, so i usually use that - however, i found that turkey sausage works extremely well with this soup.  sometimes i use half beef, half turkey, and when i want to go healthy (like when i had mono!), i use turkey.  it feels so gentle to digest.

note 3: cayenne pepper - what a wonderful spice!  add a wee bit, and suddenly you have an interesting soup no matter what else you add!  ;-)  i often add more than the 1/2 teaspoon listed below; if you choose to add more, go slow!  i've learned that it is easy to go too spicy by adding one 1/4 teaspoon too many.  

 

sausage lentil soup

6 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups brown lentils, rinsed
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
2 T minced garlic
1 pound of sausage
1/2 t cayenne pepper
2 t salt

1.  saute garlic and onion in large pot, until the onions are clear.
2.  add chicken stock and vegetables to the pot; bring to a simmer.  cook 10-15 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
3.  add sausage, lentils, cayenne pepper, and salt; heat through.

this recipe freezes and microwaves very well.  as a tip re: freezing, if you wait more than 2 days to freeze after making, i found that the taste isn't quite as good.

typing this out makes me want to make a batch tonight - enjoy!!

chicken noodle soup "from scratch"

welcome to thursday!  our first soup up is chicken noodle.  after reading lots of reviews, i settled on using this recipe as my base.  the picture above is also from that recipe - my soup ended up looking very similar to it.

i'll start with my notes before jumping into the recipe itself, as it has been updated per these notes.  always incorporate the things you've learned, right??

overall review: mike and i love this soup.  our "raters" at our soup night gave it very good reviews.  it's so simple that i would be hesitant to serve it to company, but it will be forever on my recipe rotation from now on!  mike is always excited when i pull it out for dinner, or for his lunch.  yay!  :-)

note 1: i love, love, love making stock.  a friend encouraged me to try it, and see for myself how easy it is - and after the first time, i'm a believer!  it's free (you use things you would have otherwise thrown away), and better for you than canned broth.  that being said, if stock isn't on your radar right now, just swap it out for broth!

note 2: i didn't add any oil or salt to soup, and didn't miss them.  however, many of the recipes i perused would have recommended adding 1 teaspoon oil and 1 1/2 teaspoon salt to a recipe like this.

note 3: i didn't cook my noodles before adding them to the soup, and i so wish i had.  they sopped up so much of the broth as they cooked, that the consistency was more like a casserole than a soup.  mike and i have still gobbled it down like crazy, but that is the last time i will put uncooked noodles into a soup!

note 4: i used a whole rotisserie chicken.  i KNOW.  i read in a review that you do this instead of chicken breast, for extra flavor, and diversity of meat.  the reviewer recommended dropping the whole thing in for a bit, so that the skin could give the soup its flavor, before chopping it up.  it was a hassle, but i do think that it added a lovely bit of depth to the soup's flavor.  if this sounds like a pain to you, swap the rotisserie chicken with 3 cups of diced, cooked chicken breast.

without further ado, here's the recipe!

chicken noodle soup "from scratch"

2 1/2 cups of wide egg noodles
12 cups of chicken stock/broth
1 teaspoon basil
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 1/2 cup chopped celery
1 1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 1/2 cup chopped onions
1/3 cup corn starch
14 cup water
1 rotisserie chicken

1.  cook egg noodles per bag's instructions; set aside.
2.  saute onions and garlic in large pot.  once the onion is clear, add the stock, basil, bay leaves, and pepper; bring to a boil.
3.  add the celery, carrots, and rotisserie chicken to the stock, and reduce heat.  cook ~15 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
4.  remove the rotisserie chicken from the stock and dice; i threw away the skin.  save your bones for future stock!!  ;-)  toss the meat back into the soup.
5.  mix the corn starch and water together, and gradually add to the soup.
6.  stir in the noodles.

this recipe microwaves well.  pull it out for lunch during a grouchy workweek, or when the weather is just too darn cold outside.  i do not, however, recommend freezing it - the noodles get a little soggy.  enjoy!!

thursday is soup day!

i love making soups.  they are comforting and cheap, easy to freeze, perfect for recipe doubling.  which means my sunday nights consist of me pulling a bag out of the freezer, rather than panicking over what i'll feed mike for lunch that week.  valuable stuff!

so i found a bunch of soup recipes to test, and we invited several of our friends over to test them out - how else do you try new recipes??  naturally, our friends were asked to rate the recipes:

it was so much fun!!

so over the next several thursdays, i'll post a soup recipes here on my blog, complete with any applicable notes/critique/praise.  be forewarned, at least one of the recipes was a non-repeat!  keeping it real.  ;-)

for today, i'll give you a very valuable link.  i made 4 batches of this pho recipe this past weekend.  it's fabulous!!  not so fabulous that we won't go out for pho on occasion, but it's certainly our current favorite soup.  notes on this recipe:

- best part: you can do it in your crockpot.  

- second best part: you can buy a spice pack for pho at an asian market.  so for those of us out there who don't have star anise + other obscure spices lying around, this is a sweet cheat!  one spice pack costs about $1, and an asian market is one of the best places to pick up beef bones anyway.  now that i know we love this recipe, i plan to stock up on all those obscure spices - but this is a great option for a first try.

- tip #1: be careful not to add too much water to your crockpot - i had  too much water in my water-bones ratio, and my broth wasn't strong enough.  if this happens to you, pick up some pho bullion at an asian market - just add a little bit at a time til it's perfect!

- tip #2: buy steak sub beef instead of trying to do the super-thin slices yourself.

- other thoughts: since we now know we love this recipe, we also bought some sriracha (hot sauce), hoisin sauce (sweet), as well as pho bowls at our asian market.  the bowls were less than $7 each, and now we can have proper servings of this yummy broth without using my serving bowls.  ;-)  also, having the sriracha and hoisin sauce on hand really made it feel closer to restaurant-quality pho.

if you have any questions, or need some encouragement to give this recipe a try, leave me a comment!  youuuuu can dooooo it!!!  ;-)

chipotle pork recipe

i had a dilemma - mike had told me recently that he was not a fan of the salsa i usually buy.  it is no problem to switch to a different brand, but i had an unopened container left.  throw it out, eat it all myself, continue to serve mike something he doesn't like.....none of these ideas appealed to me.  what to do??

the flavor of my go-to pork recipe relies heavily on the salsa used.......so at first, i thought that recipe was out.  thankfully, there's no law against taking liberty with recipes - i tweaked what i usually do, and mike really enjoyed it - in spite of the salsa!  actually, the salsa deteriorates entirely in this recipe, so you really don't taste it at all.  the recipe is below, with notes following:

chipotle pork

4 pork chops
3/4 cup of salsa
2 1/2 tsp chipotle powder
2 1/2 tsp cumin
3 cups black beans (pre-cooked or canned)
1 1/2 cups frozen corn (optional)
cooked rice
sour cream (optional)

- lay the pork chops in the bottom of your crockpot - i put mine in while they were still frozen.
- dust the chipotle powder and cumin over the pork, then pour the salsa on top.
- cook on low for ~8 hours.
- shred pork with a fork (mine fell apart at this point), then add the beans and corn. i also added ~1/2 cup of water, as i wanted a little bit of sauce.
- once the beans are warmed through, serve over rice, with sour cream.

notes:
- i believe i used 7 pork chops instead of 4......mike was in heaven, having such a meat-heavy meal! however, if i were making again, i really don't think it needs quite that many.
- similarly, i used fewer beans than listed above - i cook and freeze our beans in bulk, and used half a freezer bag because a whole one seemed like too much. if making again, i would use the amount listed above since i feel like we could have had more.

- we didn't use corn or sour cream, but i think they would have complemented this nicely. we DID, however, pair it with yuengling, which added a nice touch. ;-)

rotisserie chicken pasta

we buy a rotisserie chicken almost once a month.....in addition to being a wonderful meal to eat after our large shopping trip (and one that we smell the whole way home from the store!!), it gives us bones to make chicken stock from.  double win!!!

but even after we've eaten our fill of the fresh chicken that first day, we have extra meat left-over.  i've tried different uses for it, but because it starts with a strong flavor, it's been hard to work it into pre-existing recipes.

no more!  the recipe below has more gentle flavors in the garlic, rosemary, and thyme, that complement the rotisserie flavor rather than competing with it.  at least, we thought so!!  :-)  enjoy!

rotisserie chicken pasta

1 - 2 cups of rotisserie chicken (as much as you have to use!)

1 cup frozen corn
1 16 oz box of bow-tie pasta
2 1/2 T olive oil
2 T garlic
2 tsp rosemary
2 tsp thyme
3 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

parmesan cheese (optional)

- cook pasta al dente (my box said to set the timer for 11 minutes)
- while the pasta is cooking, crush the rosemary and thyme with mortar and pestle (optional step)
- when the pasta is almost done, heat the olive oil in a separate pot. once it is hot, add the garlic and cook for ~2 minutes at medium heat

- drain the pasta

- add the pasta to the oil and garlic, and mix well; decrease the heat to low

- sprinkle the rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper on top of the pasta, and mix well

- add the rotisserie chicken and corn; continue stirring gently until both the chicken and corn are heated through.  i found that with gentle stirring, the larger pieces of chicken fell apart into bite size pieces.

serve with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.  this recipe makes approximately 6 servings.

notes: 

- the left-overs tasted great cold!  if you reheat the left-overs of this dish, i suggest heating on the stove-top, so you can stir the oil into the mixture as it heats.  in a microwave, i think that the oil could just sink to the bottom of the dish.

- i made this with regular pasta, but plan to try it with whole grain next time.

"spicy" chicken noodle soup

in looking ahead at what to make this week, i had odds and ends to use up, but none that fit into previously tried recipes.....and none that fit exactly into recipes i found online.  it was time to get creative!  

i had chicken stock, chicken breasts, and onions.....but no egg noodles, and no fresh veggies.  so the recipe below is adapted to make use of the pasta i had (keeping it separate from the soup until it is served, to avoid sogginess), and embracing the spicier aspect of the onions and garlic.  

we recommend!  i would not repeat this exact recipe if mike or i were sick - we would want something milder - but the spiciness added excitement to our weekly meals.  success!

"spicy" chicken noodle soup

4 cups of chicken stock
1 cup diced chicken, raw
2 large onions, sliced
1 cup frozen corn
2 T minced garlic
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp marjoram
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp olive oil
1 box penne pasta

- sautee onions, garlic, and chicken in olive oil, until onions are clear and chicken is cooked through.
- in separate pot, cook penne pasta; drain and set aside.
- add chicken stock and spices, bring to boil, and then reduce heat and simmer for ~20 minutes.
- add corn, heat through.

serve cooked pasta directly into bowls, with the soup ladled over it. store left-overs separately.