It has turned cold in San Francisco, which has me thinking about chicken soup with rice… which makes me think of the Maurice Sendak book “Chicken Soup With Rice” that mah Momma used to read to my brothers and me when we were kids.

As this book illustrates, chicken soup with rice is nice anytime of year; but, especially when it’s cold and rainy. I actually - over the years - have developed a good chicken soup with rice recipe.

Though I have not made this particular soup for my dinner club, I think that I might at some point in the near future. Also, something that I regularly do is make soup and freeze it in little Tupperware containers, so I have individual servings I can just pop into the microwave/soup pot. It’s a lot cheaper than canned soup in the long run… the ingredients for this recipe should cost you under $20 and make at least 12-14 servings. It does require some time and that you have saved the bones from chicken you’ve eaten previously to help make the stock. (Remember when I said that I save fat and bones in a baggie in the freezer? This is why.) You could probably make it w/out the bones; but, you’d have to substitute chicken stock or some sort of flavoring into the soup.

Love It Once, Love It Twice: Love Mah Chicken Soup with Rice
Ingredients:
1. 1 lb of chicken bones
2. 1 lb of carrots
3. 1 lb of celery
4. 3 large yellow onions
5. 3-5 large sized cloves of garlic
6. 2 bay leafs
7. Salt and pepper to taste
8. 2 cups of rice
9. 4-5 chicken thighs one the bone, with skin

Technique:
Stock:
1. In a large stock pot: place bones, 1 bay leaf, 2 onions (skinned, but whole), 1/2 the garlic, 1/2 the carrots, 1/2 the celery (veggies should be washed well; but, not peeled or cut) and a fair amount of salt (1tsp-ish)
2. Fill pot with water and bring to a boil
3. Continue to boil on a high flame until stock begins to reduce
4. Add more water once stock has reduced to 1/2, return stock to a boil again
5. Once the bones are soft (like mushy, not brittle at all) strain stock through a pasta strainer into another pot
6. Discard the bones and bay leaf, you can save the veggies to eat at another time… (I do)

Rice:
Cook 2 cups of the rice of your choice according to directions on the box/package

Finishing the soup:
1. Add chicken thighs to stock
2. Peel and quarter third onion and add to stock
3. Wash, peel and chop carrots and celery, add to stock
4. Peel remaining garlic and add whole to stock
5. Add remaining bay leaf
6. Slowly bring soup to a boil over medium heat
7. Once it is at a rolling boil, reduce heat to low and simmer soup for about an hour; or, until the chicken thighs are cooked completely through and the meat pretty much falls off the bone
8. Remove chicken thighs, allow to cool (while keeping soup on a low, low flame) and de-bone the meat/skin. Dice meat into small, bite size pieces and return to the soup
9. Set skin/bones aside for the next time you make soup
10. Serve over rice — YUMMY!

This makes about 12-14 one cup servings, so I’d recommend inviting friends or buying some freezer safe storage containers. If you want to reheat it when frozen I’ve found that it takes 4 minutes in the microwave, or you can just dump a frozen block of it into a soup pan and heat on a low flame until it melts apart. Enjoy!

This is a cheap version of a recipe that I found on Recipe Zaar that I plan on making for my next turn cooking for our happy little family over here in San Francisco. I think it’s a great way to use the one cup of leftover coffee that I never drink in the morning, plus it tastes a little like Chicken Mole:

Caffeinated Chicken & Rice
Ingredients:
1. 4-6 *chicken thighs with skin
2. 1 cup leftover brewed coffee
3. 1/2 cup of ketchup
4. 3 tsp of brown sugar
5. 2 tbsp of vinegar
6. 1 tbsp of olive oil
7. 3 packets of soy sauce (reuse them from those days of Chinese takeout!)
8. 2 tbsp of lemon juice
9. 1 large yellow onion, chopped into coarse-large pieces
10. 1/2 cup of water (for sauce) and enough water for rice
11. 2 cups of brown nutted rice

*To you reduce the fat content you can use boneless, skinless thighs - which are more expensive - however, I like skin on mah chicken… so, there!

Technique:
1. Place all ingrediants for the sauce into a sauce pot and slowly bring to a boil
2. Stirring frequently, lower heat and simmer until sauce reduces to half
3. Place onion and chicken into pot, cover tightly and refridgerate for 1/2 hour
4. Pre-heat oven to 350 F
5. Place chicken, onions and sauce into a shallow pyrex baking pan
6. Bake in oven for 60 minutes, turning thighs at least twice and basting at least three times
7. Prepare rice as instructed on container
8. Serve chicken/onions over bed of rice and ENJOY!

One of the ideas that I discuss in my recent article on DollyMix is that of having a Dinner Club. This is a cool idea that stave’s off the temptation to go to restaurants to be social. And, in fact, I have been doing this for a couple of weeks now with three of my equally as broke friends.

The way it works for us is: we limit ourselves to spending $20/meal for raw ingredients. We take turns cooking on a weekly rotation, so once a month everyone has a turn. The unspoken rules are that those who aren’t cooking will pitch in a couple of bucks each for a bottle of wine and that everyone will help to clean up.

Last week was my first time cooking since we started and here is what I made:

Mah Momma’s Famous Navy Bean Soup in the Crockpot
Ingredients:
1 bag of small white navy beans
1 large yellow onion (chopped into large pieces)
1 clove garlic (whole)
3 carrots (peeled and quartered)
Salt Pork (cut into manageable pieces)
Salt and pepper to taste
Water

Technique:
1. 24 hours before you begin to cook the soup: rinse the navy beans, cover with water and place in a bowl in the refrigerator
2. Before you leave for work/school in the morning: put navy beans, garlic, salt pork and onion into a crockpot, cover the ingredients with water, cover tightly and set on high
3. Two to three hours before you serve the soup: turn heat in crockpot to low and add the carrots. Smush some of the beans against the side of the crockpot to thicken the broth
4. Right before serving: add salt and pepper to taste, remove large pieces of *salt pork fat
5. Eat and enjoy!

Yummers!

Kate’s Spinach Salad with Mandarin Oranges and Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing
Ingredients:
1 bag of fresh spinach
1 3 oz can of mandarin oranges, drained
1/4 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese
2 tbs of olive oil
1 tbs of balsamic vinegar
Fresh cracked pepper to taste

Technique:
1. Rinse and drain spinach, set aside
2. In a large bowl whisk oil and vinegar until it emulsifies
3. Toss spinach and oranges together with dressing
4. Garnish with cheese and fresh cracked pepper

The reaction was eight thumbs up (two from each person) from all that ate this meal last week. Plus it was very, very easy to make. I think I spent $30 at the grocery store for the ingredients: but, I also bought allergy medication which cost $11… meaning that the meal is doable for under $20.

Not to mention that there were LEFTOVERS! Yum, yum, yum!

*Set aside salt pork fat in a baggie for use in other recipes. You can add a cube or two of salt pork fat to ramen to richen the broth; or, use it in veggie casseroles (such as green bean) to add flavor. It is my personal perspective that it is a crime to waste fat, bones or other part of living animals which we consume, as they can always be used later to make stock or in another dish which calls for it.