This Chicken Noodle Chowder is creamy, comforting and down right sinful.
If winter is still going strong where you are, make this pronto!
We are trying something new with our kids. Winter is always hard, as they are stuck in the house and more often than not bouncing off the walls. The other night I actually saw our middle child fly through the air from our big overstuffed chair to the couch on the other side of the room.
Followed by giggles and my reprimanding.
We already have them adhere to pretty strict rules. We are probably a bit tough on them, but it is only because we know their full potential.
They are good kids, but with a hell of a lot of energy!
Our oldest are 6 and almost 5 {next month}, although they are basically like twins. They do the same things and feed other each other, good or bad.
After much thinking we have introduced that word.
You know the one.
Allowance.
But being the parents we are, we are not the type to just hand over a ten dollar bill at the end of the week and call it good. You know, giving them the discretion to do with it as they want. No, no, no. They are only 6 and 4!
They already have a slew of chores that get delegated throughout the week. We don't use a chore chart or anything like that, we simply just ask them to do the chore and they are expected to adhere to that.
Their chores include: emptying or filling the dishwasher, making their beds, taking the garbage/recycling to and from the curb, picking up their toys before bed, helping set the table for dinner, folding laundry and putting their clothes away, feeding the dog and any other chore at our discretion.
Do they always listen? NOPE. And often they will complain. They are kids, not angels! In an effort to teach them financial responsibility and give them a bit of a reward for taking part in our household, this allowance has come in.
On Monday, they each start with 7 one dollar bills, essentially a dollar a day. We hold their money throughout the week {in a hidden place, they already found it once, those little devils}.
At the end of each day, we determine if they earned their dollar. If they did? Great! If they didn't, I put a little tally mark next to their name for that week on the fridge and the countdown begins. On Sunday, we look at those tallies and subtract them from the original seven. This ending money is then divided between spending money, savings and church offering.
Again, we ALWAYS hold onto their wallets {yes, they each have a wallet and think it is pretty cool}. Trust me, at this age they lose money faster than I lose my temper some days. And put it up high! I've found kids are great climbers.
And for a little humor....
Our eldest child can be described as this: focused, a bit serious, organized, practical and a rule follower.
Our middle child can be described as this: free-spirited, adventurous, hilarious, everyone's friend and a rule breaker.
I'll let you determine who consistently has the most tally marks.
Either way, this is fun for them and us. Go ahead and steal the idea if you like! Just as a thank you, send everyone you know to my blog and make my recipes, okay?
I had my middle child help me with this chowder one day last week after school. She does best when given tasks, and cooking is her forte {enter my heart skipping a beat}.
She'll do anything to chop a vegetable or stir something in a bowl. Our family seems to big soup eaters, or that is at least what people have told me, and this chowder was no exception! I had originally planned a basic chicken noodle soup, this version is our favorite, but my mind wandered and I tried something different.
Thank god it worked!
It had recently snowed 5 inches and I was home bound and COLD. I needed something hearty and comforting. So why not through every starchy food I own and throw it in the pot?
And speaking of this pot, my friend Biz from My Bizzy Kitchen, sent this to me in the mail last month. My cup runneth over. That girl has the biggest heart and I cannot wait to see her again this summer. I'm in love with it! You can get yours here.
You can easily make this chowder and let it sit on the stove on super low all day until dinner. That is what I did. I was too lazy to put it in the fridge once finished, so I just shut off the heat for most of the afternoon {cast iron holds heat very well} and then later turned it on very low when I felt it was losing some of it's heat.
Right before dinner, I cranked it up a bit and we were ready to eat within 30 minutes.
Oh, and how could I forget? I made these mile-high buttermilk biscuits to go along side. They almost stole the show {so good!}, but in the end the chowder won.
Chicken Noodle Chowder
3 c. shredded cooked chicken
2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 onion, diced
3 potatoes, diced in small cubes
1 c. old fashioned egg noodles
5 c. chicken stock
1 stick unsalted butter + 3 T. unsalted butter
1 c. flour
1 c. shredded colby cheese
salt
pepper
parsley
1. Heat 3 T. of the unsalted butter into a dutch oven or stock pot over medium high heat.
2. Saute the onion, celery and carrots until slightly tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Add in the potatoes, shredded chicken and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Then let simmer for 10 minutes.
4. In a separate pan melt butter over medium heat. Add in the flour and whisk to combine, cooking out the flour for a few minutes. Then add this roux mixture to the veggie/chicken/stock mixture, stirring to combine. The soup will start to thicken quickly.
5. Add in the cheese, continuing to stir.
6. Taking the dutch oven off the heat, add in the noodles and cover to simmer. After 10 minutes (but can go much longer) the noodles should be soft.
7. Add in salt, pepper and parsley to taste - liberally!
8. Serve warm, right away, or keep off the heat and warm up again for later.
