Slow cooked, one-pot meals are simply the best. Fresh ingredients, a variety of vibrant colors, and that slow-building aroma that fills the house all day long?? It’s priceless!

My Chicken No-Noodle Soup is a great weekend favorite of ours. Start it in the morning, and feel free to let it simmer super low all day long (though it can be ready in as fast as about 3 hours, including prep time). Or, more my style these days – start it at 7pm and treat yourself to a hot “tasters” cup around 10pm… it’s better than a hot toddy before bed!

If you have kids, this would be a fabulous recipe (the soup  - not a hot toddy) to cook with the whole family.

Here’s my idea…

I’ve heard that including your young ones (even toddlers) into the cooking process greatly increases food and nutrition awareness. Start with the grocery shopping – bring the kids and let them pick out the greenest celery, the most crooked looking carrots, and so on with all the ingredients. Teach them to look for local and organic, if available.

Once home, let the rotisserie chickens cool down to room temperature. (You can also cook the chicken yourself – I just prefer this version because it speeds things up a bit). Get the whole family around to help tear the meat off the carcass. It’s a completely messy, greasy, hands-on project that’s actually really fun. (And you can snack on some of the tasty chicken as you work.)

Have someone with good motor skills take care of the veggie chopping and straining (details below), and let everyone participate as you add ingredients into the soup pot. It’s a labor of love, and I guarantee that you’ll have a home full of eager eaters when the soup’s done simmerin’!

Ingredients:

• 2 Rotisserie Chickens
• 3 Quarts Vegetable Broth
• 1 Yellow Onion, halved
• 1 large bunch of Carrots (or 4 large Carrots), thinly sliced
• 1 large bunch of Celery, thinly sliced
• 1 Tablespoon Thyme (fresh or dried)
• 1 Tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning (or similar seafood seasoning)
• 1.5 Tablespoons Sea Salt (use none, more, or less as desired)

Instructions:

• Have two large bowls and two large pots available.
• Separate the chicken meat from the carcass by tearing it apart using your hands.
• Place the torn edible meat pieces into Bowl #1, and the chicken bones, skin, and other spare parts into Bowl #2.

• On the stove top, have a large pot on medium heat. Place the chicken spare parts from Bowl #2 (all of them!) into the pot. Add the onion (peeled and cut in half), and the 3 quarts of vegetable broth.

• Allow this to heat up to a boil (may take 20 minutes or so). Once boiling, place the lid on the pot, reduce the heat, and simmer for 1 hour.
• Chop your celery and carrots into thin slices. If the slices are too thick, no worries, the soup will just take longer to make (you can taste them as you go).

• After your chicken soup stock has simmered for one hour, strain all contents of that pot over another empty large pot (using a colander) so that all that remains is the broth. Go ahead and toss the strained parts, they’ve done their job!

• Place the second large pot containing your soup broth onto the stove top.
• Add the torn chicken meat, sliced carrots and celery, thyme, old bay seasoning, and sea salt. Gently mix everything around using a ladle or wooden spoon. Should look something like this:

• Place the lid on the pot and simmer for 1 hour.
• Serve. Eat (careful – it will be HOT). Enjoy!
• When done, store in smaller airtight containers and store in the fridge. The soup will stay good in the fridge for a few days, but you can also freeze extras to pull out and heat up later :)

CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTABLE RECIPE FOR CHICKEN NO-NOODLE SOUP!

I’ve scheduled this post for this morning hoping some of you will be inspired to make this recipe this weekend. If so, please share your experience! I would love to hear how it goes!

Asparagus is a delicious, easy veggie and the fern-colored spears add a touch of elegance alongside any of your favorite proteins. I consider this little treasure of a recipe our “A-List Asparagus” because the simple addition of nutmeg and lemon elevates it to a superstar status. You could invite Robert Downey Jr. (or your A-List star of choice) over and feel proud serving this dish. I love that it’s still super easy, so as not to frazzle you while under the stress of entertaining such stardom.

We thank a recent episode of Alton Brown’s show, Good Eats, for the flavor inspiration.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound fresh Asparagus
• 2 Tablespoons melted butter (we suggest butter from grass-fed cows, such as Kerrygold Butter)*
• Sea Salt (to taste)
• Fresh Ground Black Pepper (to taste)
• ½ Teaspoon Freshly Grated Nutmeg (pre-ground is okay, but give the fresh a try if you can)
• 1 whole lemon, zested

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 415 degrees.
• Break off the bottom ends of the Asparagus spears (about an inch or so will naturally break). Discard the ends.
• Coat Asparagus spears with the melted butter.
• Sprinkle with Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Black pepper, to taste.
• Roast on a baking sheet for 12 minutes (for medium-sized spears – time may vary based on thickness).
• Once the spears are roasted, remove them from the oven and freshly grate the nutmeg over the top (you can use a fine-grate zester for this).

• Next, use the same zester to zest your lemon over the top of the asparagus.

• Gently toss the Asparagus a bit more to even out the lemon and nutmeg flavors.
• Serve. Eat. Enjoy.

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTABLE RECIPE OF A-LIST ASPARAGUS.

So… our slow cooker died recently, which was indeed a tragedy, but also the perfect excuse to dust off our Dutch Oven we’d purchased awhile back. Slow-roasting something in the oven is just slightly different from using a countertop slow cooker, so I thought I’d share our favorite Dutch Oven Pot Roast recipe with you. Now you have a variety ways to cook pot roast under your belt!

We discovered this recipe from the well-known Pioneer Woman. Thank you, Ree!

Ingredients:

• 1 whole Chuck Roast (grass-fed beef is always recommended!)
• Cooking Oil of your choice – enough to coat the pan (we used bacon grease)
• 2 Whole Onions, halved
• Sea Salt, to taste
• Fresh Ground Black Pepper, to taste
• 1 Cup Beef Broth
• an additional 3 Cups Beef Broth
• 3 sprigs fresh Thyme
• 3 sprigs fresh Rosemary

Instructions:

• Choose a nicely marbled piece of meat for maximum flavor.
• Preheat your oven to 275.
• Generously salt and pepper your Chuck Roast on all sides. Don’t be shy.
• Heat your Dutch Oven (an oven-safe & stovetop-safe large pot) to medium-high heat. Once heated, add your cooking oil (about 3 tablespoons or so).
• Add your halved onions and brown them on each side for 1-2 minutes per side.
• Remove your onions from the pot and set aside. Add more cooking grease if needed.
• Add your salted, peppered roast to the pan and brown on all sides – again, 1-2 minutes per side.
• Keeping the heat on, remove the roast from the pan and set it aside.
• Add 1 cup of the beef broth (you can also use red wine, if you’d like) to deglaze the pan. Use a wooden spoon or whisk to scrape the meat and onion bits off that are stuck to the bottom (these will add awesome flavor to your roast!).
• Turn the stovetop heat off.  Add the roast back to the pan, and add enough beef broth to cover the meat about halfway (this is about 3 more cups of beef broth for a 2.5-3lb roast).
• Add the browned onion halves and sprigs of thyme and rosemary to the pot.
• Place the lid on the pot, and roast in the oven for 3 hours (for a 3lb roast). Roast around 4 hours for a 4-5lb roast.
• Serve. Eat. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTABLE RECIPE FOR DUTCH OVEN POT ROAST!