Greer Family Recipes

Italian Chicken Pastina Soup -This was amazing!!!

Italian Chicken Pastina Soup (aka Italian Nonna's Penicillin Soup)

This cozy, comforting Chicken Pastina Soup is also called Italian Nonna's Penicillin soup because it's known to cure just about anything that ails you! It hits the spot on a chilly day, for sure!

Prep Time20

Cook Time35

Total Time55

Course: Main, Soup

Cuisine: Italian, Italian-American

Keyword: Chicken Pastina Soup, Italian Chicken Pastina Soup, Italian Nonna's Penicillin Soup, Italian Penicillin Soup

Servings: servings

Calories: 142kcal

Author: Chris Scheuer

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion diced small
1 large shallot finely chopped
4 stalks celery diced small
1 large yellow bell pepper diced small
4 medium cloves garlic minced
8 cups low-sodium chicken broth maybe more
1 pound carrots diced small
1 parmesan rind (optional)
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt more to taste
⅓ cup uncooked pastina tiny pasta, double if you like a lot of pasta
2½ -3 cups rotisserie or leftover chicken
grated Parmesan for serving
finely chopped fresh rosemary and/or fresh thyme leaves

Instructions

Heat a large Dutch oven or soup pot or medium heat. Add the oil, butter, onion, shallot, celery and bell pepper and stir to combine. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until the onions are translucent, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, stir well and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the broth, carrots, parmesan rind (if using) and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil then reduce to a steady simmer and cook for 20-25 minutes (uncovered) or until the veggies are nice and tender.
Remove the parmesan rind, if you used one. With a slotted spoon, remove 2 cups of the diced veggies and set aside.
With an immersion blender (or a regular blender) puree the broth/veggie mixture in the pot until smooth.
****NOTE: If you use a regular blender, be sure to let the mixture cool down a bit before blending. Also, remove the center cap on the blender top and cover it with a clean kitchen towel or several thicknesses of paper towels. This will allow the heat to vent and prevent it from building up.
Add the pasta, bring the mixture to a boil then reduce to a steady simmer. Cook, uncovered for whatever the time on your bag or box of pastina instructs. (Acini de pepe takes 9 minutes.)
Add the rotisserie (or leftover) chicken and the reserved veggies. Stir to combine. Cover and allow the soup to rest for 20 minutes.
Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning, adding more salt if needed.
Serve with grated parmesan, a scatter of finely chopped fresh rosemary or fresh thyme leaves (or both) and fresh ground black pepper. Enjoy!

Notes

See Café Tips above in the post for more detailed instructions and tips to ensure success.

If you prefer to use Metric measurements there is a button in each of our recipes, right above the word “Instructions”. Just click that button to toggle to grams, milliliters, etc. If you ever come across one of our recipes that doesn’t have the Metric conversion (some of the older recipes may not), feel free to leave a comment and I will add it.

Nutrition

Hot Milk Sponge Cake with Broiled Macadamia Coconut Topping

Protein PB Cottage Choc Chip Muffins

High Protein Chocolate Muffins

INGREDIENTS

4 very ripe bananas
8 eggs
1 c. plain yogurt (use applesauce for a dairy-free option)
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
4 cups oats, ground into flour in a blender
3/4 c. cocoa powder
1 c. sugar or 1//2 c. Stevia-based sweetener
1 tsp. real salt
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
Chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350.
Grease 24 muffin tins
Peel and mash bananas in the bottom of a large bowl.
Add eggs, yogurt, and vanilla and mix well.
Pour oat flour on top of the egg mixture, and measure the rest of the dry ingredients on top of that.
Mix the dry ingredients together a bit, then fold them into the wet stuff in the bottom of the bowl. Add chocolate chips.
Divide batter into muffin tins. If you have extra, you can pour it into a bread pan and make a loaf for snacking later.
Bake at 350 for aprox. 20 minutes until muffins have risen and the top bounces back when you poke it. (Mini-muffins 11 mins)

(Trinaholden.com)

Caldo de Pollo con Arroz - Mexican Chicken Soup with floating rice

Ingredients:

4 small bone-in chicken thighs
4 small bone-in chicken legs
1 chicken breast (or any extra cut of chicken for more meat)
1 onion
2-4 garlic cloves
dash of oregano
1-2 Bay leaves
Salt

4 roma tomatoes
1/2 large onion
2-3 cloves garlic

1 cup rice

tortillas
Serrano chiles

Instructions

1. Cover Chicken and broth ingredients with water

2. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer for 40 minutes.

3. Strain and set aside broth.

4. Remove any chicken skin, but leave bone-in whole. (I leave half whole and I de-bone half for those in my family with different preferences).

5. Blend and finely strain tomato, onion and garlic.

6. Use all tomato sauce, plus add enough chicken broth to get 2 cups total red broth.

7. Cook rice separately in the red broth.

8. Return the chicken and rice to the original broth. It should NOT be thick with the rice. It should still be mostly broth.

Serve as a soup with corn tortillas and serrano chiles on the side.

Chalupas from Guerrero

If you can find Chalupas (small fried tortilla bowls, sort of like a giant Frito chip) at your local Mexican tienda, toast them a little on a pan in the stove before serving.

If you don't have chalupas, you can use the topping on Tostadas instead, but it's just not the same ;)

1 chicken breast, 3 bone-in chicken legs
1/2 onion
1-2 garlic cloves
Salt
Bay leaf

3 white potatoes

About a cup tomatillos (find the most yellow or purple you can. NOT the greenest...)
1-2 chile serrano
1/4 onion
1 garlic clove
Salt

Serve with:
Chile Chipotle
Thinly sliced onions
Shredded Mexican cheese

In one pot, make the Chicken and Broth:
1. Cover all ingredients with water, bring to a boil, then lower and let simmer 40-60 minutes.

2. Strain and set aside broth.

3. Cool and shred chicken.

At the same time, in another pot, make the Potatoes:

1. Boil three small potatoes with salt until cooked through.

2. Cool, peel, chop into cubes

After the 40 minutes of cooking the chicken
In a third pot, make the Salsa:

1. Boil tomatoes and chiles until they lose their color (5-10 minutes)

2. Blend with remaining ingredients.

3. Taste test the salsa. Slowly add it to the chicken broth until you reach a spice level you like.

4. Let everything simmer another 15 minutes.

Fill the chalupas with chicken and potatoes, pour caldo into the chalupa, drip chipotle and cheese and onions over the top.

Serve only a few at a time and eat quickly before the chalupa gets soggy.

Picadillo

Ingredients

2 Carrots - diced

2 potatoes - diced

1.5 lbs ground beef

3-4 roma tomatoes

half an onion, plus more diced

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup water

bouillion

6 bay leaves

sprig of fresh thyme if you have it

salt

Instructions

1. In a small pot, cover carrots and potatoes with water and bring to a boil at medium heat, simmer until soft.

2. At medium heat, fry diced onion for a few minutes in oil and add meat, chopping it small with the spatula as it cooks.

3. While cooking, blend tomatoes, garlic, half an onion and ½ cup water with bouillion (if paste). When the meat is cooked add the blended salsa. Simmer for a few minutes.

4. Add the cooked carrot and potato and increase heat to medium high. When it boils, add bouillon if using powder.

5. Check for flavor and add salt if needed.

6. Add bay leaves and sprig of thyme, lower to medium heat and let simmer until thick.

Serve on tostadas

optional toppings: cream, tomato, lettuce, cheese, diced onion