Cooking from scratch

I'm not much of a cook/baker, except for lately. I think the holidays puts me in the spirit of cooking. Throughout these two weeks we've been off together we've decided to change some parts of our life style. So for 2010 we are eating healthier and exercising together more often. We are running a 1/2 marathon on our 12th year anniversary June of 2010. This has inspired me to cook from scratch whenever I can. I planned out the month of January and am using it as a trial month. I bought the food we'll need and have each meal planned for every day and night. We'll see how it goes. Today I started to prepare. Matt has to take his food to work with him during his 2 24 hour shifts back to back, so I made him homemade chicken noodle soup, very low fat turkey chili, and biscuits.

Here's what you need to make the homemade buttermilk biscuits:

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into tiny pieces

3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 F.

In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Using a fork, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Pour buttermilk directly into center and continue mixing with a fork until dough starts to hold together.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured large cutting board or directly onto the counter. Knead only enough to form an 8 x 5 inch rectangle, about 3/4 inch thick. Yes, I did actually measure it. I know my friends at work, ahem, Casey would have done the same thing.

Cut into squares. Place onto a nonstick cookie sheet or a pan lined with parchment paper (whatever that is). Bake 12 minutes, or until lightly golden.

And whala...

Here's what you need for Quick Chicken soup:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup diced onion

Course-grained salt and pepper

6 to 8 cups canned chicken broth

One 10 to 12 ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast

3 cups sliced carrots (about 4 medium)

1 cup small pasta

1 to 2 cups pease (frozen are fine)

1/2 cup loosely packed, roughly chopped flat-leafed parsley

In a medium soup pot, hear olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion to pot and stir until evenly coated with oil. Season with salt and pepper. Cover, reduce heat to medium- low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 15 minutes. Add a splash of chicken broth or a teaspoon of water to pot if onions are ever in jeopardy of burning.

When onion has completely softened, add chicken broth, chicken breast (left whole), and carrots to pot. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, or until chicken breast is cooked through. Remove chicken breast and shred when cool.

Meanwhile, add pasta to soup and cook 10 minutes, until al dente, then add peas. Cook for another 5 minutes. Return chicken to pot, along with the parsley. Taste and correct seasonings. Cook 1 minutes more. Serve immediately.

I served this with my homemade buttermilk biscuits for lunch.