Ready or Not #24: Biscuits and Chicken Soup

I was so unfair to you last week. I gave you a list of all of those wonderful cookbooks and not one recipe! I will remedy this. In fact, I will give you one of my favorite recipes (I actually have a lot of favorite recipes) – Mile High Biscuits. I got this recipe from a Relief Society Cookbook that my college roommate, from 25 years ago, gave me for Christmas (yes, I was into food storage even back then). All cooks that live anywhere near a city named Salem must be good cooks because this cookbook was from the West Salem Ward Relief Society – not Salem, Utah, but Salem, Oregon.

My niece borrowed this particular recipe when she entered the 4H competition at the Utah State Fair and won first place! They really are that good.

Mile High Biscuits

3 cups sifted flour

2 tablespoons sugar

4 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon cream of tartar

¾ teaspoon salt

¾ cup shortening

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar and salt into bowl. Cut in shortening with pastry blender until mixture resembles course meal. Combine egg and milk and beat with fork. Add to flour mixture all at once, stirring just enough with fork to make a soft dough that sticks together. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently 15 times (and NOT ONE KNEAD MORE – really, it will make it tough). Roll to 1-inch thickness. Cut with floured 2-inch cutter and place about 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 450° Farenheit for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes 16.

These biscuits make the ultimate biscuits and gravy, or better yet, they go really good with homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. Who says that eating food storage is yucky? I’m thinking that it is nothing but yummmmmy!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

2 chicken breasts

2 cans concentrated cream of chicken soup

12-16 cups of water

Dehydrated onion, or powdered onion to taste

Garlic to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Rubbed sage to taste (optional)

Fry up a couple of chicken breasts, or chicken pieces, in the bottom of a large soup pot. If you can or bottle your own chicken, you can use it instead and it tastes just as good, and you don't have to brown it. After the chicken is good and brown take it out and add water to fill ¾ of the pan (about 16 cups). Add two cans of cream of chicken soup and spice it up with a little bit of garlic granules, dehydrated onions, salt, and pepper (and any other spices you think sounds good, possibly a sprinkle of sage, and no, I don’t add vegetables to this Chicken Noodle Soup recipe.) Cut the browned chicken pieces up and add back into the soup. Now you make the really good part – the homemade noodles. They are so easy to make that it would be a shame not to try it because it will become one of your family favorites.

Homemade Noodles

2 eggs beaten

4 tablepoons milk

1 teaspoon salt

1 ½ to 2 cups of flour

Combine all of the ingredients to make a semi-stiff dough. Roll out VERY thin on a well-floured surface and cut into ½ inch by 1-inch noodles with a pizza cutter. It doesn’t really matter if you leave them out to dry, just add them to the boiling soup, uncovered, and cook for about 10 minutes, and then serve. By adding the noodles to the soup, it will thicken the soup up a bit. I love this soup because it is so easy and SO TASTY! If you don’t cook these recipes today, make sure to set them aside for a cold miserable day when you need to warm up inside. You will be glad you did.

Dawn