Runny noses and chicken noodle soup...yep it's fall

          As I've said there are many parts of fall that I love, but there is one part I most certainly do not love...that's right folks you guessed it, the sickies. Everyone in the house except mommy and daddy have runny noses and Cherry has a cough, I have a sore throat accompanied by a horrible ear ache. Yes you read that right, all of the kids are sick...that's six sick kids...say that six times fast. That is why I haven't posted in a couple days. To top it off today is my first day back to shooting client sessions. You know what this calls for...some comforting and soothing chicken noodle soup. Yep that's right this sick mama is making homemade crockpot chicken noodle soup. Since I love you all so and I missed a couple days blogging due to fighting this sore throat I decided to post two recipes today. One from our freezer meal list and the crockpot chicken noodle soup. First up our freezer meal of the week...

Turkey Chili Recipe

Ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey or ground beef

1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion

2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes with juice

1 can (16 ounces) pinto beans, drained, rinsed

1/2 cup chunky salsa, your favorite

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar or Mexican blend cheese

1 to 2 tablespoons sliced black olives

Preparation:

In a large skillet over medium heat, brown ground turkey and onion. Drain off excess fat. Transfer browned mixture to the crockpot with tomatoes, beans, salsa, chili powder, and cumin. Stir gently to blend ingredients. Cover and cook on LOW setting for 5 to 6 hours. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a little shredded cheese and black olive slices and some fresh cornbread)

(To Make this a freezer meal simply brown the turkey and onions drain excess fat and let cool then add all the crockpot ingredients and the cooled turkey to a gallon sized freezer bag. Remove all access air and freeze. Thaw the night before you want to use it and cook in crockpot as directed in the orginal recipe)

Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup:
3 large chicken breasts (fresh or frozen)
3 16.9oz kirkland natural chicken stock
One package (about 6) large carrots peeled and sliced or diced to preference
Half of a onion diced
One bunch celery washed and sliced (or if you are like me you can use celery salt instead for the flavor without the celery)

Season to taste with salt, pepper, parsley, rosemary, garlic powder and onion powder. (also celery salt if substituting) Add all ingredients to the crockpot and stir.  Cook for about 6 hours on low. About a half hour before you plan to serve shred or dice chicken and add a half to full bag (depending on preference) of egg noodles. Serve when noodles are cooked fully. Best with a loaf of fresh french or sourdough bread :) yummy 

This has been another foody blog post from the Benson Bunch Kitchen :) we hope your family enjoys as much as ours did