Glad it turned out ok, Wookie. One reason I like that recipe is it feels so healthy and light.

I'm going to try to make your black bean/pumpkin soup this week. I've never made any soup with canned pumpkin so I'm excited to try it out.

I've been experimenting with soups. The other night I made a traditional chicken soup and added spaetlze (noodle-dumplings??) to it. Everyone really liked it! I thought the flavor was excellent but would prefer a lighter dumpling next time. I'm going to look at recipes for dumplings so I can perfect this soup.

Well, with the sausage and the cream, I don't think I can claim that this was especially healthy and light, but it was delicious and not too bad for me.

Hey great thread!

I have a request for an idea to make something using limited ingredients.

I'm in the UK now and all the stores are shut...
I am severely lacking in herbs and spices as waiting for a promised gift of one!

I have basic salt/pepper/olive oil

My main ingredient: 4 large chicken legs that have to be used today
If called for:
Onions, Garlic, Potatoes, Carrots, Tinned tomatoes Celery(was going to make a soup)
Rice/pasta/pasta sauce/pesto
Some cheap sausages as well lol

I am not a great competent cook but am not scared in the kitchen!

Any suggestions would be greatly recieved thanks!

Sounds like you could make a traditional chicken soup. Something like this doesn't sound too hard, although I wouldn't discard the vegetables and such. Leave them in and eat them.

do you have wine?

coq au vin imo

I have red win as it goes...

I would kind of prefer to make a main for this instead of soup so we can eat it all tonight instead of having soup that will last as the chicken has use by date of today :-/

I will search for coq au vin tnx

good for chicken that might be reaching it's end.

take pics if possible.

I took this recipe http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/coq...n-a-recipe.htm because it was the closest to the ingredients that I had. Most recipes asked for bacon and brandy and other such things. Didn't have red potatoes used normal ones, and no shallots used normal onion.

Added extra stock because there didn't seem to be that much juice, and am using a large saucepan instead of a casserole dish :-/

I hope it's edible
Pics and stuff later

Forgot to add the onion so I did later, and added carrots and celery

Nut...I need your professional cook's assessment of the following recipe (that I got from Oprah )

I am thinking of trying this recipe because then they use the chicken in other dishes like Chicken Pot Pie with Cornbread Crust, Pesto with Farfalle Pasta with Roasted Chicken, and Chicken Enchiladas.

Is it really possible to use that one chicken recipe in all these other dishes and still have it taste good and be healthy?

Katy, spaetzle is made all kinds off ways, from fat and as long as a couple of thumbs to skinny as your half a finger and no longer than a thumbnail.

You might consider making your spaetzle at a different size.

Some people will use the edge of a knife to slide a thin line of the dough into the hot liquid. Some will pour it through a ricer and move that back and forth. You can be creative and make it as thick as you like.

Unless you just mean the dough was too dense.

Well here it is cooking. Looks edible!



And here it is on my plate half eaten as I forgot to take a photo

Could look a bit prettier but whatever I was running about registering for tournaments to bust out lol donkaments etc etc

My attempt and Blarg's soup came out pretty well, but not perfect. I used quite a bit more sausage than Blarg recommended because I didn't want to have a bunch left over from the package that I wouldn't know what to do with. That I think worked out fine. Sadly, I don't think I used enough garlic, and I didn't have as much marjoram as I thought I did. I added some oregano to make up for it, but the soup needs a little more oomph. I'm glad I added the extra sausage, which makes up for some of the spice I didn't have when I get a bigger bite of that. In spite of this, it's still tasty, and it's hearty as hell without packing much in the way of fat.

Beef Roulade

This is my family recipe. We usually just had it on special occasions, including Thanks Giving. But it's relatively simple and inexpensive and doesn't need to be reserved for holidays.

Ingredients
Beef sliced thin. - This can be roasts cut thin, flank steak, sandwich steaks, I just get what's on sale.
Bacon
Kosher dill pickle halves or quarters
Dry Mustard
Ground Pepper
Garlic

Note: Do not use salt. The bacon and pickles have more than enough.


Lay out the pieces of meat. You can pound them if you want, but I don't bother.






Apply dry mustard and pat down.





Add bacon, garlic cloves and pickle and ground pepper.





Roll up and bind with string, toothpicks or skewers. If you're going to use skewers or toothpicks, always use the same amount on each roulade. This is for safety, as you'll know how many to pull from each one when it's time to serve.





Brown them. I cook mine in a crockpot for 6-8 hours on low and add some pickle juice to the top for moisture and gravy. You can also let them simmer for a few hours in a pan on the stove or in the oven. I don't know the exact times and you'll have to add more liquid doing it that way.

Don't be tempted to add more spices. The pickle and bacon are full of flavor. Anything else would be overkill.

Some things to serve with this are the aforementioned spatzle, mashed potatoes, potato dumplings or egg noodles. Green beans go perfectly with this meal. You can make a gravy by adding flour, or starch or almond flour to the drippings. I just use the drippings plain.

Instead of a white starch, I had beet and apple salad.

wow that looks fantastic, tsearcher. Really fancy. I can't believe you made that in a crock pot. So are you saying that you brown it first in a skillet and then put it in a crock pot for 6 hours?

Yes, I brown it first in a pan with butter (or ghee, or lard or bacon grease), then put it in the crock pot. Browning it, is mostly cosmetic, and not really necessary.