What Came First The Chicken or The Chicken Soup?

This has been a crazy winter, while we didn’t get a lot of snow, what we did get stayed forever….or at least it seemed like it to me. My wife found herself back in the classroom this year after spending the last four years as a reading specialist, training teachers how to be more effective in the classroom. Her contact with students was almost non existent, and she was never sick. This year has been a different story!Lisa is an excellent teacher, one who cares about her students, and their success, I told her she belonged in the classroom, with her students…..not as part of the administrative team. That being said, her daily contact with her students has had her sick a good part of the year….sigh…..and guess who gets it from her.

Well this weekend we had plans, the weather was going to be better, and we were going to get out and enjoy it………sigh………well guess who spent this weekend barely being able to get out of bed? I would raise my hand but I’m still too weak. Well  it wasn’t that bad, don’t go getting all worried and misty eyed on me, It did hit pretty hard, but it takes more than that to keep me down! Of course I did sleep quite a bit.
So What do you make when your not feeling good, the answer is pretty easy, you make chicken soup!

I had been at the market when I started feeling a little off kilter, so I purchased everything I would need to make natures penicillin, Chicken Soup!

Chicken & Mini Ravioli Soup
4 chicken legs
2 carrots diced
1 small onion diced
3 stalks celery diced
1/2 yellow squash diced
1/2 green squash diced
1 cup chopped broccoli rabe ( or greens of your choice)
12 oz mini cheese ravioli (fresh or frozen)
4 cups chicken stock

In a medium sauce pan place add the chicken legs and fill about 2/3 with cold water.
allow water to come to a boil and reduce heat and simmer until stock is reduced by half.
remove chicken legs and allow to cool. When cool remove skin and pull meat off the bone, then return to stock. Keep heat on simmer.

In another small stock pot, add your diced celery, carrots, onions, and squash with one tablespoons of olive oil. Allow vegetables to saute for about 5-7 minutes or until they have just begun to soften.
Add chicken and stock to veggies. Add additional chicken stock, and increase heat until soup just begins to boil, then reduce heat back to simmer.
At this time add your mini ravioli and chopped broccoli rabe, allow to simmer for 30 minutes.

Feel free to have fun with this soup, I think the most important part is the fresh chicken meat and some type of greens, that’s what really adds the body to the soup, any type of pasta will do from pastina to tortellini. You will need to add some canned chicken broth, unless your lucky enough to have chicken base in your fridge, you won’t get enough stock from those few legs.

Food Bloggers Conference
At this time I would like to announce that I will be organizing a food bloggers conference in Asheville, North Carolina. I am lucky enough to have an incredible team to work with on this endeavor, my partners in this venture are Sommer from A Spicy Perspective , Christiane from The Mom Chef, Julie from Mommie Cooks, and Adam from Picture-Perfect Meals.


We will be holding our conference in beautiful Asheville, on Friday July 8th for our Welcome Party, and Saturday July 9th for the conference. We will have a website up and running within the next few weeks and as I get more information, I will pass it along to you. What I would like to know if any of you think you may be able to attend to just let me know. As we arrange this event the size will dictate the venue we will be needing, so any type of count we can get even tentative will be a big help. If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail any one of us for information.

If anyone would like to help with the event please let us know! We don’t have an official name for the conference yet, so if any of you have any suggestions, please feel free to send them along, and I’m sure I can come up with some type of prize for you if we do use your suggestion.

Give-Aways
I would like to take this time to announce the winner of my Chobani give away, and the winner chosen by the random number generator was 13, and that would be Sara from Caffeina! So Sara if you can send me your address I will have the nice folks at Chobani send out your case of yogurt! I know you will make some tasty creations with your yogurt!

I would also like to announce another give away! Sarah-Jane from Silicone Moulds has sent me two silicone pastry mats, to give to my readers! This give away is open to all of my readers world wide, so please everyone feel free to let me know you would like to win these mats! Sarah-Jane makes some of the most incredible silicone bake-ware, and these mats would be a wonderful addition to any bakers kitchen!

Well friends that’s about it for today, I am still a little tired so its off to bed for me, 4 am still comes around no matter how I feel…..
Have a great week, and don’t forget to send your questions, suggestions, tips and hints to ask chef Dennis. I will be happy to pass it along or do my best to answer your questions, and I think you know why by now! So my friends stay safe, stay warm, and stay full, and always remember……