Chicken Corn Soup

I live in a quaint small town called Jefferson. We have a beautiful view of the mountains and we are blessed to have a little over 4 acres with lots of wildlife. It was a perfect house to raise our two sons in. Our boys used to play in the creek that runs through our backyard. They would bring home crayfish and minnows from the creek and of course they would always want to keep them as pets. Bless their hearts they tried so many times, but I would send them packing to return them so that they would not die. The only prize catch that really shook me was when they brought the snake inside the house. They had the encyclopedia opened and were trying to figure out what type of snake it was. Snake-e-poo got the bums's rush rather quickly!  Another great thing about Jefferson is the local corn stand where people come from all around to buy the sweet white corn. That my Feasty Fans is what inspired me to post my Chicken Corn Soup this week. The sweet white corn with the little dumplings are simply delicious in this soup. Enjoy!

Chicken Corn Soup

• ½ cup chicken base
• 18 cups or 4½ qts water
• 1 Rotisserie chicken
• 1½ cup diced celery hearts
• 1½ cup diced sweet onion
• ¾  tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 8 ears fresh sweet white corn or a 16 oz. bag frozen white corn
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour, all purpose
• ½  cup milk

In a large 8 qt soup pot add water and base. Mix well with a wire whisk breaking up base paste. Add chicken and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer covered for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile dice celery and onion, set aside. 

Remove chicken from pot and place on platter to cool. Strain broth through a wire mesh and return back to cleaned soup pot. Add celery, onion, and black pepper to broth in pot. Bring to a boil and cover and reduce heat to a simmer.

When chicken is cool enough to touch remove skin and discard. Pull chicken from bones and cut into bite size pieces. Add chicken to soup pot. Then cut away corn from cob and add to soup pot as well. 

In a medium bowl beat eggs until light in color. Beat in flour and milk until smooth. Drop batter into hot broth  (you may need to turn up heat) to make small ¼ to ½ inch round dumplings. Cook, stirring constantly for 2 to 5 minutes, until dumplings hold their shape and float to the surface. This soup is delicious, it is so much better with fresh corn. You may use 4 ½ qts. chicken broth instead of water and chicken base.

I keep a few rotisserie chicken in my freezer so I can make soup at a moments notice.

Lemon Lust Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Glaze

 I have a confession to make. As much as I love chocolate desserts, I love lemon desserts even more. Lemon lovers will unite for this sweet treaty and your sweet tooth will be singing up a sweet happy song. The sweetness of the cake and glaze compliments the tartness of the lemon curd. Once you try these you will be craving them. Addicted to Lemon Lust Cupcakes, now how cool is that?


Lemon Lust Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Glaze

• 1 box Duncan Hines White cake mix
• 3 egg whites
• 2 lemons
• 2 jars Lemon Curd, 12 oz.
• paper cupcake liners

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile zest and juice both lemons into a clear 2 cup measuring cup. It is much easier to juice the lemon if it is room temp. It is also helpful to place a small wire mesh over measuring cup to catch the seeds and pulp while juicing. Then add enough water to zest and juice mixture to make 1 1/3 cups. Set aside.

Follow cake mix directions only substituting water with prepared juice, zest and water mixture. Line cupcake pans with paper cupcake liners and fill about halfway with cake batter until it is evenly divided among the 24 liners.

Open jar of lemon curd and place about 1 Tbsp of lemon curd in the center of the cupcake batter. Place them immediately into preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes, then remove from cupcake pans. Let cupcakes cool completely before glazing.


Lemon Cream Glaze

• 4 oz. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup lemon curd
• 4 oz, Cream Cheese (1/3 less fat), softened
• 1 1/4 cup 10x sugar

In a electric mixer add butter, cream cheese and lemon curd mix on medium speed until well blended. Lower mixer to low and slowly add 10x sugar. Once it is mixed turn mixer to high and beat for 5 minutes. Immediately spoon enough glaze over top of cupcake being careful not to add too much glaze since it is runny. Refrigerate until ready to serve.