Pioneer Woman at Heart

I had one of those days when being in the kitchen just didn't "click" for me.  By the way, our garlic is officially gone now.  We used every last clove.   Not that I have a lack of outdoor work. But.... I started to make spaghetti, but the unit to cut them was jamming it up. My dough was fine.

I am car-less once again.  The minute I got my own car back, it was gone that fast.  I had just finished my workout a few days ago, and Vet-tech Daughter calls.  Her brake line is broke.  Gah!! Next thing I know, her older sister is driving her to the house to borrow my car.   Again.   Sigh.  So I skipped breakfast, skipped my chores, and high-tailed it to the grocery to stock up.  Then I drove over to the library, who had about 10 books in for me, and not willingly gave her my car keys.

I noticed that a few of my recipes I collected to try, contained quick-to-buy processed foods.  One of those "food" ingredients happened to be condensed tomato soup. I have, in the past, been consistent in making homemade condensed chicken, celery, mushroom, and even cheddar cheese soups.  So making this was super easy.  Last year's tomato harvest gave us a good supply of canned tomato sauce. I decided to not whip up a recipe, but freeze one to see how well it freezes too. Make this when you have opened tomato sauce and have extra that needs used up.   I may even try this by adding water to make "tomato soup" and compare the taste to my lemony-basil tomato soup I canned last fall.

Before I start, there are many cookbooks you can borrow from you library on making pasta.  The very basic recipe is easy to make.  You can make a small batch or large batch of noodles. The first time (2010) I ever made homemade noodles, I used a pizza cutter to cut my noodles, after rolling them with a rolling pin. They wer e no t "pretty" but delicious.  The first re cipe I tried, use d egg whites vs. the whole egg. I've since then changed recipes.

Hubby was up very early yesterday.  He was already busy working on projects that have loomed over us.  One is the trash can.  When we moved in here, years ago, it came with a trash compactor.  It broke down several years ago, and we did not want to replace it.  The front of the compactor had a cupboard piece to match the kitchen, in which Hubby removed it.  He's now putting in a slide rail for the trash can, to fill that space under the cupboard, adding hinges to the cupboard piece, and making it new again.    I'll be painting it soon to match the cabinets.  For years, the trash can was hand pushed in and out, and often left out.  It's a relief to see it get worked on now.

I woke up yes terday feeling worse than the day before, and just wanted to rest on t he couch, drink hot tea , and warm up with homemade chicken noodle sou p.  I'm not sure if it's a cold or possi b ly trouble with s inuses . I di dn't h ave the energy to cook chicken, and had leftover turkey.  I made a crock pot of homemade t urkey-noodle soup, with home made nood les.  I think it was the la st of the noodles I had in t he freezer too.  With temperatures anywhere from below zero, to the teens, it warmed me up, and will hopefully help my body fight off this sickness that creeped in on me.  Today, there is another 2 hour school delay.  Again, bone chilling temperatures.  Again, we have frozen pipes.  I hope we have enough in j ugs to water the horse, chickens , goats, dogs and cats. 

At the end of last year's season, I invested in my dehydrator and this Marcato Pasta Maker.  It came with only one attachment, so I am using the above cut, for noodles.  Hopefully, by next season, I will have attachments for lasagna, ravioli, and more.

Our homemade egg noodles are