It was a great time this weekend! We celebrated my Mom’s 70th birthday with a huge party at her house. My brother flew in from Austin, Texas and my Mom’s sister and my cousin flew in as a surprise to her! By the time the party started, there were lots of people in every room of my Mom’s first floor.
She has really great friends and I think the best part was when one of her friends sat down at the piano, and a bunch of people were just singing their hearts out! It was such a good time. I haven’t downloaded pictures from it yet, my daughter grabbed my camera and not only took about 240 pictures, but took about 10 movies, ranging from just a few seconds to over 15 minutes long. My hard drive is packed to the hilt, so I have to delete some space to make room for all the pictures/movies. So, Mom I’m glad you had such a fun time!!
In case you missed it, my sister posted a video of when my sister and I were on Oprah back in 1991! It’s too funny, the shirts we are wearing made me laugh so hard.
Now on to the recipe! One thing that is great during the school year is cooking in the crock pot. 2 nights last week my husband and I had to go to school events and there was little time from the end of our work days and the time we had to be at school. Having dinner ready when you get home is awesome!
Jenn’s crock pot chicken soup
3 frozen chicken breasts
9 cups water
9 tsp. of chicken stock (the kind that comes in a jar)
3 stalks celery, diced
3-4 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 cup pea pods, cut into bite sized pieces
6 ounces of linguine, cooked
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. dried basil
In my crock pot, I added the chicken, all the veggies, and the water, chicken stock and spices. Place a lid on top and cook on low for 8 hours.
I pre-cooked the linguine the night before and drained it and put it in the fridge. (If you put the noodles in all day, it will absorb too much of the liquid and get mushy). When I got home, I added the cooked linguine and turned the crock pot on high to warm the noodles up. The verdict? It was terrific. This is a great way to get rid of veggies towards the end of the week, just add whatever you like.
And, I haven’t even mentioned it, but I am volunteering this weekend at Gourmet Chicago at Millennium Park in Chicago!
Back in April, I applied to be a volunteer and was so excited when a few weeks ago I got the e-mail with my time slot. I am working for 5 hours on Saturday and 3 hours on Sunday. After my shift, I can walk around and have access to everything there is to offer!
Click HERE to read more about the event. Tons of top chefs from around the country will be there. There will also be Cooking demonstrations on the main stage courtesy of Bon Appetit Magazine.
I am going to take a bunch of pictures!! I can’t wait!
This is the first time I’m hearing about Gourmet Chicago! Stuff around here really needs to advertise more, I never hear about it until it’s too late!! 🙁 I hope you have loads of fun, that sounds awesome!
Fun weekend! I hope you have a blast at A Taste of Fancy Schmancy Chicago.
Two awesome weekends sandwiching Chicken Noodle Soups sounds just about perfect to me! I never thought of using frozen chicken breasts, what a great idea.
My bosses wife has a condo in Chicago right across the street from Millenium Park and she’s going to be there this weekend so I’ll have to tell her about the event!
Nummers, that soup looks great! I saw the piano party video at Biz’s blog – boy that looked like a fun bash! And how cool and right up your alley with the cooking weekend – can’t wait to hear all about it!
Oh wow!!! How fun will the upcoming weekend be???? Can’t wait to hear all about it. (and Happy Birthday to your Mom! She doesn’t know me, but happy birthday to her anyway!!) 🙂
Oh man! The Gourmet Chicago was on groupon awhile back but I didn’t do it because I wasn’t sure if it would be too “fancy schmancy” for me. If I had known you were going to be there, I would have gotten a ticket! HAve a great time – be sure and blog about it!
And Happy Birthday to your mom. Sounds like the party was a blast!
That soup looks SO GOOD!