Chicken & Homemade Noodles over Mashed Potatoes

One of this year's goals is that I want to cook more from scratch to

• reduce the amount of manufactured food we consume
• reduce the amount of packaging we throw away
• make better tasting meals
• prove to myself that I can

This is the result of today's attempt:
Chicken with homemade noodles served over mashed potatoes.

Okay, first I browned chicken breasts in olive oil. I put them in a bowl to cool. I sauteed chopped onions, garlic, celery and carrots. Added a splash of white wine to deglaze the pan. Then, poured in 3 quarts of homemade broth plus chicken seasoning, salt, pepper and 2 bay leaves. I brought it to a boil, then turned down to simmer for 2 hours. I would've used a whole chicken, but I only had breasts left. (Later this year, I'll be able to use our home-grown chicken and veggies. But, I did use our home grown eggs.)

If you read my last post, I had found a website that showed how to make egg noodles. I like the idea of a pasta roller, but I don't have one. Rolling pin worked just fine! And, I found a different recipe that I wanted to try instead. It's pretty simple.

2 1/2 cups of flour
2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup of milk
1 T olive oil

Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Make a well in the center. Add the eggs, milk and oil. Mix the wet ingredients together and slowly incorporate the dry ingredients. After it's mixed well, knead for a few minutes, adding flour as needed to reduce stickiness. Divide dough in half. Roll out. Then, cut noodles. I had read on another site to roll the dough into a log, cut a long noodle and then cut into shorter pieces. At this point, you can let them dry, freeze them or just use them.

I turned the chicken "soup" to high to get a good rolling boil. Then, just dropped in the noodles. After a few minutes, I realized it wasn't going to thicken on it's own so I stirred in some cornstarch paste (cornstarch mixed with cold water.) It did thicken, but next time, I'm using less water.

Meanwhile, my mini-chef was peeling potatoes and discovered a heart shaped potato. Aww.

Once the potatoes were cooked, Jerry mashed them with butter, garlic salt and some cream. Then, we scooped some potatoes into the bowl, topped with chicken and noodles.

If you've ever been to the Kansas State Fair and had the church ladies chicken and noodles, you know the taste I was going for. I think I achieved it.

Oh, and for dessert, made from scratch yellow cake with chocolate butter cream frosting. I don't eat chocolate (don't like the taste, I KNOW it's weird - I hear that all the time) but the family all went back for seconds (and thirds) so it must've been good.