Comfort with chicken and noodles

So I had a craving for chicken and dumplings over the weekend, but didn't have anything in the pantry to make biscuits. I did find whole wheat egg noodles, so I decided to make a thick and creamy chicken and noodle recipe using what I could find.

Again, it was another new recipe for me that I've never attempted to make before and this was another winning dish for me and the hubster.

I cut my 1 lb. of chicken tenderloins into small cubes and cooked them with salt, pepper, olive oil and garlic until the chicken cooked all the way through. I added a can of cream of mushroom and a half cup of chicken broth to the meat. After simmering the meat for a few minutes, I added chopped onions, carrots and celery and two bay leaves.

I added cayenne pepper for some kick and about 1/4 cup of half-and-half to the mix to make it even creamier.

Instead of adding the egg noodles to the mix, I boiled them separately and spooned my chicken mixture over the egg noodles. I failed to capture a photo of the chicken and noodle finished product. Sorry about that folks, but please take my word ... this dish was magnificent for such a cold and dreary day. And I ended up using more veggies in my fridge that needed to be eaten!

Still on track

As I was contemplating what to pack in my husband's lunch for tomorrow, I came across three stalks of celery, two stalks of green onion and a carton and a half of eggs due to expire January 30 in my fridge.

A month ago, I would've ignored the expiration date until it was well past its prime, but today, I realized I needed to use up a majority of the eggs and I needed to do it soon.

When I came across the celery, the idea to pack him an egg salad sandwich popped into my head. I never made egg salad before today, and I have to say it came out pretty good for a first timer. (I ended up making myself a sandwich too!)

In the mix: chopped eggs, chopped celery, chopped green onions, Bertman's Stadium Mustard, light mayo, lemon juice, paprika, dried dill, ground red pepper and salt and pepper.

To finish my masterpiece, I used leftover whole wheat buns from sloppy joe night and I topped the egg salad with shredded cheese because we were out of sliced cheese. My husband needs cheese on everything he eats.

So another day has gone by where I didn't run to the store to pick up unnecessary ingredients for a meal. I scoured our fridge and pantry and used what we had on hand. Three weeks into the new year and I'm still on track with my New Year's resolution!

Disclaimer: I did run to the grocery store tonight to pick up items to make a salad. My girlfriends and I have weekly Thursday dinner dates and I was in charge of bringing the salad. I didn't have enough ingredients in my fridge to construct a salad for four, so I had to make a quick trip to the supermarket.