Chicken & Orzo Soup

This recipe came from my sweet Mama. If you like chicken noodle soup, you'll LOVE this. It has the exact flavor of a rich delicious chicken noodle soup, but this soup is with orzo. I love this soup for an easy and quick dinner that I know EVERYONE will eat without fail!

Ingredients

• 1 rotisserie chicken, picked apart (feel free to use any chicken you have on hand!

• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter

• 1 onion, diced

• 3 carrots, diced or sliced

• 2 stalks of celery, diced (optional)

• 6 cups of chicken stock

• 1 cup of orzo

• Salt & pepper, to taste

• 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning

THAT'S IT! Very few and basic ingredients. Here are the quick steps.

1. In a large soup pot, melt your butter on medium heat. Add in the carrots and onions. Cook for 5-7 minutes or until soft and tender. I usually put the carrots in first and cook for a couple minutes because they take longer to soften.

2. Put in your chicken, chicken stock, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil.

3. Add in the orzo and cook 10-12 minutes or until the orzo is fully cooked through.

Y'all, I'm telling you-- this soup is so good. It takes no time to prepare, but it tastes like it's been simmering all day long. Serve with some saltines and enjoy!

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are perfection in every way. They are soft and chewy with the perfect flavor. I'm telling you, they are so good. The thing to remember when making these cookies (or any cookie, really), is to NOT over-bake them.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (or 2 sticks) of unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 3/4 cup brown sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1 tsp. salt

• 1 tsp. baking soda

• 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

• 3/4 cup chocolate chips (you can add more if you'd like)- I like using milk chocolate, but use whatever chocolate chip you like!

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and both sugars for a couple of minutes or until its light and creamy.

3. Add in the egg and vanilla. Mix for another minute.

4. In a separate bowl, briefly combine the flour, salt, and baking soda.

5. Add in the flour mixture to your butter/sugar/egg mixture. Mix for 30 seconds at the longest. The longer you mix, the tougher the cookies will be. So only mix until combined.

6. Lastly, add in the chocolate chips and mix for another few seconds.

7. Using a small ice cream scoop, form your cookies and roll them into balls. Place them on your prepared baking sheet (a couple inches apart). I usually add 9 or 10 on my baking sheet (to ensure there is enough room in between them).

8. Bake the cookies around 8-10 minutes. If you are using only one baking sheet, you will have to do this in several batches to use up all your dough. You could use 2 baking sheets at a time so you can make more at once.

9. IMPORTANT- every oven is different. Check on your cookies frequently. It may take your oven more or less time than mine. Take out the cookies when the edges are lightly golden brown.

10. Let them cool for 5 minutes on your baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie

This pie is..... pretty much... amazing. If you like pumpkin pie, then you will LOVE this! It doesn't taste like apples so much; the apple butter just gives it an extra layer of sweetness and deliciousness! Trust me, just make this.

*I have a recipe for my homemade apple butter in the MISC category of my blog. It is made in a crockpot, and it is DIVINE! Please make your own apple butter for this. It makes a big difference!

Ingredients:

• 1 9 inch pie crust (check out my homemade pie crust in the MISC category of my blog; store bought pie crust is great too!)

• 1 cup of apple butter

• 1 cup of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling!)

• 2 eggs

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 1/4 cup brown sugar

• 3/4 cup evaporated milk

• 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

• 1/4 tsp. salt

• 1 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Prepare your pie crust and place on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet.

2. In a large bowl, combine all of the remaining ingredients. Mix well.

3. Pour into the pie crust and bake at 425 for 15 minutes.

4. After 15 minutes, turn the temperature down to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 50-55 minutes. The center should no longer be super jiggly.

5. Allow your pie to cool for 1 hour on the counter. Then let it chill in the fridge for a several hours before serving.