Cottage De Haven Chicken and Noodles

So, you have asked and tonight, while sipping some Traverse City Cherry Wine, I took pics....

Chicken Broth.  Make your own.  You can buy chicken broth, but if you are going to do that, I would suggest buying a can of Progresso Chicken and Noodles...I mean, its all the same...right???

It really does not matter what kind of chicken you use.  Meijer had a banging deal on drumsticks AND the pack I got was red sticker...it works.  Boil your chicken until it is done.  I let it cool in the broth until I can touch it.  Pull all the meat off and throw it in the broth.  You could buy an already made, rotisserie chicken...but again with the can of Progresso...

Your water is still pretty warm.  Too warm to put your hand in.  Chop up a nice big bunch of parsley and throw it in...stir it around a bit.

When I make this, I make ALOT.  It freezes and thaws very nicely.  I chop @3lbs of carrots.  Chop them big...they are prettier in your bow.

Also chop your celery big.  Even if people don't normally like celery, they will forget when they are eating your soup.  Watch them.  They will eat it right down...

If you forgot to pick up some parsley, just use your celery heart leaves...celery and parsley are cousins.

Now, flip all of this around.  You can now turn your heat back on and get the soup up to a gentle simmer. 

And now...the NOODLES!!!  3 things...one cup of flour+2 eggs+pinch of salt...I made five or six batches tonight. 

Split your dough into two balls.

Make sure to give a glob to your 'Little Helper'

Madam Lu is demonstrating how to properly roll out your dough...

So, it does not have to be perfect in any way.  You do have to have ALOT of flour on top to make sure they do not stick in the next couple of steps.

Now, cut the dough into 2' strips.

Stack all of the strips on top of each other.   

Cut the strips into 1" strips...

Drop them into your simmering soup. 

Note: drop one layer across the top and then stir them to the bottom.  Then add another layer and stir to the bottom.  Keep doing this.  If you put all of the fresh, soft noodles on top, they stick together.

Let them boil until they are done the way you like.  We like ours kind of hard and if you are going to freeze them, I recommend leaving them a bit hard.  They will be much softer when you defrost them...or even just when you have them for leftovers. 

The noodle recipe is not mine.  It is my darling Sheila J's recipe and she is the best 'comfort food' cook in the universe, so you know they are good!  The whole thing takes me about 1.5 hours from start to finish, but I have all that 'help' from Madam Lu.  A person without 'help' could probably make this in an hour.  And trust me...everyone loves old fashioned chicken and noodles!!!

A quick fall dinner...

I was craving potpies the other day at the store...yeah, those gross frozen nightmares my mom would occasionally make when my dad was working.  Well, I thought, there must be a quick easy way to get the same satisfaction but with less pre-made guilt.


So this is what I came up with.  FAST AND EASY....

To begin, make some biscuits.  I mean, I buy the frozen types, but the can works just as well.  And if you are mad about your own special,  recipe handed down by family MeMaws for generations-type of biscuits...well, knock yourself out.  No matter how you get them, get them

While the biscuits are cooking, cook a pound of meat.  Whatever.  I usually use Bob Evans pork sausage, in a tube-thingy.  You can use whatever you have.  Brown the dead animal.  Next make your basic white sauce.  (Melt 6 TBL  butter. Add 6 Tbl flour.  Stir.  Add 3 cups milk slowly.  Stir until thickened to the right gravy type texture).  Now, add your dead animal.  Then add any veggies you have laying about.  Tonight we had corn and peas. 

Tah_Dah!  Seriously, you have no idea how easy this is.  I have topped it with shredd chedd and green onions, or parm and chives.  You could add about anything and top it with whatever your family likes.  The nice thing is, it is warm and satisfying, and you can "hide" all kinds of veggies in it!

So give it a try and let me know how it turns out!  

Sweltering Summer

As you all know by now your Mistress adores winter.  I delight in the cool nights and breezy days of fall.  I immerse myself in the promise of summer joy while digging in my beds all spring long.

However, summer has been a huge let-down for the second year in a row.  So. Hot. So. Miserable.

I have in fact spent most of the season in a pool or at the lake.  My flower beds are a disaster.

On a good note...Sir E is a master at the front crawl, backstroke, and breaststroke.  I have never seen anyone immediately swim a perfect butterfly until I watched this child's first attempt.  He is doing standing dives off the board and kneeling dives off the high-dive.  The child has found his calling.

Sir M is also a sea monkey and with another year of lessons, I can only assume he will be an expert as well.

I know you are wondering about Madam Lu.  Well, she can scoop and kick, blow bubbles, and dunk her face in the water...but only if and when she feels like it.  Her class is 30 minutes long and she has done her "tricks" within the first 5 minutes.  After that she pretty much wants to be left to her own industry.

So, in honor of the heat, I have a new recipe that I made up tonight.  Summer Chicken Wraps...they are GOOD!

So, chop up tomatoes and add finely chopped onion.  I don't care which kind of onion you use...I just use what I have.

The marinade is simply whatever fruity vinaigrette (I have Strawberry Chardonnay this week) you have on hand and a couple jots of tabasco.  Flavor it to taste.  I made this for the heirs and therefore did not make it super hot.  The tabasco mostly cuts some of the sweet from the vinaigrette.

Add fresh or frozen corn.  You could also add cucumber if you have any laying around.  Pour some of your mixed vinaigrette over this mix and let sit.  I vacuumed one wing of the cottage, took the dogs out, let the dogs in, checked email, took dogs out and brought back in again.  The veggies were perfect.

Blue Cheese crumbles.

So, on your tortilla layer...leaf or romain lettuce (because they actually have some nutritional value as opposed to head lettuce which is just water...) shredded (cold) chicken breast, tomato mixture, and top with blue cheese.

It was delightful and the children gobbled them down!  Very light and crispy-cool on a miserable hot day!

Now, on to some flowers.  Please do not ask the names of any of these lilies.  I have no idea.  These are so bright and I had no idea I had them.  They sort of just appeared this year?

These are nearly white with butter-cream middles.

Some seriously bright yellow.

These are a mix of yellow and pale peachy-orange.  They almost look pink-ish

My glorious hydrangeas are laying down and giving up in the heat.

Of course the knock-out roses love the heat and are splendid.

A clump of Cannas starting to bloom.

Sir M finally lost his first tooth!!!

A trip to South Haven Michigan.  Let me say, we have had absolutely ZERO rain all summer.  Don't you think the skies look a bit grey?  Madam Lu's suit just happened to match the lighthouse!!!

What is THAT????  Yes, oh yes.  A thundering, lightening, downpour of a storm.  We went with a dear friend and her adorable, mannerly, entirely pleasant girls (not pictured because I don't have a consent form).  You can not imagine how trashed her van was...sand, sand, wet sand.

So, after a lovely lunch en-van this is what the sky looked like.  Can you imagine?  Over all a perfect day!

 Well, this really concludes the gist of our summer.  I have been completely negligent in my blogging but with only 3 weeks until the sirs go back to school, you should be seeing more of me soon!

The Cottage's Best Cookie Recipe

A short post today because Madam Lu is off to Grandmama's and I have to work on that horrendous list I promised....

And now for the BEST, really honestly, cookie recipe in the world...developed at Cottage De Haven.  Please try it and let me know what you think.  Also, feel free to share the recipe, as everyone who has a cookie will want it...just make sure to reference Cottage De Haven as the author!

Cottage De Haven Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 TBL of milk
2 pours vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 bag Reece's peanut butter chips
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chunks
1 flat dish with sugar to roll cookies in


In a large bowl beat butter and peanut butter.  Add sugars.  Beat.  Add eggs.  Beat.  Add milk and vanilla.  Beat.  Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt.  Beat.  Add peanut butter chips and chocolate chunks.  Stir.  Roll cookies in sugar.  Do not smash with fork, keep them in little ball shapes.

Bake 350* for 10 - 12 Minutes.  Set the timer.  DO NOT OVERBAKE.  Cookies will appear underdone, but they are not.  Let the cookies cool on sheet for @ 1-2 minutes (or until they are set just enough to move).  Move to cooling rack.

Cookies are slightly crispy/chewy on the outside and soft and amazing on the inside.

NOTES on Baking at the Cottage:
1.  If you use butter with salt, you do not need to add salt to your baking.

2. It is a myth that everything must be measured to an exact amount in baking.  This is a fairy tale bakers have perpetuated because it makes them feel superior.  Actually measurements such as "a dump" or "a pour" or "a handful" are perfectly acceptable in baking.

3. Another baking myth is the "in separate bowl mix flour, baking powder/soda, and salt.  This is never important and simply makes more dirty dishes.  First pour all of your flour on top of your dough.  Then add your sodas and salt on top.  When you mix the flour in, the other stuff gets mixed as well.  Seriously, save yourself the extra step!

4. If a cookie recipe is good enough to make, double it.  You can freeze the dough or bake all of the cookies and freeze the extra cookies.  Or as the case is at the Cottage, share the extras with your elderly neighbors on a cold afternoon, and watch in horror as your dog climbs on the counter (surprisingly agile for a 90lb. Doberman) and snarfles half of them down!

Making Love to Wendle, Injected Cupcakes, and Dungeon Tales

Welcome Back!  To tell the truth, after Christmas Vacation, and then our Vacation from Christmas, this Madam de la Cottage has enjoyed some time off romancing my new Kindle!  Most romances do need a break, though, so after a good long week of making out with Wendle I have come up for air.  First to show you what I have been working on...to quote GIGI..."good heavens...no one makes love all the time...the only people who make love all the time are liars"

Injecting cupcakes is just wrong.  You never get enough "stuff".  I always use the "dump" method...not as cool sounding, but much better tasting...

Mix the batter.  Pour it into your cupcake pan.  To make the filling...mix one block of room temp cream cheese.  Then add a nice-sized dump, or glob if you prefer, of powdered sugar.

Flip a good sized glob into the batter.  Yes, right on top.  Does it look too full?  Good, that means you are ready to add the cherries!  As you can see from the first picture, your cupcakes should be spilling, souping, and running...Now bake.

Were you frightened of the mess?  NOOOO!  The batter simply bakes up and around the sloppy insides...leaving you with splendid and delightful treats!  Simple, yes!

I have also been working on my new bead loom.  This is a pretty standard pattern, and my first creation.

And attempt #2...I designed this pattern and this one turned out much better in overall form.

And this is a tiny section of what is to become a beaded bag...probably for Madam Lu.  After 2 practices, I felt ready to tackle a real project.  This will be about a 9"x6" panel when I am done.  I won't tell you any more details, but will show you the finished project.

Now, interspersed with all of this Wendle love, baking, and beading Sir and I are gutting the little Sirs' bathroom (hopefully to be followed by bedroom).  In order to gut the bathroom, we had to be able to walk through said room without destruction of self and limb.  In partnership with the bedroom is the dungeon....1,375 sqft of toy nightmare.  The dungeon was meant to be a quiet playland.  It was a "fail". So, we have been cleaning.  12 hours to be exact.  A brief pictorial...

BEWARE: Entering the Sirs' wasteland.

A weird little nook right off the entryway door...small door goes into an attic.

I warned you!

Bright and cheerful, yes?  A note: the tv was a recent addition and I never even hooked it up.  I am stringently opposed to tv's in kids rooms...this shows a total lack of control over sirs' and a desperation to try anything to bribe their cooperation.  Another "fail"

OH MY GOODNESS!  Don't you just LOVE the navy and red floor to ceiling wallpaper?  Not to mention the matching triple row cafe curtains....!!!

OOOH, this one gives a tiny view of the bathroom mostly gutted.  Lets just say this looks like a show room compared to the status of the dungeon!

Alas, after hours and hours, the room is clean.  Furniture has been moved and re-located.  The dungeon is basically off-limits to these people.   Piles of toys have been sorted, boxed, and put into the attic.

What?  Are you wanting some "after" pics.  Oh no!  You cannot have any until these rooms are shiny, new, and complete.  The wallpaper still adorns the walls, and the bathroom is not even close to being put back together.  You will just have to take my word on the fact that it is all MUCH cleaner!  Ha!

And now for my up and coming "to do" list.

1.  Organize art room shelves.  Begin taking everything off shelves and painting.

2. Sort all of the Sirs' clothes, starting with infant.  Give away much, put the rest in the attic.  Miss Melanie is our resident Textile Supervisor.

3. Finish beaded pouch.

I am sure there are many other things to be completed, but this is on my list for "today".  I will keep you posted, as always!