It was 36 years ago I was recovering from childbirth. At the other end of the block was a dear friend named, Marcie. She was from Jewish descent and had the perfect cure to get me back on my feet, homemade chicken soup. To this day I turned to this soup when feeling down and needing a bit of a pick me up.

However, this week I came up with a soup with a little bit of a 21^st century twist. Below is how I prepared it. I had about a cup of chicken leftover from dinner the day before along with some other food items needing to be re-homed. What perfect place, in a pot of homemade chicken soup.

Home Made Chicken Soup

1 cup cooked chicken with broth.

(The broth should fill a medium sized soup pot about half full.)

½ pkg. baby carrots  (about 8 oz.)

½ cup diced yellow onion

½ cup diced celery leaves

Salt, pepper, and parsley to taste (each cook knows what they like, I like loads!)

1 box (13.25 oz.) ritoni noodles

3 -5 green onions, cut in 3’ lengths.

Cook chicken, broth, carrots, onion and spices together until done. In a separate pot cook the ritono noodles. Keep separated until ready to serve. Add green onions to soup pot the last 5 minutes for garnish on top.

Once soup and noodles are done in a soup bowl ladle out a couple of scoops of noodles then add soup over the top. Do not add noodles to the soup pot because when you warm up the leftovers the noodles tend to breakdown and lose the shape.

And viola! A nice warm soup to chase away the blahs.

Stuffed French Toast

6 pieces of cinnamon bread

3 tablespoons fat-free soft cream cheese

2 egg whites, ¼ cup fat-free cholesterol-free egg product, slightly beaten

¼ cup fat-free milk (used organic milk)

1 tablespoon sugar (used Splenda)

1 cup frozen blueberries

¼ cup water

Spread one side of all 6 pieces of bread w/about 1 tablespoon cream cheese. Place both sides together.

Beat egg whites, milk and sugar. After whisking together pour into a shallow bowl.

Spray griddle or skillet with cooking spray, heat on medium-low heat. Put together two pieces, dip in egg mixture. Cook until golden brown.

In a small saucepan heat blueberries with ¼ cup of water until syrup consistency. Using a spoon spread berries over the top of French Toast.

Original recipe is from Betty Crocker’s Diabetes Cookbook.