Easy Homemade Wonton Soup

No need for takeout - make this incredibly easy wonton soup at home.

Just a few ingredients are needed for this rich and flavorful broth. The wontons also only have a few ingredients, and once you get the hang of wrapping them, you will put this together in no time.

One quick tip - make a big pot of broth and then only drop in the wontons you plan on eating that night and freeze the rest. The next day you can pull out your pot of broth, heat it up and drop the frozen wontons in. This worked much better for us than cooking all the wontons at once as they would be soggy the next day.

Enjoy!

Easy Wonton Soup
Adapted from: Spend With Pennies

The Broth 

Broth Ingredients

• 3 32 oz cartons chicken broth (not low sodium)
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 4 slices of fresh ginger
• 3 Tbsb low sodium soy sauce

Broth Directions

• Add all broth ingredients to a large pot and bring to a boil.
• Reduce to a simmer for one hour.
• Once ready to cook your wontons, remove the garlic and ginger and increase to a steady simmer. 
• Drop wontons in and let cook about 6 minutes. Serve immediately. 

The Wontons

Wonton Ingredients
Note: I made 50 wontons with these ingredients. The broth will be able to cook 30 total; the rest of the wontons can be frozen for future use. 

• 1 package wonton wrappers (50)
• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 bunch green onions, finely chopped
• 2 tsp freshly grated ginger
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 3 tsp cornstarch 
• Other things needed: water, flour (about 2 Tbsp), parchment paper

Wonton Directions

• Mix the pork, green onions, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil and cornstarch in a large bowl until combined. 
• Prep your area - put a small bowl of water and a small plate of flour near your wrapping station. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place a clean cutting board or other flat surface in front of you.
• There are several ways to wrap wontons and they all work! I used this process, but you could take a look at some videos online before choosing how to wrap yours: Place a wonton wrapper on the cutting board. Spoon 1 tsp of the filling onto the center of the wrapper. Wet the edges with water, and then fold the wonton wrapper in half to form a triangle, pressing the edges together tightly. Wet the 2 pointed ends and pull them together, pinching tightly. Dip the bottom in flour and place on your parchment paper lined baking sheet. 
• Continue until you have wrapped all of your wontons. 
• At this point, either place them in the freezer and once frozen place in freezer baggies, or drop into the broth to cook. Or do like I did - cook half and freeze half! 

Easy Pork Ramen

One of my favorite things about visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Portland, Oregon, (besides seeing them and my adorable new nephew!!) is the food scene. I have had some of my best meals in this great town - seriously, even the airport has such a great restaurant  - The Country Cat - that I go back to the airport early JUST so I can eat there. Plus, I am lucky to have foodies in my family who enjoy taking me to great places! 

The first time I went out there I got to experience something for the first time - ramen. Confession... I didn't have my first real bowl of ramen until I was 40.  It's not because I didn't want to try it, we just don't have any ramen places around here! 

The next summer when I visited we went to the Pine Street Market, a very cool food hall. Walking around this place is like a trip to heaven for a foodie. Nine of the city's best chefs and restaurants all in one place! How do you decide what to eat? 

I went with ramen, as well as some pork buns from another spot, and once again, my meal in the great PDX did not disappoint. Rich, salty broth with curly noodles, scallions, spinach, and thinly sliced pork. This soup IS a meal. 

When I returned home I was craving ramen so badly that I had to try to recreate it. I thought back to the few times I had ramen and just went based on my memory of the flavors and ingredients.

I made a chicken stock-based broth with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and a few other ingredients. We filled our bowls with mushrooms, scallions, thinly sliced grilled pork, noodles, and an egg. Craving satisfied!

Note: you can sub any protein for the pork. The last time I made it I used crispy, pan-seared tofu. You could also use chicken, beef, shrimp, mussels, clams, etc - really anything you like! Experiment with different flavors and ingredients, too - add a dash of fish sauce, dried kelp, bonito flakes, grated carrots, miso paste, sprouts, or oyster sauce.

Easy Pork Ramen
Original Recipe by Mary Ellen of Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations

Ingredients 

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, pressed 
• 1 tsp ginger (I used the jarred ginger - prefer the consistency)
• 32 oz low sodium chicken broth
• 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp mirin
• 1 bunch green onions - stems cut at 2 inches, the rest chopped 
• 1 c sliced shiitake mushrooms
• 1 tsp miso paste
• 2 soft or hard-boiled eggs (your preference)
• 1 grilled pork chop, thinly sliced *
• 8 oz cooked noodles of your choice (soba, ramen, Chinese noodles)
• Optional: bok choy, napa cabbage, kale, or spinach
• Optional for serving: Sambal Oelek 

* I season the pork chop with salt and pepper and grill it to 140 degrees; let rest 5 minutes before slicing. 

Directions

• Heat olive oil in a pot
• Add the garlic and ginger; saute 1 minute
• Add the broth, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, mirin, and green onion stems. Bring to a steady simmer and then reduce to a low simmer for 15 minutes.
• Remove the green onion stems and add the mushrooms. Let simmer 3 minutes. 
• If using greens, add them to the pot for one minute before you are ready to serve. 
• Remove from the heat and stir in the miso until combined. 
• To plate: Put noodles, chopped green onions, greens, mushrooms,
  and sliced pork in a bowl. Pour broth on top and garnish with Sambal and an egg. 

Celebrating 10 Years with our Best Recipes

Today Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations turns the big 1-0!! Ten years of sharing recipes from my kitchen - I can't believe it!

It's funny to think back on how much has changed in ten years both with this blog and with me personally. When I look back through the blog year by year I can remember things happening in my life by the way I was cooking and the food I would make. Kind of like when you hear an old song and it brings back a memory. My food brings back so many memories of times in my life. Oh how things have changed! Ten years ago we were both in our early 30s -

Ten years ago I had never cooked risotto. I had never baked something that didn't come in a box. Believe it or not, I had never worked with bone-in chicken (except that one time I made chicken soup from scratch in high school). There were so many dishes and ingredients I hadn't heard of, or wasn't brave enough to try. I (thought) I loathed mushrooms and blue cheese and eggs. Things like homemade tomato sauce, pan sauces, homemade frosting and whipped cream did not exist in my kitchen. And my knife skills? None. I still used to put my index finger along the top of my cheap knives.

But then after being married for about three years, I took an interest in cooking, mostly because both my husband and I were getting sick of tacos, stuffed peppers, pepper steak, and cheese nip chicken. Sadly, that's about all we ate when we were both home... Thank goodness for work travel!

When I first jumped into really cooking, I immediately discovered that I did not enjoy measuring and preferred to go by taste, look, and smell. I soon started to read recipes and decide what I'd change before even trying the recipe. I had some failures and some successes, and learned a LOT along the way. Weekly I was trying at least 2-3 new recipes, and Saturday nights were dedicated to date nights at home where we'd cook something new and fancy together (yes, my husband is an awesome cook and loves being in the kitchen whenever he can!). I don't think we ate the same thing more than twice for at least 2 years because I was in love with experimenting and creating new recipes. That is when I decided to start this blog - it was really just a way to keep track of recipes. I had no idea where it would take me.

During those first few years, favorites were discovered and put on rotation, however I never lost that love of creating new recipes. Over the years my food has evolved to suit our lifestyle, and these days, instead of spending hours on one recipe, I focus a lot more meals to feed my family. Although every now and then I do get a full day in the kitchen and love it!!

Writing this blog has taught me and brought me so much more than just cooking.

Entertaining and planning menus is one of my favorite things to do. I love sitting with my notebook writing out ideas and I totally appreciate that my husband lets me run them by him a million times. Luckily he enjoys it too, and we love creating holiday menus together. We often start talking about Christmas months before the big day!

Photography has also become a hobby of mine. I know I still have a lot to learn and hope to find the time to take some classes soon, but on my own I can see much improvement. Those early food pics were pretty homely, as my husband would say! (so please, as I share some old recipes below, be mindful of that :)

And finally, it's crazy to think that I wasn't even on Facebook when I started this blog. There was no such thing as Twitter, Instagram, Yummly, Pinterest, Snapchat, Tumblr, etc. I could go on and on! It has been fun connecting with people through those platforms and learning the best ways to use them to connect with all of you (and meanwhile my 6 year old sees a logo and knows what social media platform it belongs to - it's like second nature to them!).

Since my life and this blog are completely entwined, I can't help but think of how my personal life has changed over the past ten years. Ten years ago I was in my early 30s, married almost 4 years and working in the corporate world, traveling the country (and world) for pharmaceutical and medical meetings. After the birth of my daughter I decided to move on from that life, and now I consider myself very lucky that I am able to work part-time for now so I can be there for the school bus, school events, and extracurricular activities with my amazing 6 year old daughter.  Ten years ago I wasn't even thinking of kids yet, and now this little one is almost 7! How awesome is it that she loves to get in the kitchen with me and we can pretty much get her to try (almost) anything. Most recently she tried mussels and loved them! She's an energetic little girl and keeps us on on toes - our little first grader who loves acting, dancing, cooking, singing, playing outside, reading, writing, making lists, playing games and telling jokes. Things haven't always been easy over the past ten years - although blessed to be in our forever home, it has been a continuous work in progress and it always seem like something is going wrong or breaking. We have both dealt with unemployment, secondary infertility, pregnancy losses, and the death of our first dog, Daisy Mae. During all of those times, I always turned to cooking as my therapy. Family and cooking have been my one constant through all of these ten years. 
So take a trip down memory lane with me as I share my most popular and/or favorite recipes. These are recipes that have been shared the most, liked the most, and recipes that have been favorites of my family. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My top post of all-time comes from May of 2008 - Time for a Party. In this post I shared a menu for a party including this recipe for tortilla pinwheels, and now I see them pinned all over Pinterest. They are a hit! I take them to every party and get asked for the recipe several times at each party. Sometimes simple is the best! 

My husband has contributed several recipes, desserts, and wine reviews to this blog. Two of his recipes are in my top searched, pinned and shared recipes! He loves making this Maine Lobster Stew, has made it for the last 2 years on Christmas, and is always looking for excuses to make it again. I'll take credit for helping with the plating and taking the photos. 

Another recipe of his that sends a lot of people to this blog through searches is his Beef Negimaki. After ordering it several times at our local sushi place he decided to make it on his own. We both agreed it was even better than the restaurant's! Since this post is from 2009 the pic isn't great, but what I do love about this post are the step by step photo instructions for cutting and rolling the beef. 

My top breakfast post of all time, and one that I make often, is a grab and go breakfast - Egg Muffins for Breakfast-on-the-Go. 

I'm so happy that this next recipe is in my top ten of all time because it is one of my favorites - Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes with a Lemon-Garlic Aioli. "Too hot to cook" and "grilled chicken salads" are both so commonly searched, and lead my followers to this post for Yakitori Chicken with Cold Veggie and Soba Noodle Bowls. This is one of my top chicken recipes as well as a top salad recipe. 

With close to 200 chicken recipes in this blog, it was really, really hard to narrow it down to my favorite. I have so many, from this French Onion Braised Chicken and this Gruyere Chicken with Mushrooms, to Shredded Chicken with Chiles and Chicken and Dumplings. I finally chose a popular recipe, and it is fitting that it is a bone-in recipe - Garlic Herb Roast Chicken with Vegetables. 

Soups are cooked in my kitchen once a week over the cool and cold months, so with over 80 soup recipes in this blog it is hard to choose a favorite. This Potato and Corn Chowder with Bacon is one of my most popular, and it is one of my favorites because it is so hearty and well, bacon!

It's funny that ten years ago I had never made risotto, and now I have over 20 risotto recipes on this blog. Risotto is in my top ten search words, so I picked one of my favorites for this anniversary post - Three Garlic Risotto. I have been making this one for years (it was probably one of the first risotto recipes I ever made!) but finally just blogged it recently. 

Still, after ten years of doing this, I only use my crock-pot for shredded/pulled chicken, pork or beef. My top slow cooker and top pulled pork recipe is this amazing Guinness Pulled Pork. I'm so happy it gets so much love because it definitely gets a lot of love in this house! Korean Pulled Pork Tacos

My personal favorite pulled pork recipe is the pork for these Korean Pulled Pork Tacos. These are pretty popular on Pinterest, too! 

And sticking with the pork theme, this Stuffed Pork Loin with a Mushroom Wine Gravy is one of my most popular posts. It is a great recipe, perfect for holidays or entertaining, and the tutorial for cutting and rolling the pork is spot-on. This post, and the picture, are from 2008 - 

This is a newer recipe and it quickly became my second most popular appetizer - Cheesy BLT Stuffed Jalapenos, and it is easy to see why. Look how yummy! 

Let's finish this off on a sweet note! I don't bake that often - my husband is actually the baker in the house. This cake recipe has become a favorite of both of ours, and is my most popular dessert recipe on the blog - Philly Fluff Cake. 

Thank you to all of my readers and followers for making the last 10 years possible. I have enjoyed sharing and learning with all of you, and I appreciate all of your comments, likes and shares. I look forward to continuing this journey in my kitchen and with this blog, and hope you will be there with me! Thank you!

Spicy Quinoa Corn Chowder

A take on corn chowder using quinoa instead of potatoes, and with a spicy kick!

On Christmas Eve we were hanging out with family at my parents' house. My cousin handed my daughter a gift that she immediately started to open. When she got some of the paper off, she saw the American Girl logo on the box and started to get really excited. Meanwhile, we are all sitting there thinking "oh no, she thinks it is a doll." There is no way it was a doll, it was a flat, square box.  She continues to rip off the paper as we all hold our breath. Well, once she saw that the box contained her own set of cooking utensils, she screamed "YES!!!!" over and over and kept jumping up and down. BEST reaction EVER, and my cousin wins the prize for best gift ever! 

In addition to the cooking tools, we gave our daughter a set of plastic chopping knives, so she now has her own drawer in the kitchen with all of her tools. Every time she is ready to cook with me she pulls out every single tool, even if she only needs a knife and a spoon, grabs her stool and gets to work. 

The last time we cooked together we made this Spicy Quinoa Corn Chowder - a hearty yet healthy soup using quinoa in place of potatoes, and only a touch of cream. 

I like a bit of kick in my corn chowder, so the minced jalapeno adds just the perfect amount. I round it out with some chili powder and cumin for that smoky flavor. The next time you want a chowder, try using quinoa - it worked so well in this soup and one cup was a delicious and filling lunch. 

Spicy Quinoa Corn Chowder Original Recipe by Mary Ellen of Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations
Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp light olive oil
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 stalk of celery, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 jalapeno, seeds and stems removed, minced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 sm can creamed corn
• 3/4 c frozen corn
• 1/2 c quinoa, rinsed
• 1 tsp each chili powder and cumin
• 1/2 tsp each salt and black pepper
• 4 c low sodium chicken (or vegetable) broth
• 1/2 c light cream

Directions

• Heat olive oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven
• Add the carrots, celery and onion; saute 2 minutes
• Add the jalapeno, garlic and red pepper; saute 2-3 minutes
• Add the frozen corn and creamed corn; stir
• Add the quinoa and spiced, stir to combine
• Add the broth and bring to a boil. Cover, lower heat and let simmer 15-20 minutes until quinoa has cooked through.
• Add the cream and stir. Adjust seasoning if necessary

Kale and White Bean Soup with Sausage

I'm often asked "what's your favorite thing to cook?" I can't name just one, but I do have a top 3 list.

First -simply for the way flavors come together and the ease of serving and cleanup - would be one-pot/one-pan/one baking dish dinners. Things like braised meats with veggies, stews, roasted chicken with potatoes and veggies, chicken or pork with a pan sauce, or skillet casseroles. I'm constantly looking for new one-pot creations!

Second is risotto. It's an elegant starter, entree or side, and it is extremely versatile. I have made risotto over 30 ways with all different ingredients and flavors from traditional to fusion recipes. I love the process, the gentle stirring, and watching the rice puff and soften as it turns into a creamy dish.

Finally, soup. You can spend hours simmering a complex soup or pull one together rather quickly (like the one in this post). I love building the flavors and slowly adding ingredients - I never make a dump soup in a crockpot. I love all kinds of soups - creamy, broth based, vegetarian, chicken, beef, traditional, international. I could eat soup daily, and in the colder months I often do. Any Sunday night you can find several containers of soup all packaged up for lunches for the week.

I created this soup because I had a bag of kale we didn't use up over the weekend. While I have used spinach and escarole in soups, to me kale is the perfect leafy green for soup. It wilts just enough to do well in a soup, but also holds up enough to add some great textures.

This soup, even before adding the sausage, had the most amazing, rich and perfectly salty flavor - the secret is including the Parmesan rind!  Just one tip before we get to the recipe - I prefer to keep the sausage separate from the soup until ready to serve. This keeps the soup from getting overly greasy or salty. The sausage you use is completely up to you - hot Italian, sweet, chicken, etc.

Kale and White Bean Soup with Sausage
Original Recipe by Mary Ellen of Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 white or yellow onion, diced
• 1 14.5oz can of white beans
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 pinches Kosher salt
• Small Parmesan rind
• 6 c low sodium chicken broth 
• 1.5 cups chopped Kale leaves, stems removed
• 1/2 lb cooked, crumbled sausage (your choice; I used hot Italian sausage)

Directions

• Heat olive oil over medium heat in a Dutch oven or large soup pot
• Add the onions and garlic; saute 2 minutes
• Add the white beans, stir to combine.
• Add the thyme, oregano, salt, pepper, Parmesan rind and broth. Stir, cover and let simmer 15 minutes.
• Remove the lid and add the kale. Simmer another 5 minutes. Adjust salt and pepper if needed. 
• In the meantime, cook your sausage (breaking up to crumble) and transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. 
• Serve soup with 1-2 Tbsp of the cooked sausage. 

Homemade Egg Noodles for Soup

No noodles for your soup? No problem! 

These homemade egg noodles come together quickly with just two ingredients and some muscle! 

A few weeks ago I was making a pot of my Homemade Chicken Soup when I walked to my pantry to grab a bag of egg noodles only to find I didn't have any!!! I really, really wanted noodles with my soup but did not feel like going back to the store in the cold rain.

So what's a girl to do? Make her own, of course!

I don't know why I decided so quickly that I'd make my own. I have never made my own pasta before, I don't have a pasta attachment, and I had no idea if it would be quick and easy or a big project.

Luckily, after just a bit of research, I realized I could do this quickly using a rolling pin, pizza cutter and some muscle. There are many different recipes out there, some using a dough hook, some using beaten eggs, some adding butter and or milk. Since it was my first time I went with a basic recipe using just eggs and four.

These aren't the prettiest noodles - they are more rustic - but you can't beat homemade noodles.

I learned a few things making these noodles. First, I really need to work on my upper body strength!! Rolling takes a lot of muscle, but then again I'm not that strong and I NEVER use a rolling pin so I'm not used to the motion.

 Second, you really want to get the dough thin and even. A few of my noodles were thicker on the ends or in the middle, so they didn't cook evenly.

Finally, along the same lines as rolling the dough out evenly, cut them evenly. All of your noodles should be the same width.

You can cook these noodles long or cut them into smaller shapes - it's up to you, what you prefer, and how you will be using them.

So the next time you are in need of noodles, give these a try!

Homemade Egg Noodles for Soup
Source: The Pioneer Woman
Note: this is for 2 people. The Pioneer Woman's rule of thumb for the recipe is # eggs = # ppl, and 1 c flour per every 2 eggs.

• 2 whole eggs
• 1 c all purpose flour

Make a well in the center of your pile of flour and crack in your eggs. Slowly mix together with your hands.

Turn it out onto a floured surface and knead (roll, punch, push, etc.) by hand until dough becomes smooth and pliable, adding flour to the surface as needed. 

Let the dough rest for a little while (10-15 min) before starting the next step - rolling 

When you're ready, roll out the dough using a rolling pin on a floured surface as thinly as it will go. 

Cut the dough into noodles (strips) using a knife or pizza cutter.

Please the cut noodles on a floured surface and allow them to dry before cooking.

To cook the noodles, just boil them in salted (salted!!!!) water for 2-3 minutes. Fresh noodles cook quickly so be careful not to overcook. 

Homemade Chicken Soup

A homemade chicken soup with a healthy yet rich broth. 

If you haven't made chicken soup from scratch before, you have to try it - it's so easy! And if you HAVE made it, you have to try my trick for the most amazing broth. Read on! 

Homemade chicken soup is the ultimate healthy comfort food. Just smelling it simmering away on the stove makes you feel warm and relaxed. I love this soup so much that I have been making it every 2 weeks this fall and winter. 

There is nothing hard about making chicken soup from scratch. Its basically chicken, veggies and herbs simmered in water. 

But to give my chicken soup a richer flavor, there are two things that I love to do - 

First, browning the chicken and then deglazing the pan ensures that you get the most out of your chicken, and way more flavor than just simmering your chicken. 

Second, I puree the veggies once cooked and then add them back to the broth. This is still a broth based soup, but just a touch more thick and velvety from the pureed veggies. And just look at that color!

I use 2 split chicken breasts to make 6 servings of soup. Just 2 chicken breasts give you a lot of meat, so I'll often use 2/3 of it for serving in the soup, and then turn the rest into chicken salad for 2 lunches. So 8 servings of food from 2 chicken breasts that cost me $8? Can't beat that!

One final tip - if you like to eat your soup with noodles, cook the separately. If you cook them in the broth they will soak up (waste) too much of your broth. I made homemade noodles for the first time to go with this soup. Only 2 ingredients and no pasta attachment needed, just a rolling pin! Check out the recipe for the noodles here!

Homemade Chicken Soup
Original Recipe by Mary Ellen of Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations

Ingredients

• 2 bone in split chicken breasts
• Approx 1/2 tsp each salt, black pepper, dried thyme, poultry seasoning
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 8 cups water
• 2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 stalks celery, roughly chopped (including the leafy ends)
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 bay leaf

Directions

• Heat olive oil in a large saute pan
• Season the chicken with the salt, pepper, thyme and poultry seasoning. Add the chicken to the pan and brown, approx 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to a large soup pot. Take 1/4 c of your water and add it to the saute pan over high heat to deglaze the pan, scraping up all of the brown bits. Once you have scraped everything up, pour this water over the chicken in the soup pot.
• Add your chopped veggies, the rest of the water and the bay leaf to the soup pot. Cover and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 1 hour.
• Transfer the chicken to a plate; let cool and then pick all of the meat off.
• Using a slotted spoon, transfer all of the veggies to a blender or cup of a handheld stick blender. Puree until smooth, and then return the puree to the broth. 
• Adjust salt and pepper if needed before serving. Serve with chopped chicken and (optional) noodles.