Happy Holidays!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed some tasty food! I know I did! My husband and I hosted our first Christmas Eve dinner in our new house and I would say it was a success! We had a seated dinner for 12 and I finally got to pull out my china! I made an amazing new crab dip recipe as an appetizer that I will have to share with you all soon. I plan to make it for New Years Eve as well! Stay tuned for that recipe.

Anyway, although Christmas was great, I came down with a bad cold over the weekend and it has been kicking my butt since Friday. I spent all day in bed on Sunday :(.  Let’s just say having a cold when you are 39 weeks pregnant and about to pop is not an ideal situation. Any of you who have been pregnant before know you can’t take ANYTHING for a cold, so I have been guzzling down airborn and gargling with salt water to try to get better before this baby decides to grace us with his/her presence.. That would be just mean to have a cold when you go into a labor, right!? Well I guess all the coughing and sneezing might just put me into labor!

Nine days and counting until baby Sheridan will be here, well at least we hope! My due date is the 8th, but they made me schedule an induction the 16th in case the baby decides to stay put. I will cry if I am still prego by the 16th, I am ready for this baby to come on out … well once my cold is gone at least! Looks like there will be lots of walking and spicy food for me for the next several days. I think Ripken knows things are about to change because he has not left my side the last week. You know how animals have a sixth sense, maybe he knows something I don’t and wants to be near me for when it all goes down. Either way it is adorable and I am loving the extra cuddle time with my sweet boy.

Ok on to the BEST Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe. I decided to make this last night in effort to heal this cold and it is just what I needed. My best bud, Kels, gave me this recipe and actually brought it to me last year when I was home sick. What a great friend I have! She found this recipe online and combined it with another one to make it her own. Whatever she did, she nailed it! I now crave this when I am sick or when the weather is cold. The surprise ingredient that makes it so addicting … sherry! Never would I have thought to put sherry in my soup and the whipping cream makes it even more comforting. You can leave it out or use unsweetened almond milk to be healthier, but it is only a very small amount and won’t do much harm.

The BEST Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup 

In this recipe you will make the chicken stock first.

Chicken Stock:

1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
About one and half cups carrots – cut the way you want them in your soup
About one and half cups celery, halved lengthwise, and cut the way you want them in your soup

1 container of sliced mushrooms

cooking the chicken stock*
fresh or dried thyme and rosemary to taste
2 bay leaf
Chicken stock, recipe above
One bag of wide egg noodles or any noodle you like
All of the shredded cooked chicken
Kosher salt or garlic salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/3 cup of cooking sherry

1/3 cup of heavy whipping cream ( or unsweetened almond milk)

1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped to garnish

2 cups of Kale ( optional for an added immune booster)

Parmesan (optional)

Place a soup pot over medium heat and coat with the oil. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, mushrooms ), thyme/rosemary and bay leaf. Cook and stir until the vegetables are softened but not browned.

Pour in the chicken stock and bring the liquid to a boil. Add the noodles and simmer for 5 minutes until tender. Fold in the chicken, add the sherry and whipping cream(optional) and continue to simmer for another couple of minutes to heat through; season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.

My friend Kels told me to add Parmesan cheese to mine and boy does it make a difference. If you like spice add some Sriracha. This is the perfect meal for cold weather and or if your feeling under the weather. Makes plenty of left overs too!

I am now on baby watch, doc says baby could come any time now. So if you don’t hear from me in a week or two I am probably having the baby, no big deal. I hope to be back to blogging after baby, but likely it will just be pictures of our little one to start. I have prepared and frozen 6 meals to help us survive the first few weeks as I imagine I won’t be cooking that much in the beginning. We are now all ready, just waiting for baby :).

Here is a sneak peak of what our little one will look like! We got a 3D ultrasound at 35 weeks. How cute are his/her little lips, looks just like my hubby’s lips. I am still thinking boy, what do you think?!

Until next time. Hope you all have a wonderful and healthy New Year!