How to Make Italian Tomato Soup

I'm not sure what makes this "Italian," but it makes it sound sophisticated, at least. :)

I'll confess, I really hate chopping vegetables for soup. Lately I've been making use of the frozen, pre-chopped ones. But here's a recipe that uses just a few ingredients. It has the potential to be made completely from scratch, if you like to avoid canned ingredients. Or you can use some short-cuts, like I did.

Ingredients:
2 cans chicken broth (or chicken pieces for making broth)
1 can peeled, diced tomatoes
1 can white kidney beans
1 medium-sized onion
2 cloves of garlic
fresh or dried herbs
Additional: more vegetables, pasta, other kinds of beans

Directions:
1) Boil chicken with bay leaves, carrot/onion/whatever you like to make the broth flavorful.
2) Remove chicken from broth.
3) Add beans, tomatoes to broth, bring to a boil, and allow to simmer (add additional veggies or pasta if using).
4) Saute onion and garlic, then add crushed herbs and stir for a few seconds.
5) Shred chicken from bone and add back in, along with onion, garlic, and spices.

How to Make a Baby Carriage Cake!

So far we've had 3 baby showers at my church here in St. Petersburg. I always have very grandiose expectations which prove difficult to meet, given the lack of baby shower props sold here. And doing it all yourself is a nice idea, but very time-consuming!

At the first two baby showers I really wanted to make one of those picture-perfect cakes you see on all the sites, but there are no specially shaped baking pans or cans of fondant to be had!

How to Make Quick Beef (or Chicken) Curry

There is no claim to Indian authenticity here! Just a quick weekday skillet meal in a curry sauce.

How to Make Melt-in-Your-Mouth Chicken Cutlets

This is more of a tip than a recipe. I love tender slices of chicken breast, which can be used for chicken parmesan and other dishes.

Of course, grocery store chicken breasts can be pretty tough. To get them really tender, I first slice the breasts thinly, then pound, then soak in kefir (buttermilk or regular milk would work, too) for 30 minutes or even leave them overnight.

Before cooking, I usually dip them in egg and milk, then into a plate of bread crumbs or flour mixed with spices (the lighter pieces in the photo were dipped in flour and the orange pieces were dipped in store-bought bread crumbs). See ranch chicken, which is a nice flavor combination.

Could be baked as a healthy alternative.