Hints from Heloise

GETTING ORGANIZED

Dear Heloise: I read your helpful hints every day in the paper. I bake a lot, and I make sure I add all the ingredients in the recipe. I put all the ingredients in a row on the counter as they are listed on my recipe. After I use them, I put them away in the cupboard. No more guessing if I put the ingredients in my recipe.

Hope you can use this tip in your column. -- Linda C., Oxford, Ohio Linda, that’s a very organized way to bake and to make certain nothing is left out. Thanks for your wonderful hint. --Heloise GOLDEN CHICKEN

NOODLE SOUP

Dear Heloise: It’s been a long time since you printed your Chicken Noodle Soup recipe, and my three kids loved it. I’ve lost the recipe, so could you reprint that for all of us soup lovers? -- Grace M., Kearney, Neb.

Grace, this should taste really good on a cold Nebraska day. You’ll need:

2 eggs

2 half eggshells full of milk

Pinch of salt to taste

Enough flour to make a dough 1 whole chicken

2 carrots (chopped)

2 stalks of celery (chopped) Enough water to cover chicken in pot

Crack two eggs into a bowl, then measure two empty half eggshells full of milk. Add a pinch of salt and enough flour to make a dough (dough should be a little sticky). Roll out on floured wax paper or a cutting board. Set dough aside and let dry for four to six hours. The dough may be too sticky to cut before that amount of time. When dough is more manageable, cut into thin strips (1/4 to 1/2 inch wide, depending on your taste). In the meantime, cook a whole chicken in a large pot with enough water to cover. When fully cooked, remove chicken and debone it. Skim all the fat off the broth and put deboned chicken back in. Add carrots and celery. Cook until tender. Add noodles and cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until done.

If you love that homemade taste of soup, rich and warm on a cold day, you’ll love my pamphlet “Heloise’s Spectacular Soups.” To get a copy of these tasty recipes, just send $5, along with stamped, self-addressed envelope to: Heloise/Soups, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. By the way, did you know that chicken noodle soup is America’s favorite soup?

BAD WINE

Dear Heloise: How can I tell if wine has gone bad? We were given a bottle of aged white wine for our first wedding anniversary, but I think there’s something wrong with it. -- Chloe and Doug, Shawnee, Okla.

Chloe and Doug, if you smell or taste vinegar in wine, the cork has leaked and it’s bad. However, some people use wine like that to marinate meats. If a white wine has been chilled for an excessive time, white crystals may be found in the bottom. The taste should be OK. When you find white flecks of sediment in wine it spoils the appearance but probably not the taste. Just strain and decant it before serving.