PEMBERVILLE — When Lisa Kaminski makes her homemade Chicken Noodle Soup it takes her back to her
childhood days when her mother would make the soup.
“I remember we used to have chicken soup a lot. My mom used to make the homemade egg noodles. We had
radiant heat and Mom used to hang the egg noodles above our heater. That always smelled so good,”
Kaminski said. “When we were sick, we always wanted chicken noodle soup.”
While she does not dry her noodles the same way, the registered nurse knows the soup is still ideal for
winter, especially if someone has a cold or sniffles.
Kaminski shares her recipe for the soup, noodles and her companion Honey Bread with today’s Cook’s Corner
readers.
The soup recipe is, in essence, the family recipe.
“Nobody had a specific recipe. Everybody used those ingredients but not always the same. Everybody has
their own touch,” Kaminski said. “I use more carrots because I like carrots. Others may use more or less
onions, etc.”
Instead of using pre-packaged rosemary and thyme and just shaking it out of its containers, she uses the
fresh spices.
“I tweaked it. The fresh thyme and fresh sprigs of rosemary make the flavors pop a little more,” she
said.
Like her mother did, Kaminski says the soup she makes also makes great leftovers for later use.
“We can have leftovers throughout the week. You can make a casserole with it. It always lasted a long
time when she made it,” Kaminski said of her mom’s soup.
Kaminski also likes to serve it over mashed potatoes.
She is additionally part of the recently-formed Pemberville Mom’s Meal Exchange.
The group began in September, modeling itself from a similar group in Perrysburg.
The group started well, but she said interest dwindled a bit over the holidays.
“It’s a new routine for most of them. We have four active members and some scaredy cats who hang out on
the edges,” Kaminski said.
Some of the active members are considering setting up a demonstration on how to make multiple meals for
oneself or others.
She likes the concept and enjoys tasting what others make and having all the recipes available.
“If you like it you can save the recipe and if you don’t you can shred it.”
Kaminski’s honey bread recipe originated from a fellow 4-H mother.
While she liked the recipe from her good friend, she also tweaked it by swapping out the sugar and
replacing it with honey.
This is part of her strategy to limit the amount of “white” in her and her family’s diets.
“I try to get away from the use of white sugar and white flour,” Kaminski said.
She admitted she has yet to try the bread with whole wheat flour.
Kaminski said the bread recipe is not very hard and fairly standard.
Kaminski is active with her 10-year-old daughter Brianna’s activities with the All Tacked Up 4-H club.

This year the youth will be taking a sewing project in addition to showing her horse.
Kaminski said her daughter taught herself how to crochet after watching a YouTube video.
Kaminski grew up in Stony Ridge and Lemoyne. After a short stay in Holland while attending college, she
then moved back to Pemberville and got married.
Her husband, Scott, works with the Pemberville Fire Department and also part-time with North Baltimore’s
fire department.
She has been in nursing for 23 years after graduating from what was then the St. Vincent School of
Nursing.
“I went to school with the Grey Nuns,” the religious order which operated the school.
After working in the intensive care unit, trauma unit and cardiac ICU, she now works from home with
CareSource as she serves people on Medicaid in case management.
“I love it, I really do,” she said of her work.
She noted her work involves more than medical-based assistance.
“My work is more of the real-life cases including psycho-social issues and everyday schedules tending to
such things as food, housing and finding resources available to people,” she said. “I am a listener and
try to schmooz a lot and build trust and focus on healthcare as a whole instead of using the ER and
giving them options for minor items.”
One of those options might be to try some chicken noodle soup.
Between juggling schedules with 4-H and other activities along with the schedule of a firefighter,
Kaminski tries to squeeze in time for reading, working with the horse and visiting the couple’s older
children, a son, 25, and a daughter, 21.
Having the flexibility of using the soup for multiple meals is a true asset for her.