Chicken Noodle Soup

Today was definitely a chicken soup day. The wind was blowing, it's been colder than heck, my son ended up staying home from school with 'the fever' again, my DH was feeling crummy as well and requested some chicken noodle soup. So I did what I normally do on days like today and whipped up some homemade soup. There are a ton of short cuts for making soup that includes using store bought broth. This is something I just can't bring myself to do when making this soup, only because homemade stock is so easy to make.

When it came time to throw the soup together, I had the luxury of heading out to my garden and to pull some of the carrots that are still in the ground. There is nothing like fresh carrots in chicken noodle soup.

So here's the recipe from start to finish the truly homemade way.

Chicken Stock
1 3-4 lb Whole Chicken
5-6 Cups water
1 Onion coarsely chopped
1 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Teaspoon ground pepper

Place whole chicken in a stock pot and add water. Add onions, salt and pepper. Place on stove over high heat, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool. Strain broth and set in refrigerator for 6-8 hours. Once chicken is cool, remove meat from bones and refrigerate meat until ready to use in soup.

Chicken Noodle Soup
3 Medium Carrots, diced
3 Stalk celery, diced
1 Medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tablespoon butter
Chicken stock
Cooked chicken, diced
6-8 Oz. wide egg noodles
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large stock pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic, carrots, onions and celery. Cook until vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Add chicken stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 15 minutes. Add chicken, cover and cook an additional 10 minutes. (You can add a few cups of water if needed.) Add egg noodles and cook until tender. Salt and pepper to taste.