It's the beginning of February. Not gonna lie..... I'm loving winter this year. Last year at this time, we had only one big snow (more than 1-2 inches) and it was fairly mild (above 30 degrees). In fact, Chris and I didn't get to ride our snowmobiles; the trails in Wisconsin did not open ONCE.
Luckily, last night we were covered with a lovely blanket of fresh snow. Beau and I slapped on our snowpants and played outside til our faces were frozen. He, like me, loves the snow. While outside I was trying to get together a dinner game plan (something I struggle with on the daily). Then Beau, like the words from a magic unicorn, says, "Mommy-ah. I want chicken noodle soup for dinner." Perfect. So below is my recipe for chicken noodle soup that will warm your bones on a cold winter night.
You can go ahead and cut some corners on this recipe (i.e. buying an already roasted chicken), but honestly doing everything from start to finish isn't that hard...... it's just a bit time-consuming.
Ingredients
Whole chicken
2 small onions
4 cloves of garlic
4 carrots
3 celery stalks
Olive oil
12 c low-sodium chicken broth [3 32-oz containers]
1 24-oz bag of Reames Egg Noodles
Directions
To make roasted chicken at home: Buy a roaster chicken-- any size. Bring to room temperature, take out insides, rinse, and pat dry. Whip out your Crockpot (everyone has one). Make 4-5 baseball-sized foil balls and put them at the bottom of the Crockpot. *This is a great tip when doing a big roaster bird* Stuff the chicken with half of an onion, 4 whole cloves of garlic, half of a carrot and half of a celery stalk. If you can fit more/less in the cavity, go for it. Place stuffed chicken on top of the foil balls so it's not touching the bottom, set on High, and cook for 4 hours.
Once chicken is done, pull out in the best way possible while keeping the bird whole. Let rest and cool. Once you're able to handle it comfortably, pull all the luscious meat off the bones. Discard what remains of the carcass or save for broth.
To make this delicious soup:
Get out your largest stock pot, turn stove to a medium heat, and let's start prepping. I take 3 carrots (because I love them) and do a fairly large chop, 2 stalks of celery with the leaves (amaze flavor, similar to Italian parsley) chopped small, and a small diced onion, and add to the stockpot with about two tablespoons of olive oil. Let the veggies get happy and hang out until they are smelling up the kitchen. Add 12 cups of low-sodium chicken stock (I love Target's Market Pantry brand). I know it sounds like a lot but once it's all said and done, there is plenty to freeze or share with neighbors.
Bring stock to a boil and add one whole 24-ounce bag of Reames Egg Noodles (in the frozen section of the grocery store). Let the noodles and liquid come back up to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer. About 25 minutes should be the perfect cooking time. Once done cooking, add as much chicken as you prefer. Voila. Serve in oversized bowls for maximum awesomeness.
Pro-tips: My mother and both grandmothers taught me a great trick with any soup-- once it's cooked, freeze the soup.... or as I did last night, put it on the back deck or porch. Reheat for even better-tasting soup. Another tip is to not add too much salt (hence the low-sodium stock). There is nothing worse than having SALTY soup. Plus, if you are entertaining guests, not everyone likes salt, and some would probably prefer to add their own salt and pepper.
I just had a bowl of second-day soup and it was awesome. Not to mention, I shoveled our driveway, plus the neighbor's, and I needed some thawing.
Enjoy this beautiful day.
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