Chicken Noodle... Chicken Noodle... Chicken Noodle Soup

Now sing it like this...

I've been craving Chicken Noodle Soup for months.  Even through the hot part of summer I wanted some.  But I just couldn't bring myself to pop open a can of Campbells...  I don't know why I put off making soup.  For some silly reason, I kept telling myself homemade soup was too much work.  But really it's pretty easy and fast to put together and doesn't require a whole lot of ingredients.   Yesterday, I finally gave in to the crave and made a big pot of soup.

And it is divine!!

One of the chief foods of the Gods I tell you!

And this is how I make my super simple Chicken Noodle Soup...

Start by dicing up your vegetables in same-sized pieces for even cooking.  You can use pretty much whatever vegetables you have and like - I had (and like to use) onion, celery and carrots.  I used a whole large onion, 4 ribs of celery and 3 carrots.

Then, because carrots are the hardest and therefore need the most cooking time of all my vegetables, I started to saute them in a couple of Tablespoons of butter.  When they were pretty well heated through, I added the celery, stirred it up and let that cook for about 5 minutes and then added the onion.  Stirring occasionally, I let that cook until the onions started to soften.

Next add water.  I'm gonna guess at around 8 cups to start.  And then I add one of my favorite kitchen staples:  Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base.  You can find it in most grocery stores, Amazon.com and directly from the manufacturer.  Just add it by generous teaspoonsful until the beginnings of the soup tastes good.  Soup will get saltier if you have leftovers in the fridge overnight, so show a little restraint and don't overdo it.  (If you do get carried away, you can add more water to bring that balance back.)

Bring the vegetable and broth mixture to a low boil, add 1 can of chicken (or about 2 cups shredded breast and/or thigh meat) and simmer for 30 minutes.  Add 3-4 cups water and about 1 pound of egg noodles.  You can use the dry pasta that's widely available or a freshly made, refrigerated or frozen egg noodle of your choice.  If you live in a market where it's available Grandma's Egg Noodles is an awesome choice!

Cook until pasta is tender.  And the soup's all done and ready to eat.

So... dip yourself up a bowl and enjoy!

Leftovers, first cooled to room temperature, can be stored for up to 3 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container.  It can also be frozen for later use.

See?  Not hard or really time consuming at all.