Tuesday, February 23, 2010

What's Cooking Wednesday - The BEST Chicken Noodle Soup EVER!!

"They" say necessity is the mother of all invention. I was sick on Monday and really wanted my mother-in-law to make me some chicken soup. But she lives 10 hours away...

On my trusty laptop (it's a MacBook) I typed in 'easy chicken soup recipie'. Google then asked if I meant 'easy chicken soup recipe'. I clicked that and I found a simple recipe calling for 2 cans of cream of chicken, 1 can of mushroom soup, and some water and veggies and seasonings if you want. Easy.
Then I went to my pantry. 10 cans of cream of mushroom, 0 cans of cream of chicken. Not sure what the heck I was thinking when I bought all those cans of mushroom soup but girls and boys, this is why you need to MAKE A GROCERY SHOPPING LIST and TAKE IT WITH YOU. I'm just sayin'.

I did have 4 cans of Campbell's chicken noodle soup. It is cold season. So, I improvised. Basically, I did what I could feeling like crap. I sat down to chop this stuff (normally I stand, like they do on TV) and I took a few breaks.
The BEST Chicken Noodle Soup EVER Recipe

Ingredients
2 cans of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup
4 cans of water
4 cups of water
1 big carrot, chopped
1 big celery stalk, chopped
1 green onion stalk, chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 gloves garlic minced or chopped
2 tbl powdered chicken bullion
2 handfuls rotini noodles or any kind of thick pasta noodle
3-4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (or leftover chicken)

Seasonings
(I know it seems like a lot but I just throw this stuff in 'cause the spice shelf is right there.)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Nature's Seasoning
1 tsp Lowry's Seasoned Salt
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp majoram
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground sage
1/2 tsp basil leaves

Pasta Noodles
Boil in salted, oiled water like directions say.
Drain. Set aside.

Chicken
I used a hybrid. 2 frozen chicken breasts that I threw in a pot of water and boiled until cooked. But don't cook it at boiling or all this gunk floats up (I learned that from Martha Stewart). Drain. Shred. While the pasta and chicken were cooking, I picked off the last of the chicken on a whole chicken I had roasted the day before. Set aside.

Soup Directions
Add all the ingredients (except pasta, chicken, veggies) to stock pot and bring to a boil.
Lower stove heat, add veggies and chicken.
Cook until veggies are tender.
Add pasta.
Simmer on the lowest setting with the lid on the pot until your people come home.

Serve with crackers, corn bread, or bread or nothing.
Serves 6-8 adults (minimum)

Be sure to head on over to the Home of What's Cooking Wednesdays at The Fairy Blogmother.

2 comments:

Alison said...

I just made chicken noodle soup yesterday! MMMmmm! True comfort food!

To make it easy, I've been trying to keep some pr-cooked diced or shredded chicken in the freezer.

Of course, the next time I'm sick, I won't have any pre-cooked chicken on hand though!

Shan said...

That looks super yummy!