Chicken Noodle Soup

Well, it's cold and snowy today and I'm out of money.  I blew all my personal money on clothes the day after Thanksgiving.  So here I am at the house after two very stressful days at work and I'd love to make some comfort food.  I looked around my cupboards and freezer and I have all the things I need to make Chicken Noodle Soup.  So here goes!  The prices may be a little off because these are left over things and I don't have the receipts handy.

Ingredients:

2 Large bone in chicken breasts         4.00
1 large onion                                       .30
4 celery ribs                                        .40
3 large carrots or 1 C baby carrots      .40
12 C homemade chicken broth           free!
1 bay leaf                                            .10
2/3 bag of wide egg noodles                .75
3 tsp chicken base                               .30
    (or 3 chicken bullion cubes if you prefer)
salt, pepper and all purpose seasoning to taste

Directions:

Fill a large pot with the uncooked chicken breasts and water.  Roughly chop 1/2 the onion, two celery ribs and 1/2 your carrots and add to the pot.  Add bay leaf.  Cook the chicken slowly over low heat for 30 min.  If your chicken is frozen (like mine was) then it will take 1 hour 15 min to poach. 

While the chicken is cooking, slice the remaining onion, celery and carrot into bite size pieces.  The first set of veggies will be thrown away, this set will go in the final soup.  Once the chicken has cooked through, remove the breasts and let them cool on the cutting board.   Strain the cooking liquid to remove the veggies and chicken bone but reserve the fluid for your soup.  This is your homemade chicken broth!  Woo hoo. Return the broth to the pan and add enough water to make 12 cups.  Stir in the 3 tsp of chicken base or bullion to add extra flavor.  Add the raw sliced onion, carrot and celery to the broth. 

In a separate pot heat water for the pasta.  When it reaches a boil add the egg noodles and cook for 5 min.  then strain and add to chicken broth.   Once chicken has cooled then remove from the bone and chop or shred the meat into bite size pieces.  Add to the broth and vegetables.  Taste your soup and add salt, pepper and all purpose seasoning to your liking.  If it's a little bland add another teaspoon or two of chicken base.

I was able to make 4 dinners for $1.57 a meal.  This is a great dinner on a cold night with a hot roll fresh from the oven.  It's also a great meal to have in your freezer for those days when you don't feel well.   Make sure you bring one to a friend when they catch a cold! 

This is what we'll be having for dinner. I hope you give it a try.  If you are very brave you can make your own noodles.  I have not been very successful at this...I am much better with yeast breads.   But if you are adapt at noodle making let me know your tips and tricks.

Christie aka Keeza