This time of the year is always stressful for me. I work in the family business and never get much time off (if any) over the holidays due to seasonality of getting orders out before the end of tax season. This usually means that by the time the middle of January rolls around, I am already well over the new year.
I do enjoy the flexibility of being my own boss. I certainly do not take for granted the ability to leave town for a day if a concert dates pops up somewhere in the middle of the state. But, man, when the wheels start to come off it is pretty spectacular. I was in the weeds pretty deep earlier this week and Wednesday around lunchtime it all came to head in the form of a pretty fun panic attack.
Due to all of the above, I am really leaning into my comfort food era. This chicken noodle soup recipe is kind of like a warm hug. It was a staple in my moms rotation. She made it whenever someone was sick and would deliver it personally (likely with a loaf of French bread). This is exactly the kind of thing that she would have prepared and had waiting for me if I was going through it (like I was earlier this week).
As I am combing through her files, some of the recipes she loved have her added notes at the bottom. This one said:
Note: This is one of our favorite soups and I have been making it for more than 25 years. S. Wood
It is easy to use a leftover deli roasted chicken to make the soup. Takes less time to cook it and the seasonings they use gives the soup a good flavor.
(Sherlock is a big fan of any/all recipes that involve chicken and tells me that I shouldn’t make anything else going forward).
The note at the bottom about using a store bought rotisserie chicken made me smile. It is almost like she knew that someday I would go poking around her hard drive and the chances of me taking the time to roast a chicken from scratch were slim to none.
Another note about her recipes – I am beginning to wonder about how she calculated serving sizes. The note on this one says it serves 6 – but those must have been heaping servings because I would say this easily made enough for 12.
(When Danny and I were discussing this over dinner on Sunday his point was, “If someone went home hungry after a meal that your mom cooked that is on them.”)
Overall, I enjoyed this recipe. Of all the soups, chicken noodle is not my favorite. But I knew that Danny would eat this and like I said above, really leaning into my comfort food era right now.
Chicken Noodle Soup
6
servings30
minutes1
hourIngredients
1 chicken broiler-fryer
8 to 10 cups of water
½ teaspoon dried whole basil
1 T. chopped parsley
¼ to ½ t. celery salt
1/8 to ¼ t. garlic salt
2 bay leaves
2 t. salt (adjust if you use bouillon) I always add a bouillon cube to the water or use a spoonful of Chicken flavored Better than Bouillon
½ t. black pepper
4 medium carrots, chopped
4 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup egg noodles
(Chicken bouillon)
Directions
- Combine first 9 ingredients in a large Dutch oven; cook 1½ hours or until chicken is tender. (I add onion, celery and carrots to the water. It gives the chicken a better flavor.) Remove chicken, and discard bay leaf. Strain broth. Let chicken cool. Remove meat from bones and dice meat; set aside.
- Bring chicken broth to a boil; add carrots, celery and onion. (I usually add extra basil, parsley, celery salt, garlic salt or garlic powder at this point but always first check the saltiness of the broth. If necessary, add extra water or broth. ) Simmer 30 minutes; add meat and noodles. Cook 15 minutes. Yield: 6 servings.
- It is easy to use a leftover deli roasted chicken to make the soup. Takes less time to cook it and the seasonings they use gives the soup a good flavor.