Chicken Noodle Souper-Duper!

Making the perfect bowl of Chicken noodle soup is not something that can be mastered the first time you make it. Nope, it takes practice (and in my case a good teacher) but I officially make awesome soup, if i do say so myself! and in this post I'd like to share a few tips.

First, making the stock from scratch. So necessary and its a wonderful feeling to know that you have complete control of what your putting in your body, nothing processed or artificial. The stock is just bowling a large kettle of water with all your 'garbage' in it. When I say garbage I mean bones and some skin from your chicken, the ends of your carrots and celery, peelings, and other day old produce sitting in the fridge. for this batch my 'garbage' also included mushrooms, a jalapeno, some buk choy, and a few branches of herbs.  You are pulling all of nutrients and flavor out of your garbage and the result will be the tasty and healthiest stock you've ever had! Add salt to taste (don't under do it) and let this all simmer for a few hours. 

The stock before its strained

strain the garbage out of the stock so whats left in your pot is just liquid. 

put your liquid stock back on the stove top and add your ingredients. Keep in mind that each item takes a different amount of time to cook so first add the celery. Then carrots (tip: don't put too many carrots in, even though its hard not too. In this case you can have too much of a good thing and the carrots will add sweetness to the soup, too many and you've botched your batch) zucchini last and then the secrete ingredient - my chicken is one of those rotisserie chickens from the deli department at the supermarket.    

boil your egg noodles separate and let them go till they are just under cooked. Then at the very end, add them to your soup. Don't put too many noodles in! it will make the soup too starchy and completely  wreck all your hard work! (can you tell that's a mistake I've made before!) 

the second half of making this soup (the part after your stock is made) should only take about an hour. Then you are ready to enjoy! It keeps well for 5 days or so. YUM and ENJOY!