Quick and Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

I am back! And I have a brief two weeks at home before the summer traveling resumes. My goal is to buy only as many groceries as I can use so that I'm not left giving away or freezing food when we travel again. It does make menu planning a little bit more challenging than usual, but we'll see what we come up with.

Yesterday was my son's birthday. One of our traditions is the birthday person gets to choose what they want for dinner. Anything they want, and I'll make it. My son chose Chicken-Noodle soup, with some prompting from my husband.

I'm not a huge fan of chicken-noodle soup. To me, the star character is the broth, and the rest of it is a distraction. I'm in the minority. My husband loves it stock full of noodles and meat, with the broth playing a minor note.

This recipe is an excellent compromise. It's got all the stuff my husband loves, and the broth is plentiful and flavorful for me. It also comes together super quick, which is an added bonus.

Ingredients:

2 qt. chicken broth

1 C onion, diced

1 C celery, sliced

1 C carrot, sliced

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 C or more of water

12 oz. egg noodles (such as Kluski)

2 12-oz cans canned chicken (undrained)

Directions:

Combine first four ingredients and bring to a boil in a large stockpan. Simmer 20-30 minutes until the veggies are soft. Add the 2 cups of water, the noodles, and the chicken. Cook another 10-12 minutes until the noodles are done, according to package directions.

The soup will thicken the longer it cooks. Serve it immediately or let is simmer, but have water on hand to thin it if necessary.

I love how the flavor of the broth shines through and think it needs no additional flavor, but feel free to add salt and pepper as you see fit. Enjoy with bread or crackers.

Tastefully,

Tamara 

Amazing Chicken Mushroom Noodle soup

Tonight's dinner was an awesome success, which makes me so happy. We had soup and salad. Great combo! And everyone had seconds (except the 2yo) and hubby even finished off the salad!

Isn't that a beautiful bowl? I love them. Soup in one part, crackers or bread in another.

Tonight I was making good use of the mushrooms, carrots, and celery from my basket. 

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil

1 lb. chicken breast, diced

1 small yellow onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

4 small mushrooms, cleaned, sliced or chopped

5 C chicken broth

1 tsp black pepper (this was a tad bit spicy. If in doubt, do half)

1 tsp dried thyme

5 oz. egg noodles (more or less depending on how thick you want your soup)

2 tsp dried parsley

On the mushrooms: I used Baby Bellas. I love the meaty texture of them, and even my kids ate them. And for chicken noodle soup, we like the small egg noodles that look like broken angel hair.

I cooked this entire meal in my rice cooker, which was great, but you can easily do it on a stove as well. Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the chicken and brown on all sides. Add the onions and garlic and cook for four minutes or until translucent.

Aren't these carrots beautiful? They are rainbow carrots, and I'm in love.

A close up on that splendid purple carrot.

A note on peeling carrots: I don't do it. I wash them well and eat the whole thing. It doesn't matter if I'm cooking it or eating it raw. You could say I'm just lazy (I am), but I think it's unnecessary. Actually, I don't peel most vegetables. Isn't that where all the amazing vitamins are? :)

Add the rest of the ingredients to the pot. Bring to a boil, cover, and lower the heat. Simmer for 30 minutes.

I served this with crackers and an Asian salad, but bread would work well too!

The Asian salad recipe can be found in the book Going Against the Grain. I didn't alter it at all, but I was missing mandarin oranges. Thought I had a can and I didn't. :( Excellent salad though!

So are you a soup and crackers person? Or soup and bread? Or soup and salad? I'm a soup and cracker person. Crackers are total comfort food for me. What do you think?

Tastefully,

Tamara