Chicken Noodle Soup

Nothing says fall like chicken noodle soup! I was extremely scared to make chicken noodle soup because its such a classic and I thought I wouldn't do it justice (no worries, I proved myself wrong). I made the chicken stock from scratch which I think was worth it yet a little too time consuming for a college student. I think I will use store bought chicken store and just spruce it up a bit until I have enough time to make chicken stock from scratch again. If you have the time I highly recommend it though. I had some microwaveable soup a few weeks later when I was sick and didn't have the time or energy to make some from scratch (or even put some on the stove rather than the microwave). The soup had almost no chicken or noodles and was about 90% broth and kind of tasted like water. It was pretty nasty and I was really wishing that I had some of my soup leftover. Lucky for you, this soup is has loads of noodles, vegetables and chicken packed with tons of flavor. I used a few different recipes from some of my favorite blogs and took the parts that I really liked from each to combine it into one supreme recipe. Sorry about the not so pretty pictures, it was night time when I finished this dish!

Ingredients:

1 whole cut up frier chicken

2 whole carrots, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1/2 of an onion, diced (I omitted)

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley

1 tablespoon thyme

16 ounces (1 bag for me) egg noodles

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

Directions:

Put the chicken in a large pot or dutch oven. Cover the chicken with 4 quarts of water. Do not skimp on the water, it is very necessary in order to have the right broth to noodles ratio. Bring the pot to a boil. When the water starts to boil turn the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Then, remove the chicken from the pot with a slotted spoon. Keep the water simmering on low. With a fork, pull the meat off the bones. I shredded some of the larger pieces of chicken while I did this. Cover the meat and set aside or put in the refrigerator until we need it again. Put the bones back into the pot and simmer for 45 minutes. While the bones are simmering, dice up the carrots, onions and celery. Remove the bones from the broth but make sure to get any small bones that may have broken off. Throw the carrots, celery, onions, salt, pepper, and parsley into the broth. Stir together and let simmer for another 10 minutes. Now pour in the egg noodles. Stir a bit to separate the noodles from each other. Throw in the chicken. Then, simmer the soup on medium-low for eight to ten minutes. In a separate small bowl, add a small amount of water to the 3 tablespoons of flour to get a nice, smooth mixture. This will be our thickening agent in the soup. Pour the flour mixture into the pot and stir to let it combine. Let the pot sit on simmer for another 5 minutes so it can thicken up a bit. Taste and adjust the seasonings to your likings. I like parsley a lot so I added a bit more of that. It made the whole soup look prettier which is exactly what we go for when we spend a few hours making soup, right?!? Now, enjoy the yumminess. 

Source: Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks