There was a little bit of a chill in the air here recently.  After a few 80 degree days, the 40 degree air felt rather frosty!  It was the perfect reason to use some of my homemade stock which was taking up several cubic feet (yes feet!) of my tiny freezer.

Chicken Noodle Soup

My husband has this thing for “Butterball & Noodle Soup”, so I decided to add some butterballs to the soup just for him.  One of these days, I’ll do a post about how to make your own.  Until then, I’m quite positive you shall be in suspense!

What You Need

Start by heating up the stock.  I used one more 2-cup container of stock than I pictured above.  I took all three frozen stock “ice cubes” and put them in the pot over medium-low heat to defrost.  One they had defrosted and started to boil, I put the chicken breasts in to cook.  You can use any cut of chicken for the soup; all I had on hand was about one pound of chicken breasts.

While that’s cooking, chop your carrot and celery.  Personally, I like a carrot to celery ratio of 1 to 1.

Celery & Carrots

After the chicken has cooked, remove it from the stock and let it cool slightly.  Cut it into bite-size chunks.  Notice how the chicken has just a little bit of pink to it?  If that happens to you too, that’s okay.  It will continue to cook through when it’s returned to the soup.

Chicken

When the celery and carrot are tender, add the noodles and boil until the noodles have finished cooking.  That’s it!  You’re done!  Because I used homemade stock, I didn’t add any salt, pepper, or herbs/spices to the soup.  You could use a little parsley, thyme, rosemary, whatever your favorite herb/spice is, if you so choose.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Simple Chicken Noodle Soup

Servings 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 6 cups chicken stock
  • 1 pound chicken
  • 2 carrots peeled and diced
  • 2 celery stalks chopped
  • 2 to 3 cups uncooked egg noodles

Instructions
 

  • Heat chicken stock to a boil. Add chicken and boil until chicken is done. Remove chicken and cut into bite-size pieces. Return chicken to soup. Add celery and carrots. Add noodles and cook until vegetables and noodles are tender. Serve immediately.