Home Made Chicken Noodle Noodle Soup

 

My Kids call this Chicken Noodle Noodle Soup because I put extra noodles into it :) Duh! 

 I start with a whole chicken. I trim the extra stuff, neck, tail, access skin, I pull out any thing inside and throw it away. I also rinse it. Then put it in a large stockpot.

 Add water to cover the chicken

I added unpeeled carrots from my garden, a whole onion, the tops including the greens of a bunch of celery, a whole head of garlic (cut crosswise) thyme, parsley and rosemary. Also a tablespoon of peppercorns and some salt. 

Add to the pot and make sure that all is covered with water.

Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. Simmer for 4 hours

 The water will reduce down, if at that point the chicken isn't coming off the bone yet, add a little more water and return to a simmer.

 When the chicken is coming off the bone, turn of the heat and get another stockpot ready. I like to use my handy strainer to separate the stock from the pot. 

 Carefully pour your stock from one point to the other. You don't want to waste any stock after all that hard work :) Actually it isn't very hard :)

 Let the chicken and veggies cool a bit.

 I like to spread everything out on a foil lined cookie sheet. This helps it cool more quickly. If you have time you can also put your uncovered stock pot into a fridge to cool.

 Once cool enough I go through the pile, taking the good chicken, there is a lot, removing the bones, skin and stems and waste.

 Usually I keep all the chicken meat and a lot of the onion, even though they are mushy. This way I get the flavor and no chunks. My kids appreciate this :) I keep some of the carrots and celery but I cut of the ends of the carrots and just keep the bigger pieces of celery

 As you can see there is fat on the top of the stock. Cooling the stock in the fridge will help to more easily skim off the fat. I did not have the time, so I just did my best :)

I peel and cut more carrots and chop some fresh parsley, maybe 1/4 cup or so.

 I cut more celery as well

 I love these noodles. I call them matchsticks. I did the whole package, explains the Chicken Noodle Noodle :)

 I take the pot of stock with nothing else in it and cook the noodles. When they are done I pour the stock through the strainer again into the pot with the chicken and veggies in it, catching the noodles for later.

 Bring the soup and stock back to a boil, just to cook the carrots and celery.

 I added the noodles back to the pot, I didn't really mean to. I meant to add them separately to each bowl because if you do add it to the pot, you will end up soaking up all the liquid. If you do add them to the pot and are not eating right away, you may end up having to add, dare I say CANNED or BOXED broth or stock :) No worries it will still taste great.

 This really is easy and SO yummy and you can be proud because it's HOME MADE! I will say that you are going to have to salt and pepper to taste. Don't throw a bunch in at once. Start with a little and slowly add until it tastes good to you, or you can even just salt and pepper your own to taste. 

ENJOY!ENJOY! The Chicken Noodle Noodle :)