There are very few foods that I actually get to craving if I go too long without them, and this is one of them. I also get a lot of requests for this one from my 13.5 year old son. This recipe has evolved (I added more stuff) over the years from the one that my dear friend Barbara taught me about seven (or so?) years ago. I think that you'll find it's very simple to make and may even become one of your family's favorites!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 Whole Chicken (I like to buy up the all natural, anti-biotic and hormone free ones when they're on sale and freeze them straight away.)
• 1 stock/stew pot full of about 1.5 gallons of clean water
• 3-5 spears of celery, washed and chopped into thirds
• 2 large onions, peeled and quartered
• 4-8 (I use about 8 altogether) garlic cloves, peeled.
• A heap of baby carrots, sliced, or a couple regular sized ones, sliced.
• 1 16 oz. bag of frozen corn.
• 1 16 oz. bag of frozen green beans.
• 4-5 Mushrooms, if you like them (purely optional, as are the rest of the veggies, according to your family's taste).
• 1 16 oz. bag of Egg Noodles. I prefer the thin all natural Inn Maid Amish ones.
• Sea Salt
• Herbs: Oregano, Thyme and Sage, if you have it. I've used only oregano before too, and if you don't have fresh herbs, then just used dried. However, I've been amazed at what a difference the flavor of fresh herbs makes!
• Cayenne Pepper, just a dash.

The first thing to do is start your broth by rinsing the chicken and putting it in your pot of water. Fill the pot to cover  the chicken, and then add your chopped up celery and onions, along with 3-5 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed. The fresh garlic is so good for you, I encourage you to take the time to use it, rather than garlic powder. Also, it doesn't make a strong garlic flavor at all, even when I use 8 cloves in a pot, so be generous. At this point, I've added five cloves, and will add the other three later. Boil these ingredients, and remember to keep your lid tilted to let some of the steam out so that it doesn't boil over (the chicken is in this pot, under the veggies floating on top).

Once the chicken is cooked, after about 20 minutes or so of a rolling boil, remove it and put it in a big bowl to cool off. Allow the veggies to boil awhile longer, until the onions are transparent. While the chicken's cooling and your veggies are simmering in the broth, gather the rest of your ingredients together:

Once they're ready, strain the onions and celery out of the broth, so that you're left with a clear broth. I use a slotted spoon to do this, like so:

Once I have a clear broth, keeping it simmering, I mince the rest of my garlic cloves into it with my handy-dandy garlic press. Then I chop the carrots and throw them in, along with my herbs, some salt and the shrooms, corn and green beans. Bring back to a boil, and while those are all simmering, I like to break off the chicken legs at the thighs and drop them back in the soup to simmer longer, so as to add more flavor to the broth. For some reason the dark meat doesn't get tough when you cook it longer, whereas the chicken breasts would.

Meanwhile, remove the white meat from the chicken carcass and chop it up- then set it aside. Pour any broth that's drained from it while it was cooling back into your pot of soup. Remove the legs/thighs and let them cool for a few minutes.

Then de-bone and dice up that meat as well, adding it into your pot of simmering soup as it's chopped. Pick any meat left on the carcass off and add into the pot. Then add your noodles, and now add your white meat last, along with a dash of cayenne pepper (which is just so good for you, and you won't even taste if you don't overdo it). Stir it all up really good, turn the heat off, put your lid on, and let it sit for about ten minutes before serving (the noodles that I use are so thin that they soften just sitting there long enough in the hot broth).

Mmmmm-hmmmm... perfect for filling up the bottomless pit that is my son's stomach. Tonight as he gobbled down his second bowl FULL he exclaimed over how "Awesome!" it is, and that "it's just perfect how it's light to eat, yet hearty at the same time". Yeah, his words- he's a connoiseur, for sure!

I like to have sharp cheddar cheese and crackers with mine... Home-made chicken and noodle soup, nothing quite like it! Let me know if you try it. Enjoy!

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