Chicken Noodle Soup

By MaryEllen

Ingredients

• Stock:
• 1 white or yellow onion, chopped into a large dice
• 2 stalks celery, chopped into a large dice
• 2 carrots, chopped into a large dice
• 3 pound whole chicken, skin removed
• 1 gallon cold water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• Soup:
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 carrots, cut into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
• 1 onion, diced fine
• 2 stalks celery, diced fine
• 4 ounces whole wheat pasta (cooked)
• 1 tsp thyme, dried
• 1/2 tsp oregano, dried
• 1 tsp basil, dried (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

Details

Servings 12
Preparation time 10mins
Cooking time 100mins
Adapted from recipes.sparkpeople.com

Preparation

Step 1

Remove the skin from the chicken.

Place the whole chicken in a large stock pot or saucepan that will hold at least one gallon of cold water.

Add the diced onion, celery, and carrots to the stock pot. Pour one gallon of cold water over the mixture and add the bay leaf and peppercorns. Bring the mixture to a boil and then immediately reduce to a simmer.

Allow the mixture to simmer for 45 minutes. Place a strainer over another large saucepan and strain the hot chicken mixture.

Strain the mixture a second time into the first pot using a coffee filter or cheesecloth. Reserve one quart of the stock for the freezer, and use the remaining for the soup. (Allow stock to cool to room temperature before freezing.)

In one of the stock pots, heat the oil and add the second batch of vegetables cut into the small dice. Sweat vegetables over low moderate heat for 5 to 8 minutes. While the vegetables are sweating, pull all the meat off the bones of the chicken.

Add the pasta, dried seasonings, and the pulled chicken meat to the pot simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
Recipe yields 3 quarts: 12 one cup servings
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Nutritional Info
Servings Per Recipe: 12
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 152.8
Total Fat: 3.7 g
Cholesterol: 51.2 mg
Sodium: 76.1 mg
Total Carbs: 13.0 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.5 g
Protein: 17.4 g
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This is a slow-cooking dish, but you'll get 12 servings from the soup, plus a quart of stock. This entire recipe cost just $8.41, about 70 cents a serving. That's less than a can of soup!

My 11-year-old son helped prep the carrots. He created curls using a Y-shaped peeler.

I recommend freezing single portions of soup in freezer bags laid flat so you have some on hand the next time someone gets the sniffles or has a bad day. Nothing warms the soul like homemade chicken soup.

I used a kosher chicken, which cost a bit more. If you wait for chicken to go on sale, you can save more money.

I used farfalle (bowtie) pasta, but you could use penne, elbow macaroni or another bite-size shape.

You're getting multiple meals from this versatile chicken soup recipe. That's why we need two sets of vegetables: one set cut into a large dice for the stock part of the soup that you'll use for another meal, and a second chopped into a small dice for the soup.