Chicken Soup for the (Sickly) Writer's Soul

I had this whole post all planned out, and in my mind - it would've been great. I was gonna talk about The Hunger Games and how much I loved the books and how exciting it to see all the pictures of the actors dressed up in character now that the movie is shooting. Like this pic of Peeta with the bread!!


Then I was gonna say how I had always been team Peeta all the way, to the point where I didn't even understand how anyone could ever even be team Gale. I mean let's compare.

Gale: Manly hunter blah blah blah.

Peeta: Works in a bakery.

Okay, so maybe my preference has more to do with my love of carbs, which is why I was going to include a recipe for bread.

But then I got sick, and I didn't feel like mixing and waiting for dough to rise and all the other stuff that goes into making bread. My head was pounding, my nose was stuffy, and my throat was raw. I needed chicken soup. So that's what I made and what I'm blogging about today. Sorry Peeta.

This chicken noodle soup is less recipe and more method. Feel free to tinker with it, depending on your own soup preferences.

First start with a brand new 6.5 quarts red enameled cast-iron dutch oven. Admire how pretty it is. Congratulate yourself on getting such a fine pot at Walmart for only $40 (if you know how much those crazy Le Creuset people charge, then you know that's a steal.).Next find some chicken. We'd had some chicken breasts defrosting in the fridge for a few days with the intention of grilling them, I commandeered them for my soup instead. While you pat the chicken dry, put some olive oil in the pot and get it hot.

Then salt and pepper your chicken and stick it in the pot. Sear until it gets that pretty golden brown color on both sides.

Take the chicken out and set it aside. Admire the fond left in the pot that will (in theory) make our soup more delicious.

Next roughly chop celery, carrots, and onion and throw them in the pot. Cook until your husband (or significant other) says, "Oooh, that smells good."

Next put the chicken back in and then cover everything with water and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, lower the heat and let it simmer for about the length of one episode of Bubble Guppies. Then fish out the chicken and set it aside. Fish out the vegetables (or pour the whole thing through a strainer, I do the fishing method cause I try to avoid lifting heavy pots full of scalding hot liquid.) and toss them out.

Now comes the secret ingredient.

Okay, so maybe not so secret. You could use bouillon cubes or chicken stock in a box, but I like this stuff. I added a big scoop of it, tasted, and then added another even bigger scoop. I tasted again and it was a bit too salty, but once I added the chicken back in and the noodles it all balanced out. You can also just add more water if you need to dilute it a bit more.

Then I chopped chicken, more carrots and celery, some parsley and thyme.

Into the pot they went. Then bring the soup back up to a boil and add some egg noodles.

Cook until they are no longer crunchy.

And serve with a slice of bread (from the grocery store).


Enjoy!