Eat Skinny Be Skinny: Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

11.01.10

Happy November! I know, I can’t believe it either. It feels like it was just the beginning of October! I hope you all had a fabulous Halloween weekend. Mine was amazing, actually. I spent the weekend with my family and fiancé, completely disconnected from the entire world on a remote island. There is something so therapeutic about not being slaved to the Internet or cell phone! The weather was perfect and the scenery was absolutely breath taking. The trees were speckled with bright red, orange and yellow leaves and the air had a perfect fall crisp and scent. [See above photos of the scenery around my cottage!] Both made the trip [7 hours each way] totally worth it! [Oh and seeing my amazing family did too, obviously].

I’m not sure about the rest of y’all, but the weather here is CHILLY! Since the weather gods predict that the cold will be here to stay [well, until the end of January] it’s time to bust out the warm, feel good winter recipes. My number one remedy to freezing outside temperatures is spending the day making home-made chicken noodle soup. This winter favorite of mine is also perfect for winter’s other notorious gift: cold and flu season! Nothing makes me feel better than a hot bowl of soup that has been stewing for hours. Not to mention, it also makes your house smell delicious! Since I use only low-sodium broth and organic vegetables, this recipe is also naturally low in fat, sodium and calories!

[I make the chicken and broth first, then add in the ingredients for the soup.]

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

What You’ll Need:

1 whole chicken (3 1/2-4 1/2 lbs), defrosted
2 1/2 cups water
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black peppar
1 carrot, cut up
1 stalk of celery, with leaves
Some fresh parsley
1 whole onion

For the soup:

2 carrots
2 celery stalks
1 onion [medium yellow]
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup egg noodles [I used Farfelle instead]

How to Make It:

Remove excess fat from chicken. In a large Dutch oven, place chicken. Add remaining chicken and broth ingredients; heat to boiling.
Skim foam from broth; reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer about an hour or until juice of chicken is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut.
Remove chicken from broth. Cool chicken about 10 minutes or just until cool enough to handle.

Strain broth through cheesecloth-lined strainer; discard vegetables. Remove skin and bones from chicken. Cut chicken into 1/2-inch pieces

Cut carrots and celery into bite size pieces.

Chop onion.

Add enough water to broth to measure 5 cups.
In another pot, boil pasta until tender. Drain and set aside.
In Dutch oven, heat broth, sliced carrots, sliced celery, chopped onion and bouillon granules to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer about 25 minutes or until carrots are tender. Take soup off heat.