Since I’ve gone one home sick today, I thought I would post my recipe for chicken noodle soup. It’s one the my family really loves. It’s one that I’ve been making for years and have tweaked for my family’s tastes. Since I just eyeball the ingredients, I’ll give you the best guestimates that I can on the measurements.

For Broth:

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 large or 2 small onions, halved or quartered
• 2 carrots, very roughly chopped
• 2 to 3 stalks celery, very roughly chopped
• approx. 15 to 20 black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• approx. 1 to 2 Tbs. Old Bay Seasoning
• approx. 2 tsp Thyme
• approx. 2 tsp Rosemary
• kosher salt, to taste

Place everything in a large stock pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook until chicken is done and falling off the bone, approximately 2 to 3 hours.

Remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool. Strain all veggies from pot and return broth to pot. Veggies need to be discarded as they are rendered all of their flavor into the broth. When chicken is cool enough to handle, debone, chop, and set aside.

*You can use half the broth and reserve half for another meal and/or freeze/can it. If you do this, you will need to add water and chicken bouillon to your stock pot to have enough broth for your chicken.

Soup:

• cooked chicken
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 to 3 stalks celery, chopped
• approx. 2 tsp. thyme
• approx 2 tsp. rosemary
• freshly ground pepper, to taste
• salt, to taste
• 1 bag egg noodles

Chop veggies to desired size and add to pot, and add seasonings. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, simmering until veggies are cooked. Add cooked chicken and cook until heated through. Add noodles approximately 15 minutes before ready to serve. Enjoy! This makes a HUGE pot full, so be sure and plan for plenty of leftovers.