Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

My children have embraced chicken noodle soup with great gusto since the weather has become more autumnal...lucky for them that we have poultry a-plenty due to the fact we belong to the poultry share at "Cooper's CSA Farm & Maze"!!  I roasted one of their delicious free-range, pasture raised, hormone and antibiotic free chickens for dinner one day, stripped the carcass and used the bones for making stock (see below on how to do this!), and used some of the meat for this delicious soup that only takes 30 minutes to create!

CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

Ingredients:

4 cups water

3 cups homemade chicken broth (or the best low sodium store bought)

1 1/2 cups cubed, cooked chicken

3/4 cup cubed celery

3/4 cup cubed carrots

1 small onion, diced

1 1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes

1/4 tsp black pepper

3 cups uncooked egg noodles (I used wide ones, but the matchstick work beautifully too)

• 
  
  In a large pot or Dutch oven, combine the first 8 ingredients.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender.  Stir in noodles; cook 5 to 7 minutes longer or until noodles and vegetables are tender.
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  ENJOY!

*If you feel that your soup is not 'chicken-y' enough, you could add 1 tsp of sodium-reduced chicken bouillon granules to the pot, however if you're using a homemade stock the flavour should be just fine!

HOMEMADE POULTRY STOCK

Ingredients:

8 cups water

2 3/4 lbs (1.375 kg) of turkey or chicken carcass, wings, legs

1 rib celery, roughly chopped

1 onion, skin on, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and mashed

1 tsp each of Kosher salt and black peppercorns

2 bay leaves

• In a large stockpot or Dutch oven, bring water, carcass, celery, onion, garlic, salt, peppercorns, and bay leaves to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until reduced to approximately 6 cups.  This will take about an hour.
• Strain and skim off foam.
• Store in an airtight container in the fridge for a week, or freeze in cubes and then store in a ziploc bag in the freezer for a couple of months!