Not Your Grandma's Chicken Noodle Soup

Ah, chicken noodle soup!  One of the ultimate comfort foods, but probably a pain in the ass to make, right?  Yeah, you can always open a can of soup, and that certainly has it's place, but sometimes you just want something a little more substantial.  Am I right?

For some reason, I was always daunted by the thought of making chicken noodle soup from scratch.  I don't know why.  I had images of chicken carcasses and mounds of chopped vegetables and who the hell has the time for that?  Maybe you're the same way?  Well, never fear!  This is a quick and easy way to make a pot of delicious chicken noodle soup!  Your grandmother would probably be horrified by some of the shortcuts I'm going to show you, but we can keep those our secret.

In the interests of full disclosure, I have absolutely no recollection of either of my Grandmas ever cooking chicken noodle soup for me from scratch, but I'm sure if they had, it would have been delicious!

You will need:

• A 32 ounce thing of chicken broth.  I use Swanson.  Or, if you are so inclined and have some lying around, use homemade chicken broth.  Whatever floats your boat.
• A can of canned chicken breast.  I think it was 13.5 ounces, but it may have only been 12.5.  Either way, one of the big ones.  And, yes, I'm serious; we're using canned chicken.  Don't drain the chicken, though.
• A can of sliced carrots, drained.
• An onion, chopped.
• White cooking wine
• Italian seasonings (an herb blend containing oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, and marjoram and maybe some other shit)
• Salt and Pepper
• Half a bag of egg noodles

Optionals:

• One or two packets of Swanson Flavor boost
• Celery, 1 stalk, chopped
• Minced garlic

How easy is this going to be?  Well......

1.  In a large stock pot, sautee your onion (and celery and garlic if you're using them) in a bit of olive oil until tender.  A note on the celery:  I love celery in chicken noodle soup, but that's the only thing I ever use it in.  I don't like it raw and no one else in the family will eat it either.  It's silly to buy a thing of celery when I'm only going to use 1 stalk, so I usually just don't even bother with it.

Yup, that's onions.

2.  Dump in your chicken broth and undrained can of chicken.  Season to taste with the Italian seasonings, salt, and pepper.  While you're there, add in a glug or two of white cooking wine.  Just because you can.

3.  Simmer this on low for at least 15 minutes to let the flavors come together.

4.  Dump in your drained can of carrots.  At this point, taste your soup and if you feel it needs more flavor, add the packet of Flavor Boost.  Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.  Just remember that stuff is VERY salty.

5.  About 30 minutes before you're ready to eat, dump your uncooked egg noodles and turn heat up to medium.  They'll cook in the broth and be super yummy.  The noodles should be cooked after 20 or 30 minutes.

That's it!  Super easy!  This is something the whole family likes, even Eleanor.  The boy also had a few noodles, some chicken, and a couple of pieces of carrot last night and really like it.  You could also add in other vegetables, like frozen peas or fresh mushrooms, if you want.