My husband and his dad are returning home from their adventures in Spain today. They will spend about 17 hours on planes and will have additional travel time in shuttles to and from the airports. They'll have jet-lag, for sure. So, I thought I'd make some hearty chicken noodle soup in the crockpot in case they arrived home hungry...because who wants to sleep on an empty stomach. Besides, with the weather here being so fickle, I've got a tickle in my throat and I know soup will fix that right up. Here's my recipe:
I like both white and dark chicken meat in my soup, so I got a package of a whole cup up fryer and used 2 breasts, and 2 thighs. The remaining pieces of chicken I put in a labeled freezer bag to make stock later out of the back and I'll make the drumsticks and wings for a football Sunday when I get enough of those.
*You may use all white meat (2-3 skinless chicken breasts), all dark meat (4-5 skinless thighs) or choose a combination like I did (2 skinless breasts, 2 skinless thighs). I use pieces with the bone in to get more flavor in the soup.
Ingredients:
Chicken (*see my notes on chicken above)
1/2 onion, diced
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced in circles
1 can low sodium chicken broth
1 can regular chicken broth
1 Tbsp. fresh chives
Black pepper, freshly ground to tast
1 clove garlic, pressed (optional)
2 cups uncooked noodles of your choice
Using a 12 cup capacity crockpot, combine all of the ingredients except for the noodles. Add water so liquid level is about 2 inches below the top of the crockpot. Cover and cook for 6-8 hours on low or 4 hours on high. While soup is cooking or close to serving time, cook noodles according to package directions. You can do this step ahead of time and just leave noodles draining in a colander until the chicken is done. When the chicken is cooked through, remove from the soup and cut into bite-sized pieces, return meat to soup. Add your cooked noodles to the soup. Add salt to taste. Makes 12 cups
**Variation: For a no noodle soup, add 4 red potatoes diced into 1-inch cubes at the beginning of your cooking time.
I'm also baking up some frozen dough dinner rolls to go along with the soup. Light, gentle to digest meal for the traveling Pulido's to come home to...because NOBODY wants to be around a hungry Pulido.
Enjoy!
