Homemade chicken soup from scratch

   Earlier this month, in the week leading up to the Super Bowl, both my husband and I were quite sick.  :-(  Poor Scotty caught the flu and I caught something that was a strange combination of both a cold and a flu.  Combined, we were two sick, miserable people sharing a small bed and probably getting each other even sicker.  What could possible cure our ills?  Homemade Chicken soup!

A wonderful bowl of homemade Chicken noodle soup

    How should I make a delicious health-giving soup?  First, let's start with the broth.  I wanted to make a bone broth, which is basically a chicken stock/broth that has been cooked so long that the nutrients from the bones leech into the liquid, creating a nutritious and delicious broth.  This seemed like just the kind of thing a sick person would need!  I used the same stock recipe that I have cooked before (see http://insearchoftheperfectmacaroniandcheese.blogspot.com/2011/01/homemade-chicken-stock.html) except this time I cooked it in my slow cooker for way way way longer.  I'm talking sixteen hours!  I started my broth the night before and had it cook until well into the afternoon.  By the end, the bones were literally dissolving into the soup.  The aroma made the house smell wonderful and the taste was divine!   Just one sip gave you energy and just felt nutritious.  I have tried making stock in the slow cooker before, but never for this long; I am definitely going to have to do this again.

All of the ingredients are in, ready to be turned into nourishing bone broth.

Same stock, sixteen hours later...

 Okay, so now I've got the broth, let's go onto the soup!

Here is what the finished soup looked like.

Homemade Chicken Soup from Scratch

Ingredients:

Homemade chicken (bone) broth
Chicken from bone broth, shredded
6 medium carrots, sliced
2 large onions, chopped
6 celery stalks, sliced
1 bag German egg pasta
Olive oil
Salt 
Pepper
Italian seasoning

Procedure:

1. Cut up onions, carrots and celery.
2. Heat up some olive oil in the bottom of a large pot (I used my dutch oven) and add in the vegetables until they are soft.
3.  Add bone broth, chicken and pasta.
4.  Cook the soup for ten to fifteen minutes or until all the ingredients are cooked to your liking.
5. Season with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.
6. Enjoy!

  The soup was every bit as amazing as I hoped that it would be.  The broth was to die for, and the other ingredients just made you feel good.  This was exactly what Scott and I needed to help us through our sickness.  Plus, this made A LOT of food.  We had chicken soup for about a week straight and then froze the rest.  The only complaint that I had is that when I refrigerated the soup (with the noodles in it), the noodles absorbed all of the wonderful broth.  It turned from chicken soup to chicken casserole.  I suppose this just goes to show that it was real homemade soup.  If you decide to make this soup, I recommend keeping the noodles separate from the soup when you store it so you can continue to enjoy this wonderful, health-giving concoction!