We eat a lot of soup in our family, especially this hearty chicken and noodle soup--perfect to warm up with on cold, winter days and bring comfort when feeling a little 'blah'. It re-heats and freezes well, so I love to stash a quart or two away in the freezer, in case illness strikes without much warning or I want to take some to a friend. You could easily swap out the noodles for around 1 cup of uncooked brown or white rice, if desired (letting the soup cook until the rice is tender)
Ingredients
2 to 3 c cooked, diced chicken
1 TBSP oil
1 to 1.5 c onion, finely diced
1 to 1.5 c celery, thinly sliced
1 to 1.5 c carrot, thinly sliced
~8 c homemade stock*
~8 c water*
~2 TBSP fresh chopped parsley (or around 1 tsp of dried parsley)
~3/4 bag of noodles, my preference is Essenhaus Amish Egg Noodles (wide)
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
Heat oil over low-medium heat in a 6-quart stockpot; add vegetables and sauté for ~10 minutes, or until tender, stirring every so often. Add stock and water and increase heat to bring to a boil. Add noodles, chicken, and parsley. Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking until noodles have reached the desired tenderness, around 15-20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
*Because I typically keep homemade stock on hand, I use it often, especially in soups. If you are using a commercially-prepared stock, omit the 8 cups of water and use a total of 4 quarts of stock. Because I keep my homemade stock unsalted until using it in each dish, I will generally add about 5 to 6 tsp of salt to the entire stockpot of soup. Again, if using a salted, commercial stock, you will not need to add much salt.