So I was listening to my ipod at work the other day and this song came on my ipod.  I do not know why I have this on my ipod, but it made me think: ” I should do a blog post on chicken noodle soup!  I make really good chicken noodle soup… or at least I think so!!! ”  So here I am, writing a post about chicken noodle soup.

I think it is a good time of year to eat soup.  It is still chilly enough on some days that I crave soup, and if you get sick this time of year it is really really annoying, so in that case chicken noodle soup would be very helpful!  Thankfully I do not have a cold right now, but if any of you do, chicken noodle soup is proven to help a cold!  If you don’t believe me… check out this journal article, and this journal article, and this journal article…  Ok… I guess now I have just proven that I am such a nerd!   And along those same lines may I just say…. I really really miss having free access to all journal articles now that I am not a grad student anymore!! Oh well…  Anyways… Here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

• 3 cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts  ( I cook these in my crockpot with a cut up onion, a drizzle of olive oil, and some thyme)
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
• 4 cup Chicken Broth
• 2 cups of water
• 1tsp dried thyme
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp turmeric (I love turmeric! It makes everything a lovely yellow, and it is anti-inflammatory!)
• 1tsp basil
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper to taste
• Juice of 1 lemon

Instructions:

Shred all of your cooked chicken and set this aside in a bowl.  In a large pot, heat the olive oil.  Don’t heat it so much that it smokes, but make sure that it will sizzle when you drop the onion in.  Ok, next add the chopped onion and garlic cloves.  Saute this for a couple of minutes.  Add the shredded chicken and continue to saute.  Next, add the chicken broth and water to your pot.  Bring this to a boil.  While it is heating, you may also add the thyme, oregano, tumeric, basil, cayenne pepper, and bay leaves.  Once the soup comes to a boil, add the frozen vegetables and bring it to a boil again, stirring occasionally.  Let this mixture simmer for at least a half an hour; it is better if it goes for 45 minutes.  Taste your soup and add salt and pepper as needed, while it is simmering.  At the very end, add the lemon juice.

Ok, thats it!  Very simple!  It is ready to serve.  I like to serve mine with brown rice noodles that I boil separately.  This keeps your soup liquid from being absorbed into the noodles.  I also am sure that regular wheat noodles would be fine if you prefer that too!  The specific noodles that I use are King Soba Udon Noodles. 

This soup is super chunky and hearty.  It will fill you up!

This recipe makes 6 very large servings.  5 WW PP per serving  (this does not include the noodles)