chicken noodle soup

Ah, another day, another soup. I kind of feel like if Summer gets to post all her adorable tarts, then I should get to blab on and on about soup, even if it's the same basic chicken soup with slightly different additions each time. I can't help it- as much as Summer swoons for any pastry spiked with nutmeg, cinnamon, and apples, I love a hot cup of soup. I love hot soup so much that I get kind of grossed out when I see the words "cold soup." Eeeeh. It's actually kind of a running joke between our families, because whenever I'm hanging out at Summer's house and she asks me what to make for dinner, I usually make an offhand comment like, "I don't know, some kind of soup?" and then remember that her husband can't stand soup, ha! He's always like, "What's with you ladies and SOUP, anyway? Stop pushing your soup agenda."



This was a very simple soup:

6 cups of homemade chicken stock
1 large carrot, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
a couple of garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
salt, pepper, bay leaf
a handful of fresh basil
your choice of noodle
1 chicken breast

Heat broth in a separate pan. Saute veggies (garlic and onions first) in a large pot until they begin to soften. Dump in hot broth, stir, season with salt & pepper, add a bay leaf. Cook at a medium simmer until vegetables become nice and soft (about 25 minutes). Then add cubed chicken breast and cover. In a separate pot, boil noodles (I used 2 kinds, the tiny rice-shaped kind, and alphabet noodles) until just cooked, drain, and add to soup. Just before serving, stir in a handful of chopped fresh basil. Make sure to check that your chicken is fully cooked before serving (you can just pinch a chunk between your fingers and look).