Colds, Coughs, and Cures in a Cup

It’s that time again- cold and flu season! And lucky me, I am the first one to get a cold this year. Runny nose and burning throat turns to stuffy nose, bobble head, no voice, dry throat because of all the mouth breathing. Cute, right?! I am sure I am a vision to see sleeping lol! So it was time to break out my chicken noodle soup for the first time this year. I swear, it cures everything! And usually if one of us gets sick, the other isn’t far behind so I am sure to make a very large batch.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

Package of chicken drum sticks, skin on (generally 10-20 per pack, depending on their size)
Medium sweet onion, finely chopped-diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced or finely grated
2 celery ribs, diced (I prefer paper thin slices)
4 medium carrots, diced in short match stick style or rounds
1 bay leaf
Olive oil
Water
½ TBS Parsley flakes
Salt & pepper
Garlic powder
Morton’s Nature Seasoning
Package of egg noodles

Directions:

Season the drum sticks well with the Morton’s Nature Seasoning, garlic, salt, and pepper. Place them into the large soup pot (mine is 6 quarts). Only put enough drum sticks in to fill the pot 1/2 - 2/3 of the way full. You don’t want to overdo it.
Start filling the pot with water until the drum sticks are completely covered with at least ½ inch of water above them. More water = more stock. If you have enough room in the pot, feel free to add in a few large pieces of onion, celery, carrot, garlic, etc- anything to season the water but it’s not necessary.
Cover and boil until the drum sticks are completely cooked (30-50 mins)
Remove the chicken from the liquid and set aside to cool. (Remove and discard any vegetables or herbs you put in to season the water). The liquid left over is your stock! There should be at least 8 cups- if not, box chicken broth will do just fine to make up for the shortage.
Either transfer the stock to use that same soup pot or use a medium sauce pan for this next steps.
Put 2-3 TBS of olive oil in the soup pot or sauce pan. Then add in the onion, garlic, celery, carrots, bay leaf, and a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. Cook until soft – not browned.
Then combine the soft ingredients with the chicken stock you made, into the large soup pot. Bring to a boil for a minute then bring it down to a simmer for 10 minutes.
While this is going on, deskin and debone the drum sticks. Either hand shred or chop up the meat and set aside.
While the stock is simmering, add in your noodles. Remember, they will bulk up as they cook and soak up the liquids so don’t add too much. Start with 2-3 cups and see how it starts to look.
Then fold in your chicken and the parsley flakes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer until the noodles are cooked. Serve up nice and hot with a big piece of crusty bread!