The last time I was sick (and of course a couple of the kids were as well), all I could think of was how I wanted some good, old fashioned, homemade chicken noodle soup. Of course, the last thing I wanted to do while I was sick was to make anything. And being gluten free, we can’t really just grab any old can. And the can of gluten-free, chicken noodle soup at the grocery store is over 4 dollars. For one little can. If I were desperate, I might pay that. But under normal circumstances, no way. That’s ridiculous.
So this last week, my MissE had a day where we worried she was getting sick. I figured it was perfect timing to try my hand at making some soup! Even if she wasn’t sick; I could at least freeze some, so there’d always be some on hand for if when someone got sick. As any parent can tell you, when your kid is sick, you don’t get a lot of free time. Usually they’re in arms, or on lap, or both. Even when sleeping. So as I looked through countless recipes, I knew I needed something I could throw together quickly and relatively easily. Enter my beloved crock pot. (You know I recently read a “de-cluttering” article, and they actually said to *whispers* throw away your crock pot, because nobody ever uses them! *gasp* Oh the blasphemy! *More whispering* Don’t work ‘crock, I’ll never let you go…either of you.) I love crock pot recipes, they’re easy, they’re time saving, they’re not a don’t-stand-there-and-watch-the-water-boil-or-it-never-will type of recipe. Which for me, is terrific.
So in true form, I scanned through about 20 different crock pot chicken noodle recipes… and then did something of my own accord. (I just can’t help it! And you shouldn’t either! Why should you waste timing making something how someone else would prefer it? No way! Make it how YOU would!)
In the crock pot
Ingredients:
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups chicken stock
3/4 cup onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper (do this to taste. I might have used more as we like pepper in this house.)
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp garlic salt (my garlic salt has parsley in it. If you don’t have garlic salt, just add salt to taste.)
4 chicken breasts
at least 3 cups noodles, uncooked. (I really wanted to make my super yummy, taste like the chicken noodle soup noodles, but I didn’t have eggs. So I just used a -whole- bag of rice noodles. They worked perfectly.)
In crock pot/slow-cooker (whatever terminology you prefer), combine chicken broth and stock, carrots, onion, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, pepper, basic, garlic salt/salt/lowry’s (again, whatever you have/prefer). Place chicken on top of vegetables. Cover crock pot with lid and cook either on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5 hours (I used this option, and prefer this option, because I don’t normally decide on dinner until just before lunch).
After cooking, take chicken out and put it on a cutting board. Also take out and toss the bay leaves. Add the noodles to the crock pot and put the lid back on and cook on low for about 20 minutes. While the noodles are cooking, shred the chicken (with a fork!). Return chicken to soup and serve!
*NOTE: You can also add celery, but I don’t love it in my soup (and my kids deem celery only acceptable with peanut butter on it) and I didn’t have any, so I went with what I did! You can also use a whole -roasting- chicken (about 3 1/2 pounds). If you do, then you’ll want to remove the skin and fat and bones before shredding (obviously. I know you know this, but I’m sayin’ it anyway.) And after that you’ll want to skim fat from the soup and discard that. With the chicken breasts I used, they were very lean to begin with, so I didn’t really have the fat to skim off the top. And you can of course use your favorite egg noodle that’s gluten-filled. And about the broth/stock. Hubbyman is not into soup. He always looks dejected whenever he looks in the pot and finds it filled with soup. Which is unfortunate considering that my girl and I love soup. And the little boys are always at least willing to eat it. So sometimes I just go ahead and make soup, even though hubby won’t be thrilled with dinner. Some recipes called for 8 cups of water (if you were cooking with a whole chicken) and some called for 4 cups water and 4 cups chicken broth. I wanted the stock for both the flavor and the consistency. And it turned out perfectly.
Hubbyman is not a huge soup fan. So I made his less soup-ish and mine more so!
Both hubbyman and I determined that this was the best chicken soup we’d ever had. So, so yummy. There was enough for leftovers and to freeze. It was still hot so I put it in the freezer container and put in the fridge until it was cooled through before freezing (nothing worse than freezer burn!). And it got eaten. By my non-soup-loving husband. I should note that with the stock it does change consistency after being cooled. (plus that and the rice noodles started to fall apart, just a little) So then it was more like another one of my favorite- chicken and dumplings. Either way, it was delicious. I will definitely be making this again. Especially since hubbyman gave him approval to add this to the list of regulars. So easy, so good. It’s a win for me!
mine (more broth-y)
with garlic biscuits
less broth-y
laborofwonder 