Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

This season is just the best for soups! I had read a couple recipes and used a little bit of this and a little bit of that and made my own recipe! This is such a great treat for a cold day. You can also warm it up the next day and enjoy for lunch! I used a fully cooked rotisserie chicken but you can cook your own chicken and add it in. A great idea would be to add some leftover turkey instead of chicken after Thanksgiving and have Turkey Noodle Soup! It sure hits the spot!

Servings: about 4

Time: 30 minutes 

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 tablespoons butter
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
2 sprigs of thyme
2 sprigs of oregano
2 bay leaves (fresh)
Half of a lemon - halved into two pieces
1 and 1/2 tablespoons flour
4 cups of chicken broth
1 cup diced up rotisserie chicken (or any other chicken)
1 cup of pasta (I used Campanelle)
Salt/Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Put your pasta to cook and boil according to directions on the box.

2. To a soup pot, melt your butter.

3. Add in your chopped carrot, celery, and onion. Let that soften a little bit.

4. While it's cooking, throw in your oregano, thyme, basil, and lemon. I squeezed the lemon and then just threw it in to cook with the veggies. Salt and pepper as needed.

5. After the vegetables have softened, add in your flour and make a roux.

6. After your flour is fully mixed and incorporated, add in your chicken broth, one cup at a time.

7. Once the broth is all in, bring to a boil. Once it starts boiling, bring it down to low and cover. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes 

8. After 10 minutes, add in your chopped chicken. You can add more or less, as your heart desires! Simmer another 10 minutes. 

9. Add in your drained pasta and serve!

Hello November

2020 has definitely been a ... different ... year. Many things have had to be rescheduled, moved, or cancelled. With all the craziness in the world, there are still many things to be grateful for. 

I am truly grateful for my health, more than ever. Hearing about everything going on in the world, my heart goes out to everyone. Please take care of yourself and make your health #1 above all else. All the money, degrees, houses, cars will stay but there is only one of you. Don't take life for granted and live life to the fullest!

This makes me think back to the time when I worked with kids. Every year around this time, we would make a 'Thankful Tree'. We would make the branches out of brown butcher paper and the kiddos would write that they're thankful for on a leaf. Once they're done writing, we would hang up the leaves around the tree branches and keep it up all season. It was one of my memorable and favorite things we did because the things the kids wrote were so random and funny that it warmed my heart. They were so silly that we even got the point where I had to tell them they could not write that they were thankful for their Xbox. (lol!) Below is a template - use it with your kids or in a journal or write a list! They say if you constantly remind yourself of what you're grateful for, you will be happier - and not just happy but truly happier, inside and out. 

Click on each picture to get a bigger version!