I Love Making Soup.

I don't usually make soup in the summer. It is too hot this time of year to have a pot simmering on the stove for hours at a time. This week I was desperate, however. There has been a nasty bug going through my house. Both of my kids have run fevers for days on end and I need something to boost the ol' immune system... so I made chicken noodle soup.

I started out by making chicken stock from scratch. We had picked up a rotisserie the night before for a quick easy dinner... so the next day I pulled all the extra meat of the bones and put the bones and some vegetables in a stock pot with water, salt, pepper and a couple of bay leaves. I cooked that down for 3-4 hours and then strained out the big bits leaving behind just the broth.
After that I just added the leftover chicken, 3 chopped carrots, 3 ribs of celery, 4 cloves of minced garlic, and 1/2 a diced onion. I cooked it until the veggies were soft and then added in some fresh basil from the garden and 1/2 a package of noodles. I then seasoned it with salt an pepper. Once the noodles were cooked it was ready to go.

I love making soup. It is a great way to be intuitive in the kitchen. You just throw in a bit of this and a bit of that... The hell with measuring cups or spoons.

My oldest daughter is done with this nasty illness... but today I am stuck at home with the little one. Hopefully this illness will clear up before the weekend. I have plans to go camping and I'm itching to get out of the house. Perhaps it is time to make some more soup.

Cheers,
Jenn