Soup for the soul... and the tummy!

Chicken Noodle Soup... three little words that make you feel so many emotions.  I have always wanted to have the ideal Chicken Noodle Soup.  Reading my books as a child, the characters would always have a bowl of it when they were unwell, and I dreamed of enjoying it myself... then when I finally experienced my first taste I was so bitterly disappointed.  It was greasy and gooey, and I couldn't even finish the bowl!  Thus I was turned off chicken noodle soup for years.

One day last winter, I was searching for a Martha Stewart tomato soup recipe that I had seen her make on her show.  While I was perusing the website, I came across the 'Easy Chicken Noodle Soup" recipe... my heart fluttered... could it really be this easy?  Could something so easy taste good?  So I did it, I bought the ingredients, made it, and oh wow, it was awesome!  I was so happy!  I had finally found the soup that lived up to my ideal :)  I've refined it a little now, added my own touch here & there, but really, thanks goes to Martha for this one!  This is the soup I take to friends when they're unwell, or even just as a "I love you & want to bless you" meal... and it is a meal indeed.

I am making it for dinner tonight, this recipe is huge.  It makes about 5L of soup.  That's why I usually share it with people.  We have it for dinner, then the next night for leftovers, and freeze some too.  Here's my recipe, and pics from the last one I made.

Super Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

4L chicken stock (I usually get 2L Campbell's Salt reduced chicken stock, and make up 2L from Massel chicken style stock powder)
1 BBQ chicken, skin removed & shredded (if it's a large one, you could save the drumsticks & wings for a salad the next night)
2 carrots, sliced in 5mm rounds
3 spring onions, sliced into batons
2Tbs dill (I use the Gourmet Garden tubes of dill, it lasts much longer than a fresh bunch - unless you have your own)
250g pasta (mostly I use angel hair pasta, broken into 3cm sticks, sometimes I use alphabet pasta or stellini-tiny stars)
white pepper to taste

1. In large stock pot, bring 4L chicken stock to boil. 
2. In another pot, boil water & cook pasta (this pic is of angel hair broken up) until just underdone (2 mins less than time suggested).  Drain & rinse with cold water (to prevent sticking)

3. When chicken stock has reached boiling, add in carrots and reduce to gentle boil for 3 mins, add spring onions.  Gently boil for 2 mins.

 4. Add chicken, pasta, dill and pepper to taste (only add salt if really necessary), heat until chicken is piping hot.

 5. Serve with crusty bread.  Done! 

How easy is that!?  I sometimes mix it up, put in celery or mushrooms, sometimes frozen corn kernels, it depends on what needs to get used up, but this simple recipe is definitely my fave.  If you make it, let me know how it goes!

Not only do you get the benefit of a fabulously thrifty meal, but you also get the benefit of feeling like you're nurturing your body, your family's bodies and those around you... and not only that, but also it warms the spirit doesn't it?  Giving of your time and thought, love and effort, truly brings more joy than if you're just picking up a pizza on the way home for the family.  Soup for the soul.