Switch from Mexican to all-American. Can you beat chicken noodle soup? I don’t really think you can. Now, you might be thinking, 40 minutes? I can heat up Progresso chicken noodle in 2 minutes. Yes, you’re correct. Why make it yourself? You can use the exact ingredients you want, there is almost ALWAYS less sodium, and there is definitely a soul-soothing component that cannot be overlooked. Soup is comfort food and a big pot of soup on the stove on a Sunday afternoon makes everyone happy.

“Real” homemade chicken noodle soup would include a whole chicken or at least whole chicken parts, simmered in water with onions, carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaves, etc, for HOURS. There’s the straining, the chopping, uuughh. Exhausting. This whole thing could get done in 40 minutes.

We make it Monday and eat it Tuesday when we do notes on protein. I find that if kids’ mouths are full of food they talk less. My secret weapon. It was totally DONE in 40 minutes though, I swear.

Chicken Noodle Soup- Serves 4 big bowls

1 chicken breast- with or without bone

½ tsp. salt

Pinch pepper

1 celery stalk

1 carrot

1/3 c. corn

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp. chopped onion

4 c. chicken broth

1 c. egg noodles (medium or fine)

1.       Place chicken in saucepan or pot; pour chicken broth into the pan with the chicken.

2.       Add salt and pepper. Heat to a boil. Reduce temperature to simmer and cook until chicken is tender (covered). Heat to boil: highest heat, lid ON.

3.       Rinse celery. Cut into very fine slices. Chop onion, peel carrot, chop into small pieces. Add veggies to simmering chicken along with bay leaf.

4.       When chicken is tender, remove from pan and place on a plate to cool. When cooled enough to handle, remove the bone and skin. Cut chicken into small pieces and return to broth (don’t worry if it is still pink ion center).

(See? It’s okay if it’s pink, it will finish cooking super quickly once you add the bite-sized pieces back to the broth)

5.       Return chicken to broth and add egg noodles. Cook until noodles are done, ten to fifteen minutes.

bring back up to a simmer… boil first (high heat, lid on) then simmer until you taste a noodle and it’s done

Like that, gorgeous

Now, I have the kids put their soup into labeled containers for tomorrow. You could just eat the soup if you make this at home

Soup is awesome for several reasons.

1. Highly nutritious…a GREAT way to get like three servings of veggies into your day.

2. Low-calorie. Chicken broth has between 5-10 calories a cup. Veggies are almost negligible in the calorie department. Remember the cabbage soup diet from back in the day? Yeah, obviously you’d lose weight because you’re barely eating any calories! Helloooo.

3. Filling! You can eat a LOT of low calorie soup to make up a meal. If you are a hungry person like me, soup should become your friend. When dining out even, try to start your meal with a broth-based soup as it will do a wonderful job of filling the cavernous hole that is your stomach. You will likely eat less as the meal progresses.

The other fun thing about soup is that it’s very hard to mess up. If you simmer veggies/meat/noodles that you like in chicken broth, you’re going to like it. It’s an easy way to get rid of vegetables that need to be eaten as once they go in the soup they all taste like chicken broth!

Oh, why egg noodles instead of normal pasta noodles? Because they don’t get as spongy and full of liquid. They hold their consistency better. I say so, and so does America’s Test Kitchen.