Food For Thought | Grandma B’s Chicken Noodle Soup

I admitted defeat this week. I got sick. All these temperature changes, lack of sleep + work stress not to mention still putting energy into someone who doesn’t deserve it have wiped me out. My throat’s been sore, I’m sneezing like that baby panda video except I’m far less cute, the sniffles are off the charts. Monday I left work early because I just couldn’t hold my head up anymore. Aside from migraines, this is the first time I’ve been sick since I had my tonsils out a year and a half ago. I can’t really complain. I used to have THE WORST sinus issues growing up to the point I could self-diagnose a sinus infection by the first tickle in the back of my throat. But for the last 15 months, I’ve been so healthy. Not anymore. Tuesday I called my dad + asked if he could pick up some things for me to make my Grandma’s chicken noodle soup. It’s the only thing I can eat when I’m sick + I swear it has healing powers.

I used to spend a week at my Grandma’s every summer. It was so great. We didn’t really go anywhere because it was very difficult for Grandma to get around + I wasn’t old enough to drive. Luckily near her condo there were plenty of places for me to walk if we needed something + Grandma’s home helper wasn’t there that day. She once let me walk all the way to Pizza Hut (long before I ever had a cellphone) because I wanted pizza + she didn’t have the ingredients to make one. One summer I got a summer sinus infection + she said “Come to the kitchen. I’m going to teach you how to make chicken noodle soup.”

The first thing she told me while we were making soup was that I should always have the ingredients to make chicken noodle soup in my kitchen. I would agree that most of the ingredients are necessary, but not all. For example, unlike my Grammie’s recipe which uses a whole chicken, Grandma’s only uses chicken thighs. I’m not a huge dark meat fan so when I shop on Sunday for meal prep, I’m grabbing chicken breasts instead. I also don’t cook with chicken broth often, so I just pick it up when I need it. When we make Grammie’s version, we make our own broth, but her soup recipe is a two day process which I just did not have time for.

Enough chit-chat. Let’s get to this recipe!

Ingredients:

• 2.5 lbs chicken thighs
• 1.25 teaspoons of pepper, divided
• 0.5 teaspoons of salt
• 1 teaspoon of oil–Grandma used EVOO, I use avocado
• 1 large onion, chopped–I cut my onions in sixths + chop them up in the food processor. Time saver, smell saver + less tears. There will still be tears, but definitely less.
• 1 clove garlic, minced–I used a large teaspoon of minced garlic from the jar.
• 64 oz chicken broth–I used two boxes College Inn but you can make your own.
• 4 carrots, peeled + chopped–This time I used one + a half bags of matchstick carrots because I had them in the house. They definitely soften faster.
• One bunch of celery, chopped–Obviously the smaller the slices you cut, the faster they’ll cook. But I rough chopped mine in different sizes because they’re mostly water anyway, right?
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced or 1/4 teaspoon dried–I used dried and likely put closer to half a teaspoon.
• 8oz uncooked noodles–you can use the noodles of your choice. We always use No Yolks + I ended up using the whole bag (12 oz) because I got impatient.

**NOTE: When you can be heavy handed with ingredients like I did this time, you’ll have a very chunky soup, with lots of “stuff”. I like having lots of stuff in my soup. Because there’s so much stuff, ” I’ve made chicken broth twice this week to add with boiling water + bouillon.

Directions:

1. Pat chicken dry with paper towels–Per Grandma, this is very important!
2. Sprinkle chicken with 1/2 teaspoon pepper and salt.
3. In a 6-qt. stockpot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken skin side down + cook until dark golden brown, usually about 5-6 minutes.
4. Remove chicken from pan; remove and discard skin.
5. Leave drippings in pan + add onions.
6. Stir over medium-high heat for about five minutes.
7. Add garlic + cook for another minute
8. Add broth while stirring + bring to a boil.
9. Return chicken to pot + add your carrots, celery, thyme + bay leaves.
10. Reduce heat + let simmer covered for about 30 minutes until chicken is cooked through + tender.
11. Remove your soup from heat + transfer chicken to plate.
12. Add noodles + let stand, covered, for about 22 minutes. I like my noodles very soft, especially in soup, so I left mine for about 30 minutes.
13. When you chicken is cool enough to handle, remove meat from bones + return to pot.
14. Adjust seasoning to your preference using salt to taste + remaining black pepper.
15. Remove bay leaves.
16. Spoon into bowl + enjoy.

I’m going to heat up another bowl + do just that. My workouts have taken a backseat this week so I’m going to try some yoga to relax + enjoy the rest of this three day weekend. Let me know if you try this recipe + what you think!

xo.