Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul with Homemade Herbed Noodles

Nothing warms the soul like homemade

chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles.

Colder weather begins and I start craving soups and breads.

With the change in weather a really nasty cold caught me.

All I could think of was chicken noodle soup. 

My husband had bought a rotisserie chicken at the store and

the leftovers looked like the perfect thing for soup.

First I have to tell you my gardening failure.

Our garden has been wonderful this year.  We

had tried a few new things.

The thing I was really excited about was a new way

that you can grow "LOTS" of potatoes.

You can either do this in a large garbage barrel or

in a large garbage sack.   My neighbors were trying

the barrels, so I decided to try the sack.

The idea is that you provide drainage at the bottom

and begin planting your potatoes and cover with 6 inches

 of dirt.  Then when the

potato plants come above the surface of the dirt

you continue to add dirt in 6 inch increments and

the plants continue to grow up through the dirt

and are supposed to send tubers out through all

the layers.

Well, here is my potato stash a couple of weeks ago.

You wait for the plants to die off before you harvest.

I love to bring the grandkids out to the garden so they

learn to love gardening.  So I brought them out and I

was so excited.  "You can expect to produce up

to 50 lbs. of potatoes." 

This was just too exciting!  I could hardly wait.  Harvesting

potatoes is like the ultimate treasure hunt.  So we sliced

the bag, camera ready!  I couldn't wait to weigh my harvest.

The grandkids were excited too!

We began sifting and sifting, they were helping!

THIS WAS IT! 

All the way to the very bottom of the bag, this was it!!

Mind you, the biggest one here was 2 1/2 inches

across.  Now I have grown potatoes many

times.  I have never had such a failure.  I called the

neighbors and they had the same problem.  We

don't have a clue what we did wrong as bloggers

everywhere are showing huge potatoes and huge

harvests. 

Anyway, we were not wasting those expensive potatoes

(just the price of the bags of dirt to fill that garbage sack!)

So they went into our soup for today.

Herb Noodles

1 1/2 C. flour

2 eggs

2 tsp. olive oil

(I used my Garlic Basil Olive Oil)

2 T. water (or more depending on humidity)

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp. dried basil

1/2 tsp. dried parsley

2 T. parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp. salt

Place all ingredients in a food processor.  Mix

until the dough forms a ball.  Add more water if needed.

Cut dough in half and roll out as thin as desired.  Dust with

flour then roll up and slice into desired size noodles.  Remember

the noodles will swell quite a bit.

I like to cook my noodles in a separate pot of boiling water

so my broth doesn't get cloudy.  Cook about 2-3 minutes.

Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

2 chicken breasts or meaty bones of 1 chicken

8 C. water

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 large carrot, roughly chopped

1 stalk celery, roughly chopped

2 T. chicken bouillon

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp. white pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Additional vegetables as desired - my potatoes!

Place chicken or meaty bones in large pan and

cover with water.  Add remaining ingredients except

the additional vegetables which you will add at the

end.  Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat.

Let simmer about 1 hour.  Strain the soup.  Skim

off any foam.  Chop the meat into bite size pieces.

If using the meaty bones, pull pieces of meat off bones.

Bring the water back up to the original level.

Add any additional vegetables you

desire and cook them until tender. Chop and add the carrots

you cooked in the broth and the onions and celery if

desired.  I don't usually use the onions or celery.

Add the noodles you have already boiled.

Heat through.

Ladel into bowls and garnish with parmesan

cheese if desired.

My favorite ingredient in this soup is the thyme.  It gives it such

a wonderful flavor.

After eating this my teenage son informed me

 that I am to have a pot of soup

ready all winter for when he comes home from school.

Now there is a compliment.

In keeping with Red Couch Recipe's challenge

to include something we are grateful for in every post

this month, I want to say how grateful I am for a

wonderful husband, who doesn't complain about

my blogging, my tablescaping, my shopping for more

plates, etc., etc., etc.  I feel so blessed and am glad that

we want to be married for all eternity.

I will be posting this with

Seasonal Sundays.

and

Just Something I Whipped Up Monday