Chicken Noodle Soup

The Pirate's Brunch was lovely and we were able to usher out the last straggler by 7pm.  I'll post pictures and a little recap later today. 

The owls are jealous of homemade chicken noodle soup.

After all the yummy party food, we were both craving some "real" food.  I made myself a quick veggie soup and Dylan had the last of the casserole he had made, one of the few dishes he makes.  It's a holdover from his bachelor days (and more importantly his childhood) consisting of browned ground beef and two drained cans of corn mixed into three boxes of prepared mac'n'cheese.  Put it in a casserole dish and cover it with a heavy layer of cheese and he happily eats it for most meals until it's gone.  Easy, cheap, comforting man food.

We recently took a trip to our local Asian grocery store and grabbed a few different types of rice noodles to try out.  We're trying to cut down on our gluten intake, so we're exploring a little bit.  Dylan made this last batch of casserole with rice macaroni noodles instead of a boxed mac'n'cheese. It turned out pretty well, not quite as cheesy as normal - we still need to figure out how to do a good cheesy sauce to replace the powder cheese sauce.

After finishing his last little bit of casserole, he came back to the kitchen and started rooting around in the fridge again.  He turned to me and declared that he would like to make chicken noodle soup. I was a little surprised by his sudden urge to make soup from scratch, but I was game.  The weather all day had been cool and overcast - perfect soup weather.  With his childhood favorite of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup from the can as a reference point, I knew we could figure out something filling and delicious for him to eat on all week.

We started with the rice noodles - rice shells to be exact.  While the package claimed 9 - 11 minutes in boiling water, it took a full 13 minutes before most of the noodle were tender.  We are still figuring them out - some of the noodles were still pretty toothsome, even after a long boil and a cold water rinse. Once the noodles were resting in the colander, we rinsed out the big pot and filled it halfway with water.  If we had been thinking ahead, chicken broth would have been a better base, but we didn't have any on hand.

Into the water went some sea salt, granulated garlic, and dried parsley. I chopped up a handful of celery and tossed that in and we left it to boil.  I suggested we add a couple of cans of corn and Dylan thought that some tomatoes would be good.  So I drained and rinsed two cans of corn and chopped 6 Roma tomatoes. The tomatoes went in first to give them a little time to soften up.  Lastly we pulled the chicken from the fridge. 

Once a week or so, we make some plain chicken in the slow cooker for Dylan to add to his meals all week.  It's pretty simple - about 4 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs with a little salt and granulated garlic covered in water.  Set it on low and leave it alone for 9 hours while you're at work (or sleeping) and magically you have tender delicious chicken ready to add to sandwiches, quesadillas, salads, and, oh yeah, soups!

Into the bubbling soup went the corn, chicken, and noodles.  Last little addition was about 4 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice.  That little shot of acid brightens the flavor - it's like a secret trick.  One last taste to check for seasoning - Dylan decided it needed a little more salt and I suggested a little extra parsley.  Once it was finished, Dylan enjoyed a bowl of his newest creation and left it to cool.  Later he put the remainder into two huge storage containers and he is set for dinners this week.

It was really fun to cook and create together.  And it wasn't very expensive at all.

Rice Noodles - $1.49
2 Cans of Corn - $2
6 Roma Tomatoes - $1 (wild guess, the tomatoes were $.69/lb)
2 lbs. Chicken - $3 (boneless, skinless chicken thighs are often on sale for $1.49/lb at our local hippie store)
Assorted spices, lemon juice, etc. - $.50 (we didn't use much)

For about $8 and an hour in the kitchen, Dylan got about eight servings of delicious, filling soup.  After he heats it up, adding a handful of fresh spinach to wilt lightly in the hot broth finishes the dish and makes it a meal. The weather is supposed to be cool and rainy - hearty chicken soup should really hit the spot.