The Un-Canned (Childhood) Chicken Noodle Soup

So being pregnant for the first time has me really reminiscing about childhood and missing my mom who lives a zillion miles away, or 1500 miles. And her food. We have driven it a couple times. It feels like a zillion miles away especially with a toddler. Being prego also reminds me a ton of food I used to eat growing up.

Some of those memories have turned into baby food cravings. I call them that because I am craving foods I usually don't eat or haven't eaten in years like cereal, sandwiches, milkshakes, onion rings, potato chips, ect. Thank goodness some of these cravings are short lived! Lol. Although the onion ring one was fun. But, some foods I can't give into like that old comforting can of yellow liquidity chicken noodle soup from my childhood no matter how it beckons me. Those long thing white noodles I used to slurp up with the tiny uniform pieces of chicken... it doesn't make sense to my head but I want to eat it so bad. But I can't knowingly buy it after reading the label. So in effort to please my tongue, taste buds, and this growing little fig inside me I am making my own chicken noodle soup... ahem...  minus the food coloring and other chemical additives that help sustain its canned life on the shelf. Now if I could only stay away from the potato chips ;) 

The Un- Canned Chicken Noodle Soup 

Great meal for people with kids, people without kids, a great way to use up leftover chicken, or anyone that has had a baby or been sick. 

Serves 3-5 people comfortably or 3-4 normal people and 1 prego 

Ingredient list: 
10 cups of water
1 quart of chicken broth (step 1 will create this) 
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 tsp kosher course salt
1/2 tsp course black pepper
1 Tbs dried parsley 
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 chicken breast, trimmed/removed any visible fat  
1 stick/rib of celery, super finely diced 
1 whole carrot, super finely diced
1/4 of an yellow onion, super finely diced
1/4 of a box of whole wheat angel hair pasta 

Directions:

1. Poach the chicken in a large pot to cook the chicken and create a quart of chicken broth. Put one whole chicken breast into 8 cups of water with 1/2 tsp salt, the bay leaf, and all the parsley. Let it come to a boil and simmer it for approx 20- 30 minutes until its completely cooked. 

2. Finely chop veggies and set them aside

3. When chicken is cooked through. Let it cool down in the broth. 

4.  Fish out the chicken with a spoon and strain the broth to get the parsley out and anything else. Should look smooth and liquidity just like the stuff in the can. 

5. If you have time and are making this ahead.... go ahead and throw the broth in the fridge to remove any additional fat. It will rise to the surface in a white solid and you can just scoop it off. No biggie if you can't. I didn't. 

6. Bring the broth back to a simmer and throw the veggies in and let them cook until almost softened 5-7 minutes. Add in the rest of the seasonings, and water (3 cups). Stir to combine. 

7. Bring the entire pot of soup back to a boil before adding your pasta. Cook it to the al dente time as stated on your box. Mine was 3 minutes.  Meanwhile, cut up the chicken into tiny cubes and throw them back into to reheat. 

8. Once the noodles are done the soup is done.  Serve it hot with rolls, biscuits, saltine crackers or just plain. This totally reminded me of the canned soup I grew up. 


My whole family loved it. I hope you like it too. I think I surprised my son by slurping up some noodles with him. Everyone had huge grins on their faces. I need to add a bit more salt to mine, but everything else was spot on. I had forgotten how salty canned soup is. I loved that because I finely chopped the veggies they didn't make the soup chunky. It was a compromise between making the best version of the original canned soup and the nutritional value from a chunkier vegetable chicken noodle soup. 

Stephanie