My sister-in-law, Linda, passed this recipe along to me. It is a keeper... in fact, this one is going to be a favorite! I have tried to make homemade chicken noodle soups before. The last time, it seemed a bit bland - much more trouble than it was worth. But not this one! OH. MY. GOSH!
Linda cooked it a few days ago for her son, Daniel, and (almost) daughter-in-law, Denise (we have 3 Denise's in the family - none related by blood). The almost DIL was under the weather and Linda made it for her. Linda said she got the recipe from her friend and previous co-worker, Gwen. Gwen got it from the magazine, Taste of Home. I looked on the Taste of Home site and saw several recipes for Chicken Noodle Soup. None were like this one. Most looked similar to the one I had that was so bland. I looked on other recipe sites with no luck - this one doesn't seem to be out there. And this one is surely the best of all!
Linda says this is a "recipe that can be adjusted without fear of failure". I did do some adjusting according to what I had on hand. So did Linda. My modifications and comments are in red.
1-2 TBS butter/margarine
1 large onion,chopped - I omitted this
3 cups chopped cooked chicken
3 14 1/2 oz cans chicken broth - I used one container of Imagine organic broth
1 can cream of mushroom soup,undiluted - I used Pacific organic cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup,undiluted - I used Pacific organic cream of chicken soup
8 ounce pkg spaghetti broken into 1" pieces - I started with approx 8 oz, but added more later in the cooking at my hubby's request. I ended up using the whole pkg - 14oz, which was probably a little too much. If you add too much, you'll need to add more liquid!
7 celery ribs, diced
6 med carrots, diced - I used a pkg of shredded carrots
2 cups milk - From Linda: I think any milk you have on hand would be fine. I happened to have a can of evaporated milk and used that with a little of my regular milk added to bring it up to 2 cups. - I used 1 cup of almond milk and 1 cup of heavy whipping cream left over from a Christmas recipe
STOVETOP METHOD:
Melt butter over medium heat, add onion and saute until tender. Stir in chicken and the rest of ingredients. Simmer. It's done when celery and noodles are ready.
CROCKPOT METHOD:
Linda cooked hers in the crock pot and I did, too. I love putting something on in the morning when I have plenty of energy.
Melt butter over medium heat,add onion and saute until tender. Put everything in the crockpot. Cook on low. It's done when carrots, celery, and noodles are ready. I had mine ready in about 4 hours. I cooked it part of the time on high and most of the time on low. The carrots were the last thing to get done.
As you can see, there are lots of things you can change to suit your tastes.
One thing is a must - use some kind of milk. The recipes that use only water are too bland. If you have an issue with dairy, use a milk substitute - I cook with Almond milk all the time and it always tastes great. Having the whipping cream on hand was a fluke. I buy that maybe once a year. I was happy to be able to use up what I had left.
The noodles could easily be changed to suit you, as well. You might prefer thicker noodles. And you decide how much to use based on whether you like your soups thick or thin. While I was searching for similar recipes, I saw several that included homemade noodles. That would be fun to try - one day when there's not so much on my To-Do list.
Linda cooked it a few days ago for her son, Daniel, and (almost) daughter-in-law, Denise (we have 3 Denise's in the family - none related by blood). The almost DIL was under the weather and Linda made it for her. Linda said she got the recipe from her friend and previous co-worker, Gwen. Gwen got it from the magazine, Taste of Home. I looked on the Taste of Home site and saw several recipes for Chicken Noodle Soup. None were like this one. Most looked similar to the one I had that was so bland. I looked on other recipe sites with no luck - this one doesn't seem to be out there. And this one is surely the best of all!
Linda says this is a "recipe that can be adjusted without fear of failure". I did do some adjusting according to what I had on hand. So did Linda. My modifications and comments are in red.
1-2 TBS butter/margarine
1 large onion,chopped - I omitted this
3 cups chopped cooked chicken
3 14 1/2 oz cans chicken broth - I used one container of Imagine organic broth
1 can cream of mushroom soup,undiluted - I used Pacific organic cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup,undiluted - I used Pacific organic cream of chicken soup
8 ounce pkg spaghetti broken into 1" pieces - I started with approx 8 oz, but added more later in the cooking at my hubby's request. I ended up using the whole pkg - 14oz, which was probably a little too much. If you add too much, you'll need to add more liquid!
7 celery ribs, diced
6 med carrots, diced - I used a pkg of shredded carrots
2 cups milk - From Linda: I think any milk you have on hand would be fine. I happened to have a can of evaporated milk and used that with a little of my regular milk added to bring it up to 2 cups. - I used 1 cup of almond milk and 1 cup of heavy whipping cream left over from a Christmas recipe
STOVETOP METHOD:
Melt butter over medium heat, add onion and saute until tender. Stir in chicken and the rest of ingredients. Simmer. It's done when celery and noodles are ready.
CROCKPOT METHOD:
Linda cooked hers in the crock pot and I did, too. I love putting something on in the morning when I have plenty of energy.
Melt butter over medium heat,add onion and saute until tender. Put everything in the crockpot. Cook on low. It's done when carrots, celery, and noodles are ready. I had mine ready in about 4 hours. I cooked it part of the time on high and most of the time on low. The carrots were the last thing to get done.
As you can see, there are lots of things you can change to suit your tastes.
One thing is a must - use some kind of milk. The recipes that use only water are too bland. If you have an issue with dairy, use a milk substitute - I cook with Almond milk all the time and it always tastes great. Having the whipping cream on hand was a fluke. I buy that maybe once a year. I was happy to be able to use up what I had left.
The noodles could easily be changed to suit you, as well. You might prefer thicker noodles. And you decide how much to use based on whether you like your soups thick or thin. While I was searching for similar recipes, I saw several that included homemade noodles. That would be fun to try - one day when there's not so much on my To-Do list.
I didn't think to take photos til after everything was done and we had finished eating. My pictures just don't do it justice. In fact, they are so bad that my computer crashed while trying to upload them. So be warned.
Truly, the recipe is soupier than this looks, even though I did use too many noodles.
I hope these unappetizing pictures don't keep you from trying this recipe. It really is divine! Oh, and I almost forgot - after it's been cooking a little while, it smells wonderful.
Be sure to check out the latest RE- Party!
We RE-do, RE-decorate, RE-organize, RE-pair, RE-upholster,
RE-member, RE-finish, RE-purpose, and of course, we love to RE-lax!
RE-member, RE-finish, RE-purpose, and of course, we love to RE-lax!
This party celebrates ALL the RE-'s in our lives!
I'm linking this post with -
- Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple
- Show Off Your Stuff at Fireflies and Jelly Beans
- Favorite Things Friday at A Few of My Favorite Things
- Fab Friday at Frugal and Fabulous Design
- It's a HodgePodge Friday at It's a HodgePodge Life
- What I Made This Week... or This Month... or Last Month at Simply Designing
- I'm Lovin' It Fridays at Tidy Mom
- Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage
- Inspiration Friday at Southern in My Heart
- Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors
- Favorite Things Saturday at Bargain Hunting with Laurie
- Homemaker Monday at 11th Heaven
- Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Designs
- Creative Share Wednesday at Trendy Treehouse