OK, So I Might Have A Slight To Moderate French Bread Addiciton!

Hello! How has your Saturday been? My Saturday morning started with a backyard show early this am. We watched a hot air balloon descend and land right behind our house. The kids loved it and it was pretty cool to watch.

I have a birthday party to go to this evening. My niece's birthday is today and my nephews birthday is tomorrow. I love that we can have a Birthday extravaganza and celebrate both of their b-days together. Tonight should be fun and should involve a lot of cupcakes and cake:-} Oh please Lord help me....LOL!

So for dinner tonight I made a big pot of homemade chicken and noodle soup sans the homemade noodles; I used frozen egg noodles instead!
These noodles are so thick and delicious! It gives the soup such a heartiness! I served French bread along side and let me tell you it was gooooood! I went a bit over board with the bread tonight, but I feel no remorse! Here is what I did for the soup:

3 chicken breasts
2 boxes of organic chicken broth * each box contains 32 oz.
1 white onion
3 stalks of celery
3 cloves of garlic
4 small carrots
Extra virgin olive oil
Chicken base
1 bag of homemade style frozen egg noodles
Sea salt & pepper

If you have never used chicken base you should give it a try! Has so much flavor.



Cut up your onion, carrots, garlic and celery into small pieces. (a little side not here- I like to use the inner most stalks of the celery. The ones that have all of the leaves on top. I find that these have such a good flavor in soups, casseroles and other dishes. You do not have to use these parts, but I really love to use this part of the celery). Add a bit of olive oil in the bottom of your pan
turn the heat on medium and add your cut up veggies.
Add a dash of sea salt and pepper. Let it saute and get soft. Next you will want to add your chicken breasts. Go ahead and let it cook for about 10 minutes. You can put the chicken breasts in whole and we will fish them out later and shred the meat. I prefer working with the cooked chicken better :=D After about 10 minutes add your chicken broth and ensure you are on medium heat and walk away for about 20-30 minutes. This gives the chicken time to cook. After the chicken is cooked you can remove it from the pot and put it on a plate to cool. You can kick the heat up a bit and let the broth come to a boil. You will want to add a dash of sea salt and pepper and one teaspoon of chicken base and stir into broth really well. Once it is boiling add your noodles in and let cook for about 8-10 minutes. You can shred your chicken now if it is cool enough to handle. Just shred it with your fingers into nice bite sized pieces and throw it back into the broth. It's OK to throw it in to the broth even if your noodles are not finished cooking. Just give it a quick taste to determine if you need to adjust your seasoning - you may need to add a little more salt and pepper. Just turn the heat down to low medium and let simmer a bit. Maybe 20 minutes or so just to let all the flavors settle together. Serve it up! Of course this is where the French bread comes into play. Just cut a piece and very lightly butter - or dont butter.