Chicken Noodle Soup

Nothing says "comfort" more than a good bowl of chicken noodle soup! I've never actually followed a recipe while making chicken noodle soup in the past, but I happened to stumble across this recipe in one of my countless Taste of Home cookbooks and it looked really good! I made the soup during the afternoon and then my husband was so kind as to pick up sandwiches--there's nothing quite like a good sandwich and bowl of soup...especially on one of those "lazy nights" when you can't quite muster up the energy to cook :) This will most definitely be my new default chicken soup recipe!

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 stewing chicken (about 4 pounds), cut up
3 quarts water
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) chicken broth
5 celery ribs, coarsely chopped, divided
4 medium carrots, coarsely chopped, divided
2 medium onions, quartered, divided
2/3 cup coarsely chopped green pepper, divided
1 1/4 teaspoons pepper, divided
1 bay leaf
3 teaspoons salt
8 ounces uncooked medium egg noodles

Directions:

In a large kettle, combine the chicken, water, broth, half of the celery, carrots, onions and green pepper, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and the bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 2 1/2 hours or until the chicken is tender. Chop the remaining onion; set aside.

Remove chicken from broth. When cool enough to handle, remove meat from bones and cut into bite-sized pieces. Discard bones and skin; set chicken aside. Strain broth and skim fat; return broth to kettle. Add salt, chopped onion and remaining celery, carrots, green pepper and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Add noodles and chicken. Cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until noodles are tender.

Source: Taste of Home Annual Recipes 2004