Although Michael denies that he’s getting sick (probably worried I’d blog about him and his “man cold”… and he would be correct), he has not been his normal self these last few days.

Naturally, my husband’s health and comfort is top of my mind, and the faster he becomes healthy again, the sooner I get my sous chef back in the groove. So I made soup. Chicken soup.

This soup tastes delicious, and is easy to make.  There is no fuss in finding a farm with chickens running around, capturing a chicken, letting the chicken go because you had a moment where you thought you’d become vegetarian, then you smell bacon cooking somewhere and you give up the vegetarian idea, catch another chicken, kill the chicken, pluck the feathers,  roast the chicken, feed the family chicken with potatoes and fresh vegetables for supper, pick the meat off the carcass, make stock, and THEN make soup.

I promise you, this will be the BEST chicken soup you ever make (DISCLAIMER: providing your taste buds are exactly like my taste buds).

CHICKEN SOUP
To Cure a Man Cold

You will need:

2 chicken breasts, raw or cooked (method written below is based on raw chicken)
1 onion, chopped to smithereens (small dice)
2 ribs of celery, also chopped to smithereens (small dice)
4 peeled carrots, and sliced thinly
1-900 mL Tetra-type box of chicken broth
1-900 mL Tetra-type box of vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups egg noodles
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
Olive or canola oil
Teensie bit of butter (1 to 2 tsp)

In a large pot, put in about 1 or 2 tablespoons of oil. Cook the chicken until done. Take out chicken, place on a plate and set aside. In pan drippings, add your chopped onion, celery and sliced carrots. Cook for about 5 minutes, or as long as it takes to check Facebook, e-mail, Twitter, play a few hands of Scrabble and chop up your chicken into soup-friendly pieces. Remember to stir the veg.

When vegetables are tender, add your chopped chicken, basil, oregano, thyme, teensie bit of butter, salt and pepper. Give it a stir. Add your two boxes of broth and noodles. Stir. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer for at least 20 minutes. Serve.