Thursday, February 7, 2013

"Centsible Soups" Part 2- Crock-Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

It's good for what ails you... At least that's what I'm always being told about chicken noodle soup. I was hopeful that this recipe would be a keeper because I'm all about soups, especially soups that are supposedly going to help keep me healthy or help me get healthier faster. It didn't disappoint!

I modified a found recipe and made it my own with organic broth and chicken, skipped the can of cream of chicken soup, and doubling or halving some ingredients. As you may be figuring out by now I NEVER ever follow a recipe perfectly. It's a fault of mine. So, even if I write down 5 cups I may only have 4 on hand, so I just add a little less of everything else. Today I had PLENTY of broth and decided to double it so it could be frozen or sent with Mr. Fantastik to work. You're probably also learning I am fairly obsessed with cooking extra for freezing! 

So, I gathered my ingredients and threw it in the Crock-Pot around noon. Five hours later we were ready to devour it along with some warm from the oven bread for the hubby. And it made LOTS, folks (filled my 5 quart Crock-Pot). If you want a normal amount, I would suggest cutting the recipe in half. 

 This was after we had dished some up. It really did fill up the 5 quart Crock-Pot.


Chicken and Noodle Soup
8 cups of chicken broth (I used Pacific Organic Low Sodium broth)
1 cup onions, chopped fine (used frozen variety from Kroger)
1/2 cup celery, chopped fine
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup green onions, sliced
1 bag of frozen corn (16 oz) (You can use canned corn, I just happen to despise it)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 1/2 cup Egg noodles (I have now found whole wheat noodles and am excited to try them next time)
2 cups cooked chicken chopped/shredded (I used Coleman Organic from Costco. I had cooked an entire chicken in the Crockpot a few months ago, shredded my meat, and froze it for a recipe just like this one.)

Add everything but the noodles to the Crockpot and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Add the noodles during the last hour and be sure and switch to high. 

You may be wondering how this was 'centsible' if I used organic broth and chicken. I was pleasantly surprised to find the Pacific broth on sale at Kroger for $1.70 less than Wal-mart's normal price. This made it even cheaper than buying the same amount of broth from Swanson. I also like buying Pacific brand because it is not in the cans with BPA.

Also, I did pay more for my meat, but at $2.29/lb it didn't break the bank. I was able to get more meat than I used for this recipe and also made some chicken stock I've already used.