Monday, December 30, 2013

Granddad's Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Josh came home from work today with a stuffy nose. Ugh. We can't get sick. Especially with the flu going around.

Four years ago, almost exactly, I came down with swine flu, H1N1. It was the worst three months of my life. I was a freshman at UNR. There were about five of us that came down with it, and we were quarantined to our rooms, only able to leave for the doctor. I remember being up all night long shaking and shivering. I couldn't get warm. Nothing I ate would stay down. I coughed so much that my lungs would just ache. I kid you not, I have never been so sick in my life. I remember calling my mom in the middle of the night and begging her to make the eight hour drive to come get me, not that there was anything she could have done to help. And now, it's back. I saw on the news yesterday that five people have already died from it this year. We cannot get sick!

I'm sure what Josh has is just a cold or allergies because he has no fever, but I'm not taking any chances! We've loaded up on vitamin c and echinacea, I've got him drinking Gatorade and Pedialyte to keep hydrated, and I made a giant batch of granddad's homemade chicken noodle soup. This thing does the trick, let me tell you. We grew up eating this soup. Anytime anyone felt sick, granddad made us soup. I recently asked him to teach me how to make it, and now it is one of my favorite recipes, probably because it brings back so many memories.


On of the best things about this soup is that it is super easy. Besides cutting the vegetables and chicken, you really just sit back and wait for it all to come together. The other great thing is that it is very inexpensive to make. I made ten servings of soup today and spent less than five dollars!! That is $.50 a serving! The other great thing about this soup--I know, it keeps getting better :) --is that it freezes very well. I put the leftover soup in individual bags and freeze them so that we always have some on hand for a quick lunch or supper. The last thing I love about this soup is that it is homemade. Have you seen the label of these canned soups? Granddad has been watching his salt intake lately because he has high blood pressure, and these canned soups have like 900mg of sodium in them!! I make the broth from scratch. I cook the chicken myself, though you could use like a rotisserie if you wanted to. I chop all the veggies myself. The only thing I don't make myself is the noodles.

Okay, enough blabbing, let's get to the recipe, shall we.


2 comments:

  1. I do hope you have beaten the germs and are all still fairly well? how nice is it to be able to have your granddad teach you to cook this soup!

    this recipe will be tried in this house it sounds delicious!

    Thanks for linking up with #MagicMoments

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  2. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!! :]

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