Cheater’s Guide to Homemade Chicken-N-Noodles

This is Conner’s favorite dish hands down.

He’s such a boy and always doing something to make himself hungry.

Did I mention he’s also a “major picky boy”?  Conner likes his food plain and simple.

He had a little bout with the stomach flu earlier this week and even Mr. Wonderful was feeling a little icky yesterday.  I decided to make the ultimate comfort food – Chicken-N-Noodles.

But not just any Chicken-N-Noodles, homemade Chicken-N-Noodles.

Well, sort of.

You see, I used to do the “buy the whole chicken and slowly simmer it in a huge stockpot for hours” thing.  I used to let the chicken cool and pull all the meat off the rather slimy carcass.  Then I’d lovingly add the noodles in, and 3 hours later, we’d have homemade Chicken-N-Noodles.

One night, while I was working late, Mr. Wonderful made this for the kids.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but when I got home, it tasted exactly like I make it.  Once I got over the shock that anyone could make them as good as I could, I noticed that there was a lot of winking and talking behind my back going on.  Several months later, he told me what he’d done.

He had bought one of those roasted chickens from our local Wal-Mart, picked it apart and threw it into a pot with 2 boxes of chicken broth.  Then he’d added the noodles.  Total cooking time -about 15 minutes or so.

I am always one who loves progression, so I jumped on board the home-cooking-in-an-instant bandwagon.

Here’s the great thing though.  Once you pick the chicken clean and make your dish?  Use the same pot, fill it with water, and throw the chicken carcass you just picked clean in.  If you like stock – throw in a quartered up onion, peel and all, some carrots, some celery and whatever spices you like (bay leaf and thyme are good).

See, that’s the differenece between stock and broth.  Stock has veggie and spices.  Broth is just plain meat.  If you just want broth?  Let it simmer away for about an hour, strain the whole thing through a fine sieve, let it cool and voila!  Chicken broth or stock!  Put it in a freezer-proof container and put it into your freezer.  Next time you make this dish (or any soup or stew), thaw it out and you’ll have homemade chicken stock or broth.  If you use this method, you’ll always have the broth ready to use for your next batch!

You could add any vegetable to this you wanted, peas, carrots, etc.  My family loves it simple and rustic.

I like mine like this – a little fresh spinach and some chopped green onions.  Throw in the spinach right after you pour and let it wilt for a minute in the hot broth.  Sprinkle some green onions over top.

Mmmmmmmm.

Katie’s Recipe for Cheater Homemade Chicken N Noodles

Ingredients:
1 roasted chicken
1 large package of egg noodles
2 boxes chicken broth or stock (first time only)
4 chicken bouilon cubes (optional)
6-8 cups of water

Directions: Pick chicken clean of good meat. Pour water into stock pot and bring to a low simmer. Add chicken, bouilon and noodles. Cook noodles according to package directions. Stir well to dissolve boiulon.

Transfer soup to a separate pot or bowl. Fill pot with 6-8 cups of water. Dump in leftover chicken carcass and parts. Simmer on low for one hour. Strain and let cool. Put in freezer for next batch!

Cooking with Love,

~Katie