31 Days of Comfort Food: Day 1, Chicken Noodle Soup

Welcome! If this is your first time here, you can scroll down to read Day 1. Otherwise, here are the current links for my series, "31 Days of Comfort Food."

Day 2: Hearty Beef Stew

Day 3: Minnesota Chili

Day 4: Apple Nut Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting

Day 5: Brown Sugar Cookies

Day 6: Oatmeal Scotchies

Day 7: Pumpkin-Scotch Bread

Day 8: Quick & Easy Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

Day 9: Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

Day 10: The Best Ever Chocolate Cake

Day 11: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Day 12: Frosted Oatmeal Cookies 

Day 13: Stuffed Baked Potatoes

Day 14: Stuffed Shells

Day 15: Oven Baked Chicken Wings

Day 16: Caramel Corn

Day 17: Waffles

Day 18: Chippy Chewy Bars

Day 19: Pinterest Recipes

Day 20: Pumpkin Spice Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Day 21: Hearty Peasant Soup

Day 22: Cupcakes

Day 23: Chicken & Sausage Stuffed Soup

Day 24: Junk Food!

Day 25: Authentic French Onion Soup

Day 26: Fall Treats & Spiced Apple Cider

Day 27: Angel Chicken

Day the Last: Roast Chicken with Herbs

5 Things I Learned from 31 Days of Comfort Food

Day 1

Put on your stretchy pants, pull up your chair, and grab a fork; it's time to eat! 

Welcome to the first of what will {hopefully} be 31 days of mouth-watering comfort food. 

I don't need an excuse to cook; it's my love language. But this. 31 days of comfort food. This is my heaven.

I feel like I should preface this series with a caveat, so here it is:

I am not a chef, nor am I an expert food photographer. I tend to make things up as I go, so my measurements are not always very precise, and I don't have lovely step-by-step photos. But I'll do my best to explain everything. If you have questions about anything, just let me know in the comments. 

Now that we have that out of the way we can get on with the good stuff. Cool autumn days just beg for  hot, hearty soups, so I thought I would kick off this series with the original comfort food; chicken noodle soup.

Heck, it is so comforting it even has medicinal qualities. Cures the cold, fights off the flu. It's practically magical. Plus- it's easy to make. Whenever we have a rotisserie or roast chicken, I boil up the carcass to make stock. It is so handy to have in the freezer and adds great flavor to all manner of dishes. 

But that's not what I did here. Nope, this here is cheater chicken soup, with broth from a carton. But it tastes just as good, and it still cures the common cold. I promise.

Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

Here's what you'll need: 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil 1 minced onion 1 clove garlic, minced 3 peeled and chopped carrots 3 ribs of celery, chopped 1/2 tsp. dried thyme  Bay leaf Splash {or two} of white wine Salt and pepper to taste 3 cups diced, cooked chicken 2 1/2-3 quarts chicken broth {homemade or not, either way is good. I used Swanson's reduced sodium broth for this batch.} 3 cups Egg noodles  1/4 cup chopped parsley for garnish Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven on medium-high heat. Toss in the onion, garlic, carrot, and celery and cook until soft {3-4 minutes}.  Stir in the thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper, wine, broth, and chicken. A note on the wine: I didn't have any real wine on hand, so I substituted cooking wine instead. {Sacre bleu! Forgive me, real cooks everywhere.} If you do likewise, be careful how much salt you add to the broth. Cooking wine contains salt, so it should be used sparingly. But it does add flavor and depth to the broth.  Simmer and cook till the vegetables are tender, this can take as little as 15 minutes, but in my opinion the flavor improves over time. I usually let it simmer for an hour or so. You can add more broth if it evaporates a bit.   Stir in the noodles and cook till they are just tender, about 5 minutes. Toss in the parsley, check the seasoning, and add more salt and pepper if needed. Serve with crusty bread and enjoy! There you have it; Day 1 of 31 Days of Comfort Food.  Only 30 more days to go. I can do this. Check back tomorrow to see what's on the menu for Day 2!