This is so easy to make that you can actually make it when you are
feeling like you want to die of the worst headcold known to man.  I
really, really crave my own chicken soup when I'm sick.

1 whole already roasted chicken from your favorite supermarket, the
kind I get is the one roasted with "french country herbs" I think
you'd be safe with just about anything other than really strong
italian herbs or something.  To play it safe, get a plain roasted one.

2-3 stalks of celery, cut in half
4-6 large carrots, scrubbed, cut into chunks
2 large onion, quartered
a few bay leaves
about 10 peppercorns (or just throw a dash of pepper in later)
a pinch of thyme (I have a lemon thyme that is awesome)
a big handful of parsley, not even chopped up
salt to taste
egg noodles (cooked and kept separate)

So, the first thing I do is carve off a chunck or two of the breast
meat and eat it.  I'm not really a fan of chicken except when I'm sick
and craving this soup, but I'll eat a few slices while I'm getting
ready to make the soup.

Now, throw the ENTIRE chicken into a very large soup pot.  The
container it came in will have some drippings, drain that in to.  Add
everything else except the noodles.  Now add water to almost the top
of the pot.  Bring to a boil, and simmer uncovered for, oh, about an
hour.  You'll know when it's chicken soup!

Next comes the awful part.  If I actually do have a headcold, I make
sure I'm nice and Nyquil'ed up for this part.  As a former vegetarian,
it really freaks me out.  You have to use a slotted spoon, and take
all the solid bits out of the soup, and put them into a very, very
large bowl.  Once the stuff is cool enough to handle, you have to go
through this pile off carrots, celery, and chicken parts and gather
the bits you actually want in your soup.  Carrots go back in the
broth, celery goes out, nice pieces of chicken goes back in the pot,
bones and fat and nasties go out.  This takes like 20 minutes.  

If you haven't made your noodles yet, it's a good time to cook those
while you are sorting chicken bits.  Drain the noodles and put a touch
of olive oil on them to keep them from sticking together.  I always
keep the noodles separate cause otherwise they get really soggy and
ruin the broth.

WHen you are ready to serve, just grab a handful of noodles and put
them in a bowl and ladle in some soup over top.  Voila, easy chicken
soup!


rootie variation:

use 1 lb of carrots, 6 parsnips and no parsley when cooking the soup,
instead of making noodles, make long grain wild rice instead!
mushrooms would be awesome in this too, I would stem portabellas, and
cook the stems in the broth, then when the soup is sorted put some
thinly sliced caps in and simmer a few minutes until they are done.