"Ol' Fashion" Chicken Noodle (or Rice) Soup

"Ol' Fashion" Chicken Noodle (or Rice) Soup

This is my trusty chicken soup recipe.
The soup's latest claim to fame?

Walnut Grove Band played SpaghettiFest in October 2005 and some friends and I brought extra, extra, extra food along with us to sell, including this soup recipe. SpaghettiFest is a warm-spirited, albeit chilly and rainy early fall music camping festival. The music was great, and we made sure the food tent was well situated -- on high ground with a view of the stage! We made a lot of friends, worked hard, and had a lot of fun that weekend! SpaghettiFest ('04) pix.

1 whole chicken
1-2 stalks celery, with leaves (whole or partially chopped)
2 carrots (whole or partially chopped)
1onion (cut in quarters)
bay leaf
2 tablespoons vinegar (this helps get the nutritional goodness out of the chicken bones)

Before you do anything else, make sure you have removed the giblets from inside the chicken and save them for another recipe. Place the ingredients in a large stock pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and let simmer til chicken is well cooked and bones are breaking apart. Strain and separate chicken and vegetables from broth. Discard the veggies. Let chicken cool a bit so you can pull it off the bones with your fingers. Be careful to get out all the bones!!

Place chicken and broth back in stock pot and return to heat. Add:

1 thinly sliced onion
3-4 cloves garlic (or even more if you like it, to keep you well!)
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 teaspoons thyme
1 teaspoon sage
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
dash of ground red pepper
a few (3-4) peeled, diced potatoes are a nice option here, although they weren't in the festival recipe

Simmer until vegetables are done. Soup is ready. Boil 8 oz. medium wide egg noodles or rice. Add noodles to each bowl as soup is served. If you use rice, add it individually to servings, as well.

If one is a purist, one will wish to make one's own noodles from scratch or adorn the soup with dumplings. Bless your heart! Invite me to supper! However, personally, I find these treats to be unappreciated by many, so I generally use either the store-bought egg noodle option or rice.