Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

This past week, I had rhinitis, rhinorrhea, myalgia, and pharyngitis: aka, the common cold, caused by viruses like adenovirus, rhinovirus, coronavirus...it's hard to say which one but it doesn't matter.  It is getting to be that time of year, so I thought a chicken soup recipe would be appropriate.  Some of my dear friends came for dinner on Saturday, and instead of making something fancy and time consuming, I thought I'd make something comforting and time consuming.  Enter a steaming bowl of symptom improvement.

If any of my med student friends are reading this, skip this paragraph (you'll laugh at me).  While at the hospital this week, I looked on some fancy evidence-based journal sites just to see if there would be any statistically significant findings about chicken soup and shortening the duration of colds....I didn't find much of anything.  There was some popular media findings that chicken itself might slow up neutrophils (the white blood cell that can cause lots of mucus production=less snot), contributing to relief of symptoms, and of course it usually contains veggies (good for the immune system), and it's broth based=increases fluid volume, always good for headaches...so I guess we made a weak case for it's utility as a medical treatment.  In case you needed justification to enjoy a nice bowl of soup, there you go.

This recipe is based from my grandma's, with just a few minor adjustments.  I added a bouquet garni, which is a bundle of herbs tied together with some kitchen twine.  This adds flavor to the broth without adding a bunch of prickly herbs.  Also, I added 2 cloves of garlic that were just smushed and de-skinned, to give a garlicky flavor without having large chunks to bite into.

I totally forgot to get a pic in a real bowl, so yes, that's gladware.

Chicken Noodle Soup
1-32 oz box chicken broth
6 cups water
1 Tbsp chicken bullion powder
1 lb chicken breasts (either skin-on, bone-in, or boneless skinless)
5-6 large carrots, sliced
1 small onion, diced
4 stalks celery, sliced
3/4 cup fresh green beans, trimmed and cut in half
2 garlic cloves, smashed, skins removed (whole)
1 sprig rosemary, 4-5 sprigs thyme, and 10 stems of parsley, tied together with kitchen twine
1/2 bag No Yolk Egg Noodles

In a large stock pot, combine broth, water, bullion, carrots, onion, celery, chicken, garlic, and herb bundle.  Bring to a boil, then simmer until chicken is done (depends on size, whether bone is in, etc.  just watch it).  Remove chicken, garlic cloves, and herb bundle, add green beans, and continue to cook veggies until tender.  Shred chicken into large strips, and keep out of pot.  10 minutes before serving, add noodles* and chicken.  Ladle into a large bowl, curl up with a box of kleenex and a good movie, and feel better!

*Per my grandma's recommendation, you can cook just the amount of noodles you need for your number of servings separately, and cook up fresh noodles to add to the soup as you reheat it during the week.  I added noodles into my pot because I was serving it for guests, and I knew I'd eat it fast :)