Chicken Noodle Soup Success

Tonight Cody and I made our first homemade chicken noodle soup and it was fantastic!  I had big plans to freeze a bunch of it, but I suspect it won't make it past tomorrow's lunch.  The best part is how easy and economical it is.

Yesterday we picked up a pastured chicken from a local store and roasted it.  Then put some potatoes, carrots, onions and garlic in the bottom of a pot with a bit of some homemade stock and placed the chicken on top, bottom side up.  Brush the chicken with some melted butter and sprinkle with salt, pepper, basil and thyme (or stuff some fresh basil and thyme inside).  Cook at 375 for about and hour and then take the chicken out and flip it to be breast side up.  Brush this side with butter, sprinkle with spices and then bake approximately another hour.  Let the chicken rest and enjoy!

After you've enjoyed your chicken, take the rest of the meat off the bones and store in the fridge to add to the soup later.  Place all the bones & chicken scraps in a pot, add about 4 liters of water, some carrots, onion, celery and 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar (this helps to draw the minerals out of the bones).  We also added two chicken feet and a couple of bay leaves.  Let set for about an hour, bring to a boil, skim of the foam that rises, reduce to a simmer and cover.  Then let it simmer 3-24 hours.  I usually try to go as close to 24 hours as possible.  Sally Fallon recommends adding a bunch of fresh parsley in 10 minutes before you're done, but I didn't do it this time.  Now you have a homemade and nutritious bone broth!  At this point you could freeze it if you just want some broth.  When I freeze broth I do some in jars and some in ice cube trays, then I have small amounts to add things like veggies.

Once your broth is done, strain it with a fine strainer and put it back in a pot.  Add the chicken, some carrots, celery, onions, plenty of good sea salt, pepper and spices (I used oregano, basil and thyme).  At this point I let it simmer for a bit and then added cooked brown rice noodles and some fresh parsley, I really like the freshness the parsley added.

And that's it!  Super easy, tasty and cost effective!  The only problem is that it is so tasty that it may be tricky to freeze some before you eat it all.