Perfectly Innocent Chicken Noodle Soup

Photo: iStockphoto

Ingredients

• 2 tsp (10 mL) vegetable oil
• 1 medium carrot, cut into 1/2-inch (1 cm) cubes (about 1 cup/250 mL)
• 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch (1 cm) chunks
• 6 cups (1.5 L) chicken broth (homemade or store-bought)
• 1 sprig fresh parsley (if you have some)
• 1 cup (250 mL) medium egg noodles, uncooked

Instructions

• Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan, over medium-high heat. Add the carrot and celery and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, or until beginning to soften. Add the chicken chunks and continue to cook for another minute or two, or until opaque. Pour in the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add the parsley sprig, lower the heat to medium-low and let simmer for about 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, cook egg noodles separately in another saucepan of boiling water. Let cook for only 2 to 3 minutes, then drain. Add to the chicken soup and continue cooking for another 6 to 8 minutes, or until the noodles and vegetables are tender. (You can, if you prefer, just add the uncooked noodles to the soup, but they have a tendency to soak up a lot of broth. I like to partially pre-cook them first.)
• For heavens sake, please fish out the parsley sprig before serving to your picky child.
• Soup-er possibilities: Add other veggies like corn niblets, cubed potato or peas. You might even want to use alphabet pasta instead of noodles (in which case reduce the amount of pasta to 1/2 cup/125 mL).