Chicken Knuckle Soup

Sorry, Laura...had to say it! Thanks to my friend AOB for that lovely recipe name. I figured that this fateful recipe would be a good way to get back into the blogging groove after my amazing trip to San Francisco. If you were following me on Twitter for the past several days, you probably had a chance to check out what delicious foods I was eating. If you didn't get a chance to check that out...ahem, Laura :) I will be posting about my trip for the next couple of days.

Anyway, back to homemade chicken noodle soup a la Paula Deen. The dish by name seems so simple...just chicken noodle and stock. Well Paula's original recipe was not so simple. You have to chop and then simmer FOREVER and then add the rest of the chopped ingredients. All in all it takes almost one and a half hours! As y'all may well know, Laura and I HATE time consuming recipes. Not only does the soup take forever but I had an unfortunate accident that cost me a few extra hours :(

So it begins...with several ingredients. Paula's recipe calls for a whole chicken in the soup base, but I definitely preferred to just use chicken tenders. I also substituted salt free chicken broth base instead of bouillon. Bouillon typically has a lot of salt some of which comes from MSG.

The ingredients for the stock:

The ingredients for the rest of the soup:

Me rocking my onion goggles after my run, but prior to "The Accident":

What the stock looks like (if only we could have scratch and sniff computers!):

At this point I started cutting the carrots...insert gruesome story here and trip to the ER. I left the stock sitting on the stove (burner off of course) hoping to get back to it. Luckily, WE were able to finish the recipe.

I enlisted my hubby for the rest of the chopping and I working on pouring and stirring.

He did a great job!

After all of the craziness that was Sunday, we were able to sit down to a bowl of chicken noodle soup. It was very hearty, delicious and not too salty. The saltiness of a typical Campbell's CNS is a bit too much for me. I only wish CNS wasn't something I only wanted when I don't feel well. When you are sick, who has one and a half hours to make soup?!

The nutrition facts speak for themselves. A great hearty bowl of soup for decent calories, low fat and low sodium!!! What else could a girl ask for?? Okay, maybe better cutting skills, but either way, I was able to end the night on a delicious note!

I did cut my recipe in half, for fear of having a million servings of soup in the fridge while I was out of town. The recipe below is exactly what I used.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Stock Ingredients:
1 ¼ lbs chicken breast
7 cups water
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
½ tsp Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper Seasoning
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Bay leaves
1 packet salt free chicken broth
½ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp salt substitute

Soup:
1 ½ cups carrots, sliced (carefully!)
1 cup sliced celery
1 ¼ cup egg noodles, uncooked
1 cup sliced Portobello mushrooms
1 ½ tbsp chopped parsley
2 oz cooking sherry
½ cup Parmesan
¼ cup fat free half-and-half

In a large pot, combine all of the ingredients for the stock and simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Remove chicken from the pot and tear or cut into large chunks, set aside. Remove bay leaves.

Bring the stock to a boil and add carrots, cooking for about 3-5 minutes. Add celery and continue to cook for 5-10 minutes. Add egg noodles and cook for another 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients including chicken. Cook for another 2-4 minutes. Serve and enjoy!