Gourmet Chicken Noodle Soup

I've been fighting a cold the last few days - it wants to be there, but I'm not letting it. Brandon has been taking good care of me. He made me drink a red raspberry tea yesterday - it was disgusting - I really don't like the stuff, but it really helped. He had me take some vitamin C and garlic capsules yesterday - the garlic is good for killing infection. And today I woke up and he had put the ingredients for chicken noodle soup in the crock pot. We had it for dinner and oh my - it was delicious! I have to share with you this recipe because I don't think there is anything more delicious in the whole world (okay perhaps I'm exaggerating a little, but this is really really good!). Here's the story of the recipe:

Right after I had J.B several ladies in our neighborhood brought us dinner. One lady brought us turkey soup and another one brought chicken noodle. They were both delicious and I asked both of them for their recipes. Well we combined the two recipes and modified them a bit (most of the new ingredients were discovered by Brandon of course) and came up with our current recipe. And not to brag or anything, but this really is gourmet! The pumpkin puree is a secret ingredient that makes this soup a heart-warming comfort food. As I was eating it tonight I wondered if I had step into heaven for a few minutes. :) And I don't have any evidence or anything but it really does help to eat chicken soup when you're sick! Enjoy!

Gourmet Chicken Soup
Printable Recipe

*Note: The secret ingredient in this recipe is the pureed squash. You can cook and puree any winter squash the same way I've demonstrated here with pumpkin or you can use canned pumpkin.

*Serves 6-8

6 Cups water

3 tsp. instant chicken bouillon

1 tsp. celery seed

1 tsp. onion salt

Parsley (as much as desired)

1 tsp. pepper

2-3 chicken breasts (boneless or not), leg quarters or leftover turkey meat

1-2 Cups chopped onions

2 Cups diced carrots

2 Cups diced celery

2 Cups cooked, pureed Hubbard Squash (or other winter squash - pumpkin, butternut, banana, etc) 

5-8 oz. Egg Noodles or 1-2 Cups cooked rice (we like the wide or narrow egg noodles of the Country Pasta brand or you can make your own)

2 Cans Cream of Chicken or Mushroom Soup (or thicken it with ultra jel)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients except the egg noodles and cream soups in a crock pot and cook for 5-6 hours or until chicken is soft. Then remove chicken carefully, discard bones, and chop meat. Return chopped chicken to pot and add 2 cans cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup (or one of each) or alternately thicken with ultra gel. Cook egg noodles (we like the wide egg noodles of the Country Pasta brand or you can make your own). You can add rice instead of the egg noodles or eat it without. Add noodles to the soup and season with salt and pepper to taste.

*Note: This recipe is delicious served with fresh, homemade bread!

Recipe Source: healthyfamilycookin.blogspot.com

Update: You can also try this recipe in the pressure cooker!