Most delicious Chicken Noodle Soup

OK, so this is not a cooking blog, but for those of you who know me you know I enjoy cooking and I enjoy trying new recipes. I have also been on a soup/crock pot kick as of late. I found a broccoli and cheese crock pot recipe...we tried it, it was ok, but not creamy like I'd wanted. We froze some and we will eat it again (I don't like to waste food), but our baby sitter gave us a tried and tested childhood favorite recipe for a creamy broccoli and cheese soup. It is not a crock pot recipe, but It doesn't look like it takes a ton of time to make.

No on to the star of this post....chicken noodle soup. I got the base of this recipe from The Pioneer Woman. You can find her Chicken Soup Recipe here. I following her recipe to the tea, but I cooked it in a crock pot and I added some medium egg noodles at the end to beef it up a bit and it's always easier to convince my three year old to eat anything with noodles in it.

So here is exactly what I did with my changes:
4 chicken thighs bone-in with skin (you remove the bones and skin later in the recipe, but the skin gives it nice flavor)
* You could use what ever chicken pieces you have on hand, I just happened to have 4 chicken thighs in my freezer I needed to use
1 Bay leaf
64 oz unsalted chicken stock
1 lg onion, diced
3 ribs of celery, diced (chunky), if you can find stalks with the leaves add them too, it adds a lovely greenery and good flavor
3 lg carrots, diced (chunky), I had to use 4 carrots mine were a little small, next time I might even add another one
3 parsnips, diced (chunky), if you have never used parsnips they add wonderful flavor to things. They really add a warm flavor to this soup and it would not taste the same without them
1 1/2 tsp salt, start with 1/2 and taste test till you get the flavor you want
1 tsp marjoram (optional)
4-6 oz medium egg noodles, this depends on how noodley you want your soup (a little goes along way)

So I just put everything but the noodles in the crock pot, I cooked it for 6 hours on low, I think next time I might only do 5 1/2 hours, but 6 was fine. I just like my veggies a little more firm. When the 6 hours was up I removed the chicken, removed the skin and the bone, gave the chicken a rough shred (I wanted it to have a chunky feeling), and put it back in the crock pot. At this point I tasted, seasoned with salt, and added 1 tsp marjoram. I added the egg noodles and cooked for an additional 45 minutes or until the noodles are tender. Oh yes, and when you serve it sprinkle some black pepper on generously, it will add just the right kick~

We served this up with grilled cheese on crusty bread with a Caesar salad, but bread and butter would be fabulous too. Garrett scarfed it down parsnips and all. Marcus loved it and I loved it, it was easy, tasty, inexpensive, and it made enough for two meals. I have 1/2 of it in the deep freeze.

Enjoy!