Rainy Days and Chicken Noodle Soup!

It has been raining all week, and when it rains here in Arizona I love to have soup for supper. This is my favorite recipe for homemade chicken noodle soup, so if it is raining (or snowing) wherever you are, make up a batch of this soup, you will love it. Nothing warms the body and soothes the soul more than a steaming hot bowl of chicken noodle soup.

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 stewing hen (4 to 5 pounds)

2 quarts water

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 chicken bouillon cubes (I use 6)

1/2 cup diced carrots

1/2 cup diced celery

1/2 cup diced onion

3 potatoes peeled and diced

Homemade Noodles (recipe below)

Put chicken in large kettle and cover with cold water. Add salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and skim off foam. Cover pan and simmer for 2 1/2 hours or until meat falls off the bone. Remove chicken; discard skin and bones. Cool broth slightly, and skim off the fat that rises to the top (I usually never do this). Cut chicken into pieces and return to broth. Bring broth to a boil and add chicken bouillon, carrots, celery, and onion. Simmer for ten minutes; then increase heat until soup is boiling. Add homemade noodles and boil until noodles rise to the surface and are tender. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Homemade Noodles

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1/4 cup half-and-half

Combine flour and salt in a bowl. Make well in center and add eggs and half-and-half. Stir with fork until well mixed. Form into a ball and turn out on lightly floured surface. Knead for about 15 minutes, adding flour as needed to make a soft dough. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Divide dough into two portions, covering one portion until other portion has been rolled out. Roll out each portion until paper thin. Dust top with flour and fold dough over. With a sharp knife, cut into strips about 1/2 inch wide and 2 to 3 inches long. Separate noodles and add to chicken soup as directed above.