Chicken and "Real" Noodle Soup

I have been blessed in my life to have known all of my grandparents and many of my great-grandparents. I still have both of my grandmothers (I love you Grandma and Nana) and have clear, distinct memories that come to mind when I think of them. The same is true for my great-grandparents. I can see Great Grandpa sitting in his chair by the window smoking his cigar. Great Grandma VanGundy makes me think of strawberry shortcake. I'm not sure why, but I can see the family at her birthday one year and that is what we had :) I can close my eyes and picture Great Grandma Heil in her living room with Aunt Mabel. I am sitting on the piano bench wanting so badly to pound on the keys.

I have a lot of good memories when I think of Great Grandma. But one of the most vivid is of her making noodles. She had a contraption that sat on the edge of the table that you put the dough in and rolled it flat. I loved watching that dough get flatter and flatter. Then she would change the roller and out would come noodles. Really good noodles.

When I went to make chicken noodle soup, I had no noodles. So in all my logical thinking, I though this would be a good time to try making home made noodles. I don't have a noodle roller, but I have a rolling pin. Close enough.

I found a recipe in my Betty Crocker cookbook and really didn't like it. Ten ingredients seemed like way too many and the instructions included three paragraphs. Convinced there had to be an easier way, I Googled. The first recipe that came up was from cooks.com. Three ingredients, roll out the dough and cook. Why I thought this was the recipe I wanted, I can't tell you. But in the case of noodles, simpler turned out to be the way to go.

For this batch of soup, I heated up 3 cups of frozen broth from the Rubber Chicken along with a couple cups of water. Just to be on the safe side, I added a couple bouillon cubes.

For the noodles, you need 1 cup of flour.

And an egg. At this point, I realized that I didn't have any eggs, either. So, leaving my 8 year old in charge, I made a run to the grocery store to get eggs. At no point did it occur to me to just go buy noodles. I really need a nap.
Fill up half of the newly empty egg shell with milk and add this to your bowl. Maybe this is why this recipe intrigued me.
Mix this all together and turn out on to a well floured surface.
Knead it until it's all mixed together and roll out until it is paper thin.
If you have a pizza cutter, you can use this to cut your noodles. If you have an actual noodle maker handy, you can use that, too.
Don't worry about it being perfect. After all, you want everyone to know your noodles were homemade. The Boy was, of course, "helping" by having a war between grapes and carrots. The noodles were apparently considered neutral territory.
Again, perfection is overrated, so let The Boy cut up some noodles. Notice the fruits and vegetables are now at peace. Noodles have that effect on things.
By this time, your broth should be at a nice rolling boil. Time to add the noodles. "I do it, Mommy" is the theme in my house.
So let him. Even if he does it the hard way. Notice he is not in the same chair to pick up the noodles as he is to put them in the soup. Oh well.
He loves to help.
I added frozen vegetables, but you can chop up your own if you prefer. By this time, I was getting hungry. Take the leftover Rubber Chicken and tear it into bite size pieces.
Add that to the soup along with any spices you want to add. I added salt, fresh ground pepper and dill.Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. The noodles will start to come up to the top when they are cooked through.
This was good soup. I loved the noodles. So did everyone else. I will definitely make these again. They were so much easier than I would have ever guessed and I liked them better than the frozen noodles I usually use. I'm not sure this is a week night throw together in a hurry kind of thing. More of a winter Saturday afternoon or snow day dinner.

Do not be afraid to try the noodles!

Click here for Printable Recipe

Home made Noodles
1 Cup Flour
1 Egg
1 Eggshell full of Milk
Mix together all ingredients. Knead on floured surface until mixed well. Roll out dough until paper thin. Cut into strips. Add to boiling water and cook for 10 minutes or until noodles start to move to the top of the pot.