The Mystery Of The Dissolving Noodles

Payday came along and I bought everything I thought I needed to a huge pot of chicken noodle soup. I now know that I made a couple of mistakes but it was a learning experience.

I started with two pounds of skinless, boneless chicken breasts. I sprayed the bottom of my big pot with Pam and dropped them in and cooked them until they were done enough to cut up. I cut them up with Pugs at my feet, Eddie kept trying to climb Mount Peter to get to the chicken.

Back into the pot and then a "box" of chicken broth, it comes in quart boxes now. Who knew? That didn't look like enough so I added two cans of chicken broth. The Pugs were still tormenting me so I gave them each some "chicken ice cream". The last time I needed some chicken broth I didn't need all I had so I filled an ice cube tray with the leftovers. Then I put the yellow ice cubes in a freezer bad. One will keep a pug occupied for long enough to do much in the kitchen. Or other rooms for that matter. These broth cubes don't last but a couple of minutes for a German Shepherd, though. I miss George.

Since I like lots of vegetables in my soup I then added two pounds of frozen soup vegetables, Pictsweet if the brand matters. This turned out to be a mistake on my part as Linda Lou won't eat this soup because of the tomatoes. Even after I pulled all the tomatoes out and ate them in the first bowl. I think I'm going to be sick of chicken soup by the time this is done.

That was too many ingredients for the broth in the pot so I poured in enough water and turned the fire up. Then I added a half pound of egg noodles and a half pound of wacky mac, those egg noodles that look like coil springs and are odd colored because of the various vegetables in them. That looked like plenty of noodles so I turned the fire up until the stuff started boiling, turned it down to simmer and went and listened to Rush. The spices were simple, garlic powder, black pepper, white pepper some sage to remind me that I live in the Southwest and a couple of shakes of Oregano.
An hour or so later I ate the first bowl. Now I don't think those tomatoes hurt anything but Linda Lou is firm in her prejudices so refuses to try even a spoonful. It was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. I put the pot in the refrigerator and then reheated it for supper. Linda Lou had Hamburger Helper. What I noticed was that the second bowl had almost no noodles, though. They seem to have dissolved. I wonder what kind of secret ingredients they put in the noodles of canned soup, they last forever. A bit of concrete, maybe?

Oh well, the stuff still tastes noodley even if they are all part of the broth. Lessons learned? Use stew vegetables instead of soup vegetables. Half as much chicken, vegetables and other ingredients. Add the noodles at the last possible minute. Perhaps leave the noodles out and put them in as I reheat the soup.

I am going to be sick of chicken soup before this is gone.