Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

Well, now that we have officially gotten our first snow, it is REALLY soup and stew time! It is also cold & flu season, and nothing is better to fill your belly when it is cold or if you have a cold, than Chicken Noodle Soup. It is a pretty basic recipe which you can easily tweak yourself, but it really gets some good flavor made in the crock pot. Enjoy with some cornbread, my favorite! Yum!

 

 

Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

1 to 1-1/2lbs of chicken (I used frozen chicken breasts)

1 large box chicken broth, about 48oz (I used low sodium)

1 can Cream of Chicken soup (or 2 if you like)

1/2 cup onions finely chopped

1/2 cup celery chopped

1/2 cup carrots chopped

1/2 cup green onions chopped

one 15oz can corn drained (I didn't use because I didn't have any on hand, oops!)

salt & pepper to taste

any other seasonings you would like (I used garlic sea salt, thyme and parsley)

1-1/2 cups egg noodles (I used 2c because I love noodles)

Place the chicken on the bottom of the crock. Add all the ingredients EXCEPT THE NOODLES. Cook on low for 5-6 hours.

Chunk up the chicken. You can do thins right in the crock pot with a few forks if you would like, or you can carefully remove the breasts with tongs, chunk it up on a plate and then place back into the crock, which is how I do it. Then add the noodles and keep cooking on low for another hour.

With the extra noodles I put in it, it resembled more of a stew than a soup, but that's how I prefer it! Store any leftovers. Noodles soak up a lot of moisture, so to reheat, you will have to add a bit of water to thin it out again. I whipped up a box of Jiffy cornbread to go with the soup, delicious! Perfect for a cold winter day.

Despite the fact that we had some days last week with near record high temps in the 70's, I am passing along a true chill-in-the-air-yummy-in-your-tummy classic recipe today, Slow Cooker Beef Stew! This goes great with some fresh made baked bread. It is also one of those recipes that you can tweak to your liking, by adding or taking out some veggies and seasonings. I like to throw in some seasoning salt when I make it.

NOTE: I have a 6qt slow cooker, so if yours is smaller, you may want to cut the recipe.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

-2 lbs cubed stew beef

-1T olive oil

-1 large onion, chopped

-3 ribs celery, diced

-4 large carrots, sliced

-potatoes of your choice (I use about 6 yukon golds, unpeeled) diced into bite sized pieces

-one 28oz can crushed tomatoes

-1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning blend

-3 cups reduced sodium beef broth, divided

-3 bay leaves

-1 cup frozen peas

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/4 tsp black pepper

-1/2 cup all purpose flour

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and then lightly brown the meat in batches. Transfer browned beef to a plate and set aside.

Dump the tomatoes into the slow cooker, then add the onions, celery, carrots and potatoes. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning over the vegetables and then add the beef and any drippings. Pour 2 1/2 cups of the beef broth over the meat and veggies. Stir and then add the bay leaves.

Cover and cook on low for 8 – 10 hours.

About 20 minutes before serving, add the peas (no need to defrost first), salt and pepper. In a small bowl whisk together the flour and remaining 1/2 cup of beef broth, creating a smooth paste. Stir into the stew. Cover and cook until thickened (about 15-20 minutes). Remove the bay leaves before serving.