Chicken Noodle Soup, without chicken

2011-3-10

Chicken Noodle Soup, without the chicken

I have been craving Chicken Noodle Soup for some time now, and that soup has always been a favorite of mine. Haven't always had the soup cooked to perfection, but that's another subject for another time. Anyways, I saw this recipe, and I decided to use that for a jumping off point for making my own twisted recipe. Not sure why, but I haven't been a fan of the chunks of chicken in the various versions of soup I have sampled. Perhaps the chicken was too dry, not juicy enough. I decided to make a chicken-less version.

Ingredients:

• pasta - I fancied elbow macaroni the day I was grocery shopping - approximately 1/3 to 1/2 a really large box
• cream of chicken soup
• cream of mushroom soup - I prefer not to use a majority of cans of this I've seen on the shelf, because they contain msg. My body throws fits when I consume msg; I'm insanely thirsty, I get headaches. Need I go on?
• parsley flakes
• olive oil - enough to cook the red onion
• sea salt
• butter - nearly 3 tbsp
  
• red onion - diced
• celery - the whole bundle - washed and cut thinly
• carrots - the whole package - cut into thirds or fourths
• can of tomato sauce
  

• garlic - oh my goodness, how could I neglect to include these? - 5 cloves, diced. I love garlic; the more the merrier, as far as I'm concerned.
  

Directions:

• In a pan, with a bit of olive oil on lower medium heat, cook the red onion until transparent. I added a pinch of sea salt. Then throw in the carrots, celery, and garlic, adding in the nearly 3 tablespoons of butter. Cook with a lid on until tender. I was distracted and lost track of time. Probably only needed to cook for 10-15 minutes. Mine ended up cooking for around 30 min. Like I said, I was distracted.
• In a pot, cook the pasta until tender and then set aside.
• Add to the contents in the pan: cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, tomato sauce, some water, parsley flakes, and sea salt. Once that has been boiling, let simmer for a bit.
• To the pan, finally, add the cooked macaroni. After the soup is boiling, it is ready to serve.
  

When I consumed it the day it was cooked, I thought it was a bit strong tasting on the cream of mushroom. But, when I had it the next day, adding a bit of water when reheating it, I favored the soup much more.