From my kitchen to yours: a secret family recipe

My Fourth of July was not eventful enough to blog about. I spent it in Biloxi, my third trip there since Kyle started his new job, but I only spent about two and a half days, piddled around, ran errands and then spent an hour or so on the beach. I will not bore you with any more of the uneventful details.

Instead, I wanted to share with you one of my grandmother's (on my mother's side) secret family recipes for chicken noodle soup. You might remember that I'm a vegetarian so chicken noodle soup SHOULD be out of the question. But folks, this is my me-maw's recipe that she's made me since I can remember and it's just one dish I won't give up. I don't make it very often anyways, but I was really craving it bad the other day because it is pure comfort food. I also make it with homemade mashed potatoes.

So, here it is. 
What you'll need. Pictures below.

1 bag of Ream's frozen egg noodles (in the frozen food section)

2 chicken thighs
celery remnants (like the bottom or top portions, you're just boiling them for flavor)
1 white onion, or yellow will do, but NOT red
1 russet potato per person you're serving plus 1 for the pot (me-maw used to say)
Salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. 

Begin by dropping the chicken thighs into a medium pot with the onion and celery and add salt and pepper plus cayenne for a little kick, or more if  you like a lot of kick. Let cook at a moderate boil for 10 or so minutes. Strain, discard veggies, and let chicken cool until you can chop it up. KEEP THE BROTH.

While chicken is cooling, add the broth back to the pot and then add the chopped up chicken plus more pepper. I go light on the salt at this point because you can always add it to individual bowls per the person's preference. Then, add the frozen egg noodles. Let cook at moderate boil until egg noodles are soft. Prob 30 min?

In another medium pot, add the peeled, cubed up potatoes and cover with water, along with a little salt and boil until soft. Stick a fork in a few every 10 min to test. Once soft, strain the water and remove from heat. Add small amounts of milk at a time, about 1/4 a cup, and beat with mixer until creamy. Put the lid back on to keep them warm.

Final cooking tip: The better quality chicken the better this meal tastes. Seriously, I know buying that frozen bagged Tyson chicken is a money saver but don't use it with this dish. The fresher the better. And of course, free range, vegetarian fed and no antibiotics or hormones added is always the ideal choice!

Now get to cookin' and let me know if you have any questions.