Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

It's now February, and the winter blahs have set up shop deep in my soul. I'm a good sport about winter for the most part. I do choose to live in the mighty mid-west, and it's just a cold hard fact of life here for most of the year. 

But now I'm over it. 

Seriously, sincerely, truly over it.

 I'm tired of Vitamin D supplements and wiping snow off my car for the treacherous pitch dark drive to work every day. I want the skin on my hands back. I need to sit on the beautiful beach of Lake Superior with the gnarled driftwood and seagulls on a warm sunny day and pretend like I'm in Hawaii.

So, as I can't take a sunny vacation anytime too soon, I sit at my window every night around 5:30 watching the light stay out and getting excited by each day we eek out a few extra dusky light minutes.  In the meantime, I guess I'll have to be patient and enjoy the comforts of winter I do love while it's still around.  Here is a list (in no particular order) of winter things I love I made yesterday to get some perspective and quit pouting:

-Snowshoes. I love to pounce around in the snow like a jack rabbit and see what's been going on in the woods in the dark of winter.

- Excuses to cuddle up with the man and watch movies under layers of blankets.

- Ice-skating

-Playing in the snow with my nieces

-Hot tea, Hot chocolate, hot everything to drink.

-Needing to bake something to warm up the house

-Making soup a million times over.

 

Nothing is more comforting than Chicken Noodle Soup, so I made some up to make the best of these last long months of winter in the great white north.

Chicken Noodle Soup

-1  medium onion, chopped

-1 cup diced celery

-3 minced cloves garlic

- 2 bay leaves

-1 T. olive oil

-2 1/2  cups diced cooked chicken

-2 cups frozen mixed veggies or equal parts corn, peas and carrots

-6 cups chicken broth

-1/2 cup white wine

-1 T. sage

-1/2 cup diced parsley

-1 cup egg noodles

Directions:

Heat olive oil and then saute' onions, celery, garlic and bay leaves until fragrant. Add chicken and wine and simmer 5 minutes. Then add chicken broth and veggies and simmer 20 minutes on low. Add noodles, sage and parsley and heat until noodles are cooked, should only take a few minutes depending on the brand.

It's like those weird books that used to be really popular "Chicken soup for the soul", it is really the soul food of the mid-west in winter. 

I used whole-wheat egg noodles in this batch, and they were really pretty good. Some brands taste like cardboard, so watch out if you do go for whole-wheat. 

This soup shuts my yap for complaining about winter for the moment, as I try to embrace these last few months and enjoy them for all their slushy, chilly glory. Enjoy!