Ginger Vegetable Chicken Noodle Soup

It happens every year, suddenly the wind changes and the weather switches from sunny and brisk to cold as all get out.  Time to drag out the plastic bins full of sweaters and wool, and ready the long-johns and mittens and plastic the windows to keep old man winter at bay. 

 Soup is one of the go to warm- up recipes for winter, and I love to put other warming spices in my recipes to intensify the warming effects of this winter fare. Ginger is my favorite warming spice, and you can put it in just about anything to make it taste great. Chocolate and ginger, ginger and bread, ginger and sugar, ginger and more ginger; it's all awesome.
 I made this soup after our first spell of wind-chills close to 0 degrees this past week, and it warmed us to the very core.

Ginger Vegetable Chicken Noodle Soup

- 1 cup diced, cooked chicken

-1 medium yellow onion, chopped

-1 cup celery, diced

-1 cup carrots, diced

-6 cups chicken broth

-1 cup mixed veggies ( I used the frozen corn, peas, beans)

-2 bay leaves

-1 T. garlic

- 1 T. shredded ginger

-1 t. ground ginger

-1 T. thyme

-1 t. sage

-2 T. Parsley

-2  cups egg noodles

-1 T. olive oil

-salt and pepper

Directions:  Heat the olive oil in a stock pot, then add the bay leaves, onions, celery and carrots, and saute' until softened, about 8 minutes. Add chicken and broth, and bring to rolling boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and add remaining ingredients except for egg noodles, and simmer covered 20 minutes. Add egg noodles and cook additional 3 minutes, until noodles are soft. Serves 8.

As usually happens with soup, it was SO good  the day after I made it. 

Once the flavors sit together a day or two, they intensify, and this soup was the most brilliant example of making soup ahead, as it smelled like a spice store and grandma's kitchen all at once. Enjoy!!