nanny's chicken noodle soup

Last time we were perusing the bulk section at Rainbow, we picked some herb infused egg noodles, thinking they would be awesome to make soup with. This is a riff on Kenny's grandmother's chicken noddle soup. Nanny serves up a big delicious bowl of beige: chicken, corn and noodles, accompanied by saltine crackers and butter. We decided to make a few modifications, including the addition of carrots and substituting all vegetarian products. Our whole apartment smelled so good while this was cooking... a neighbor coming home from work actually stopped Kenny outside to be like, "What are you cooking!? OMG It smells incredible!"


Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
5 carrots, sliced thick
3 ears corn, remove kernels, discard cob
1 package Lightlife chicken strips
10 cups water
6 Tbsp vegetarian chicken broth powder (also from Rainbow)
1 lb herb noodles, or egg noodles
salt & pepper

Heat olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Saute carrots and corn for 5-7 minutes, until your kitchen smells like fresh roasted corn on the cob. Add in chicken strips and cook an additional 5 minutes. Mix water with chicken broth powder and add to the pot. Bring to a simmer, and cook covered for 15 minutes. Add noodles, return to a simmer (NOT a boil, unless you really want to clean your stove afterwards...) and cook uncovered for another 15 minutes, until noodles are al dente. I know, you are probably thinking I am crazy for not cooking the noodles separately and then adding them in. I thought Nanny might have been crazy too, but the starch that cooks off of the noodles helps to thicken the soup, and give it a really awesome consistency. AND you only have one pot to clean up! When the noodles are done, the soup is done. Grab some crusty bread (or saltine crackers if you are a member of my family), and dig in. Get ready for carbo-load heaven!