The B~E~S~T Medicine....Chicken Noodle Soup

Last night the hubby and I were awakend by "I just puked in my bed".  Not the words anyone wants to hear, let alone when you are already tucked in for the night.  I won't go into details {you are welcome} of how our night turned into a night of laundry, tylenol, musical beds, a shower {again, I won't go into detail, but it involved "messy" hair} and more laundry.  We finally got everyone settled back into bed and to my surprise everyone slept the rest of the night...what was left of it anyway.  I hate when my kids are sick!

This morning my son {who wasn't sick} came downstairs to let me know that his nose was "stupped" up.  Poor baby {okay, he is almost 4, but he is my baby}!!  Emma, who provided us all the excitement last night, was asleep on the couch with 102 degree temp.  I got the kids all doctor'd up with some medicine to help them feel better.  They watched cartoons for awhile and both of them took over a 3 hour {hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hel le lu jah...yes, I am singing here} nap which allowed me to get some things done.

After they woke up from their much needed naps they were both a little grumpy!  Emma's temp was up to 103 degrees and Hayden now had crusty eyes and a snotty nose {the medicine must of kicked in for him}. They both wanted cold rags on their heads and I gave them another dose of medicine.  Thankfully Emma's temp came down to 101.

Hayden & his snotty nose

Emma not doing so HOT

A cold rag always does the trick.  Or a rice bag right out of the freezer {if you don't know what a rice bag is you are missing out.  Maybe I will do a post about them sometime.}.  Everyone should have a few rice bags on hand at all times.

So I hate seeing the kids like this and me being the GREAT mom I am I decided to make the best medicine ever!!!!!!!  Yep, Chicken Noodle Soup!   Here it is step by step....

Hillary The Hen {Jordan named it that...just sayin'} taking a nice hot bubble bath!

I boiled the whole partially frozen chicken....oh excuse me...Hillary the Hen for 2 hours in water with some salt and a little chicken broth.

Find a handsome fellow in his underwear to help clean the carrots.

Hayden is EXCELLENT help in the kitchen!

Sometimes you need to keep an eye on your handsome carrot peeler or he might get carried away.

Chop up 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, and about a cup of onion.

Add the carrots, celery, and onion mixture to your "DUTCH OVEN" {I don't have one, so I am pretending my pan is this:

You need to melt 1 stick of butter {sorry, no picture of the melted butter...GULP} in your dutch oven on med-high heat prior to adding the carrots, celery, and onion.  Allow veggies to cook about 8 to 12 minutes.

Veggies are taking it all in....the butter that is..

While the veggies are cooking chop up 2 garlic cloves.

2 cloves of garlic

After the veggies are cooked you can add the garlic {DO NOT do it before now because garlic is temperamental...I am serious...it does not like high heat for long periods of time} to the veggie mixture and cook for 2 minutes.

Then add 1/4 cup of flour {please notice my Tupperware measuring cup I referred to in an earlier post} to the veggie mixture.

Whisk on medium heat for 2 minutes then set aside {we will get back to it...I promise}

Then you will probably want to crack one open before dealing with Hillary.

Remove Hillary the Hen from the bubble bath.  De-bone her and shred her up. {That kind of sounds bad huh?}

Add 8-10 cups of chicken broth to your "dutch oven" 

Okay, maybe I could get this one....a much more affordable oven

And then add the shredded chicken and veggie mixture to the chicken broth.  Add your noodles.  I prefer Kluski noodles in my soup, but you can use the frozen egg noodles or homemade egg noodles.  I added an entire bag {serving size 6} so my soup would be "thicker".

Then add a little parsley.  1 or 2 teaspoons should do you just fine.

Allow soup to cook on low to medium heat until the noodles are done.  While the soup is cooking you can tackle this:

Then you can enjoy this:

My husband being a beef producer and therefore thinking all meals should include BEEF actually said this Chicken Noodle Soup was pretty darn tasty!  Jordan and Alivia shoveled 2 bowls of soup down.  Emma and Hayden each ate a little bit of their "medicine".  Emma asked me if she can have Ramon Noodles tomorrow.

That's all!

(((HUGS)))

The Farmer's Wife