Grilled Chicken Noodle Soup

Yeah, you read that right! So.... as you MAY have seen I am doing a challenge to keep myself busy and coming up with new recipes for the CSA I signed up for. As part of that, I cooked a beer can chicken on the grill last night that I carved up and served for dinner. Because my hubby is SO SMART, he suggested that I save the carcass to use for some soup since I have been sick. So the chicken recipe can be found here (http://hebbcl.blogspot.com/2011/10/challenge-chipotle-and-pumpkin-polenta.html), but you can feel free to use any leftover chicken carcases you have laying around. I have frequently used a rotisserie chicken as my new "fast food" since I have been living this new, healthier lifestyle. You have to make changes to eat better... but even healthy people don't feel like, or don't have time for cooking every night. These chickens are available at almost every grocery, and certainly at every Walmart and are an easy go to. All you have to do is carve them up and put a salad out and voila! DINNER! OK, I got a bit sidetracked, back to grilled chicken noodle soup! Here were my steps-

I put 16 cups of water into my big dutch oven. (Honestly, other than the grill, I live for cooking things in this pot. It just rocks!!! I guess this is the best meal ever then, I got to use the grill AND the dutch oven!) Then I put in my grilled chicken carcass, plus the wings and the legs that were leftover from last night. I turned this on medium high heat and let it simmer away for an hour. Then I pulled out the wings and legs, allowed them to cool a bit, and used 2 forks to pull all the meat off and put to the side with the other leftover grilled chicken from last night (mostly breast and thigh meat) which I had already shredded.

Pull the carcass and other other bones out of the pot (dig all the way to the bottom of the pot because some small bones may have gotten loose during the cooking process) and discard them. Continue to let your pot simmer away... you now have chicken stock. NOW.... lets improve it!

Chop up 8 carrots and about half of a bunch of celery (be sure to include some of the leafy middle pieces, they have LOTS of flavor!!!), half of a chopped yellow onion, 2 chopped garlic cloves- and toss them in. Now... it is kind of a free-for-all! What I mean is... use your favorite herbs and make your soup your own. Your last name isn't Campbell.... and this ain't your momma's chicken noodle soup! I went this way with it- 1 tablespoon salt, 1/2 tablespoon black pepper, 1/2 tablespoon tarragon, about 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme (I didn't bother to take it off the stem), 3 bay leaves. Now let it keep simmering! Let it go for about an hour... but be sure it is a light simmer and not a boil! You don't wanna cook up your yummy broth! Note: taste this broth throughout the process after you add the seasonings to ensure it tastes good. You may need to add more salt or pepper as you go. Remember... after you have added noodles the time to season is basically gone!

When you are ready to add noodles, bring the soup to a boil. Then add 1/2lb of whole wheat noodles of your choice. I went with linguine and broke them in half. Cook according to package instructions and serve!   

This makes plenty... at least enough for 4 adults with leftovers! You can see how much it cooks down from the mark on the dutch oven-

Now if this doesn't make you feel better, what will?!?!?!