Creamy Chicken Soup

And now, the recipe you've all been waiting for!!! Or not. But it's really yummy, so check it out anyway, won't ya? :)

This recipe is from Sandra Lee on the Food Network and I am typing it in verbatim. I will list the changes I made at the end.

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CREAMY CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

1 store-bought roasted chicken
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrot
4 - 14oz. cans low-sodium chicken broth
2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup with roasted garlic
2 tsp. fines herbs*
salt & pepper
2 cups egg noodles, cooked

Remove the skin from the chicken and shred the meat from the bone. Put the chicken into a slow cooker along with the onions, celery, and carrots. Stir in broth, mushroom soup, and fines herbs and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 8-9 hours.

When soup is finished, stir in egg noodles. Adjust seasonings and serve.

*Fines herbs are a classic blend of herbs that usually consists of chervil, parsley, chives, and tarragon. Fines herbs can be found pre-blended in the spice section of the grocery store.
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I made 2 cups of rice in my rice cooker and added it in about half-way through the cooking time, instead of using egg noodles. I did not have Fines herbs so I used a 1/2 tsp. of tarragon and 1/2 tsp. of parsley (which I had in my cabinet), plus 2 tsp. of salt and 1 tsp. of pepper. I did not use roasted garlic mushroom soup so I added 1 tsp. of garlic powder as well. Also, I did not use 4 cans of chicken broth, I added 1 tsp. of chicken bouillon per cup of water to equal the amount of broth. At the end of the cooking time it tasted great, but I wanted it to be creamier so I made a roux with butter and flour (3 tbsp. each) and that thickened it right up! I served it with warm cornbread - yummmmmm!!!

On a completely different note, I got The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook from my library today and I can't put it down! I love this cookbook! I know that some of you follow her blog, but for some reason I never checked it out. I will become a follower now though! Her style of writing is clear and funny and makes you instantly want to be her friend. Also, her photographs are just awesome. I also recently read Confections Of A Closet Master Baker which is by Gesine Bullock-Prado , the sister of one of my favorite actresses Sandra Bullock (While You Were Sleeping, Speed, The Blind Side). Her book was more of a biography on how she became a baker, but also full of yummy sounding recipes that I photo-copied and can't wait to try. And now I can go to bed happy because I got to share two of my favorite things with all of you - food and books!

Happy eating!