The rotisserie chicken that wouldn’t die

Dear Home-ec 101,

I brought home a rather large chicken from the deli the other day and now I’m sick of looking at it. What can I do to finish off the meat?

-Sprouting Feathers In Sante Fe

Heather says:

If I were feeling peckish, I’d whip up a batch of chicken noodle soup.

One of the keys to actually enjoying cooking, is to not destroy your kitchen in the process. Before you begin, fill your sink with hot soapy water and wash the dishes as you go along, you can thank me later.

Chicken Noodle Soup

• 2 1/2 qts water
• 3 TBSP Better Than Boullion (or, if you must substitute bouillon cubes, but why would you want to?)
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 celery ribs, chopped
• 5 carrots peeled and sliced into coins
• about 2 cups cooked and shredded chicken or turkey
• about 80z pasta (whatever noodles float your boat, we like wide egg noodles)
• thyme, sage, salt, and pepper to taste
• teensy dash of oil (preferably olive)

Set out your ingredients. Chefs refer to this as mise en place, but we’ll call it smart.

In a large pot, sweat (this is similar to sauteeing, but you want to use as little oil as possible) your vegetables, onions, and garlic.

How not to sweat vegetables: “Carrot! Where were you on the night of January 23rd??”

As soon as the onions are soft and the vegetables brightly colored add the water, Better than Bouillon, and chicken.

Bring the mixture to a roiling boil.

Now, add your noodles, bring your soup back to a boil and cook according to the package’s directions.

Enjoy.

P.S. If I can make this with my two heathens running amok, you can too.