Chicken soup.

I was awake last night. Most of the night. And I got to thinking, as I often do when I can’t sleep - of course ALL my best ideas (at leat they seem like really good ideas… hmm..) come in the middle of the night.

But this one wasn’t so much a bright new idea as a little bit of a revelation. I feel like I’ve been sort of in survival mode, waiting for what I don’t know, but there it is. I’ve been out of habits, out of sorts, in high-alert mode for weeks, and I feel stretched pretty thin for it.

So today I read planet books with Ele after preschool. And I made chicken noodle soup, following this Paula Deen recipe called “The Lady’s Chicken Noodle Soup” - EASILY the best chicken noodle soup I’ve ever eaten. I  modified it as follows:

Here’s how it went:

• 1 rotisserie chicken
• 2 32-oz boxes of chicken stock
• 2 cups water
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cups sliced carrots
• 2 cups sliced celery
• 2 1/2 cups uncooked egg noodles
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 cup grated Parmesan, optional
• 3/4 cup heavy cream, optional
• Seasoning salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Bring the stock and the water to a boil, add carrots and onion, cook for 3 minutes. Add celery and continue to cook for 5-10 minutes. Add egg noodles and cook according to directions on package.

While the noodles cook, remove the skin from the chicken and shred the chicken breasts finely. When noodles are done, add chicken, parsley, and rosemary. Add Parmesan and cream, if using. Cook for another 2 minutes. Adjust seasoning, if needed, by adding seasoning salt and pepper. Enjoy along with a nice hot crusty loaf of French bread.

Oh my dear sweet reader, PLEASE make this soup. Your belly and your family will thank me. Fo reals. I wouldn’t lead you astray, would I? And plus, how can you go wrong with heavy cream and parmesan cheese?

So after our domesticated dinner, we played Bingo with M&Ms as the markers, and went through the kids’ school papers to sort them into big shallow plastic bins. These are the best solution we’ve been able to come up with to store their papers - we have been absolutely inundated with papers since we have one in kindergarten and one in preschool. It is crazy. Some of it is just homework, which goes into the bins, but so much of it is stuff we have to read and sign and whatever, I feel like I’m the one in school. And I have a sneaking suspicion (moms of older kids, confirm this?) that it only gets worse from here. *sigh*

But Rowen truly is loving kindergarten. She told us tonight at dinner all about the friends she’s making, and what she does during art class, and what she had for lunch. And as we looked through her papers, I told her how proud I am of all her wonderful work, and the words she is writing (an EXPLOSION of words! Suddenly she’s taking notes on EVERYTHING, sounding out and writing down, and it’s so cute), and that we love all she’s learning.

She lit up like the sun, and then put her hand on her chest and said, “I think I’m killed with happiness, and my lips are turning red!” Apparently, this is a very good thing. :)

And yeah, it’s 9:45 and I haven’t done anything else. But what I have done feels like what really mattered. And that feels good. :)

Comments

[shell (shmoop)]

um yes...pretty much! more homework, more art work. More round-filing instead of saving! :) More field trips to attend, more hats and mittens lost. It's all crazy, and very good.

I so know what you mean about the phonics. It is so stinking cute! I have "recipes" Anna has created, meal plans, etc taped to my cupboards as decor. She has these cute little checkmarks beside what was completed. Oh and recently she loves to staple pages together as books. One was about the states....she had written on it that her dad was quizzed and got "one drillion percent" ..... heck that's pretty darn good I'd say!!!! and the book ended with "Hosa can you see..." etc. the star spangled banner! love this age..... so much! Have fun with it.... sounds like you are soaking it all up!

Thanks for the soup recipe. I'm going to borrow it for our Halloween party the 24th! Goodnite. sleep tight.

[Britiney]

Divine! I promise to make the soup - maybe tomorrow. Here's the Paula Deen Recipe I made tonight. You should really try it. It's amazing and quick and easy and makes a TON!! Oh, and my kids devoured it, which is always a bonus.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/taco-soup-recipe/index.html

Oh, and the school work for older kids - overwhelming. I'm buried in paperwork and miss something important almost weekly. Seriously, it's ridiculous.

[OR Carol]

OH! I LOVED reading this story about your day and Chicken Soup and Ele and Rowen and all her happy learning! I love you! What a great MOM you are and what special children you are raising. Hugs!

[Cheri]

The school paperwork? Yep, just wait til the kiddos are in high school and changing classes and you get sign & returns from EVERY teacher. Plus emergency cards that have to be filled out in duplicate. Enjoy this time when Rowen is loving school - it's a wondrous and amazing thing to see how quickly they grow and blossom at this age!

[Shannon]

Oh yeah, just wait until they're in high school. Each semester starts out with a syllabus for each class that needs to be signed and returned. Then there are progress reports every few weeks. Just sign and return. Then there are other things like permission slips, picture order forms, fundraiser forms, etc. And of course, something is bound to get misplaced.

The soup sounds so delicious!

[Heather Winters]

Jessica, I am SO making soup this soup for dinner TONIGHT. Of course only Greg and I can eat it, but it will last a long time too :) Thank you for sharing!!

We are also experiencing the paper overload (ug!) and the joy of seeing a Kindergartner grow and blossom. What a fun fun stage of life!!! :D

I love what Rowen said!! So Adorable.

[Hannah]

can you send some chicken soup this way. I am sick and when mom is sick, nothing gets done. My house is a disaster

[Laura]

The soup sounds wonderful -- I'm glad you took some time to nourish body and spirit. :)

Oh my goodness, can I ever relate to the mountain of papers -- I have a kindergartener, too. I read articles about how we should try to keep a few special things and toss the rest, but who has the time to do more than pile them in an ever-growing stack??? I separate out the things we are supposed to sign or send money for and tack them to my bulletin board so they won't get lost.

[scrapbusy]

Soup sounds like it will fill the soul! Definitely one I'll have to try! Thanks for sharing.

[Julia]

sound like life is pretty good right now for you. we are watching wall-e it makes me think of rowen so much! and ele because he loves space. also did you find cassie??? i hope so

[mer]

good for you! i hope your weekend is filled with family fun :) the kindergarten paperwork is out of control - ha! but the words and the reading... so, so awesome!

[Joyce]

I have been sick with some kind of cruddy thing all week and ventured out yesterday to get the ingredients for this soup. I made it last night and it was WONDERFUL! (as so many PD recipes are) my guess is it will be even better reheated today! Thanks for the tip on this Jessica. The Bingo with M&M's sounded like fun, too but I think we'd eat them before our cards were filled!
Joyce

[mary]

not soup related but did you figure out Ele's halloween costume. . . what about using small hoola hoops (and maybe suspenders to hold it up) in some way for saturn's rings? might be too bulky but at least they are circular. . . ha ha

my daughter and i are taking an astronomy class and i was telling her about it and then hoola hoops popped into my brain.

[Sandy]

Yes, the papers continue to pile up right through high school. My daughter is a senior and has always managed to stay on top of what has to be signed and returned. Now she resents having to have a parent sign a paper saying she did this or that...by now they need to be responsible for themselves. And our kitchen table is half covered with her books and papers. Last year I tried to get her to clean it up, this year I'm realizing that this is the last year for her and her papers...soon she'll be off to college and I will be missing all of this. So I am gratful she does her homework and wants to sit in the kitchen to do it. Sounds trite, but looking back, where did the time go? One tip for the art work, take photos of it when it's too big to save, at least you can remember it in an albumn. And be sure to save some of the best writing through the years, it's so much fun to look back at it.

[christina]

Had to laugh about the school papers, then the posts about high school, because with three teenagers in two schools and four sports combined, and 4-H and church and school clubs and choirs, I have paper overload. We used a three-drawer cart and a letter tray on the top of it. Each kid had a drawer and papers that needed signed, attended to, etc., went in the letter tray. Above that was a bulletin board for schedules. Worked great until they graduated to their own semi-adulthood.

[Leith]

I made the soup last weekend and took it to work for lunch this weekend. Absolutely divine. Thanks for the recipe.

[Amy Snyder]

I just got done eating a bowl full of the chicken noodle soup you posted. Thank you so much for the recipe. It was exceptional and that is coming from someone who is so congested right now that it is a miracle I could even taste it! Thanks Jessica your timing could not have been better!

[Dodi]

I'm clicking in from Holidays in Hand with what I think is a great tip a friend of mine shared. For each year of school, save your favorite projects and papers and bind them into a book. We used to take them to Kinko's, but you could use a bind-it-all. The saved papers become overwhelming with multiple kids with multiple papers! Now that I have grandkids, they LOVE seeing what my son did when he was their age. It's easy to store and later to pull out a booklet of work. Looking forward to trying the soup.

[Reneecrops]

I have a daughter in third grade. This year she has a schedule with exactly 182 days of school work so every evening we need to check the book see what's going on and hope she wrote everything down that needs to be done. She finishes everything she has written in her book, and at that point we sign the book and anything else which needs to be signed. She's still having fun, and she even tried out for student council which sadly she didn't win, but when I was in school this didn't start until High school so I'm often caught off guard. Have fun with it all. I love when the dawning light shows in their eyes.

[myangels3]

Jessica, thanks for sharing this. It sounds awesome. I am making chicken noodle soup tonight, but have already saved this in my recipes for next time! (I don't have the whipping cream). Also, have you ever tried Paula Dean's chicken salad? It's the BEST! Here is the link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/big-lady-new-millennium-sandwich-recipe/index.html

I don't make the sandwiches like she does with the pimento and sourbread though, I just mix the ingredients from the chicken to the chicken broth and make the sandwiches on rolls. :)

[Padrons]

What a refreshing post for me today. It's cold outside and I think about making memories with Chicken Noodle Soup with my family. I know my life shouldn't revolve around food, but down South.. it seems to. I am so excited for the holidays because we will be in our first home and we can sit around the fireplace and eat this chicken noodle soup! THank you!