Quick and Easy Lemon and Herb Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup

One day at work I was feeling a cold coming on quickly and I knew I needed to get some hot tea and hot soup into me before it got any worse. I couldn't bare the thought of canned soup while I was feeling so horrible, but I didn't want to spend all of my precious sleeping hours on making the soup from scratch. So I went to the store and figured out a quick and easy recipe to make homemade chicken noodle soup in less than 30 minutes. This also has a great lemon zing to it which makes it that much better when you have a cold. This is one of my favorites, so we don't only have this when we are sick, we love this in the winter on Saturday afternoons, and it has become a favorite when my fiance goes to camp in the fall. When I make it for my fiance and myself, I leave out the peas and yellow wax beans because he does not care for them. When I am making it for myself I include these because I love extra veggies in my soups.

Quick and Easy Lemon and Herb Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup

servings: 8-10

Ingredients:

• 64oz of Chicken Broth
• 12oz Wide Egg Noodles
• (4) Large Carrots
• (2) Stalks of Celery
• (1) Whole Lemon and Herb Rotisserie Chicken Cooked (most grocery stores carry them)
  
• 3oz Frozen Peas (optional)
  
• 3oz Frozen Yellow Wax Beans (optional)
• Salt
• Pepper
• (3) cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon Oregano

Instructions:

1. Pour the chicken broth into a large pot and add the oregano, garlic (video included), salt and pepper and and bring it to a boil.
   
2. Carve the chicken (video included) to get all of the meat, and roughly cut into bite size chunks; set aside
3. Cut up the carrots into small coins and add to the broth.
4. Cut up the celery into small chunks (about 1/4" wide) and add to broth
5. Boil for about 10-15 minutes or until the carrots are just about cooked through the center
6. Add the frozen peas and yellow wax beans and let boil for about 3 minutes.
7. Add the wide egg noodles and allow to boil for about 3-4 minutes or until the noodles are cooked thoroughly
8. Reduce the mixture from a boil to a slow simmer.
9. Add the chicken and allow to simmer for about 2-3 minutes.
   
10. Turn off the heat and allow to set for about 5 minutes.
11. Serve and enjoy!

Extra tips and tricks:

• Shave ginger root and put into the mixture right at the beginning. The ginger will give it a little extra zing, and is great for a cold.
• Be creative with the veggies; you can put anything that you and your family like into the soup. I tend to stick with vegetables that are hearty and stand up well to boiling water.
• Water chestnuts work really well in a soup; add them in the last 10-15 minutes so they can soak up the broth flavors. It's a nice clean and refreshing taste in the soup.
• Add a little lemon zest to the soup if the lemon from the chicken is not enough flavor.
• Dumplings work great with this soup, and are so warming on a cold winter evening.
• Rotisserie chickens come in a variety of flavors in supermarkets. Be sure to try a variety of flavors in your soup.