Easy Chicken Soup

With our busy schedule around here lately, I haven't been doing too much fancy cooking. :S  In fact, a couple days ago, while I was driving home from being gone all day, I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a rotisserie chicken.  I sometimes do that when I'm in a pinch because I think they are a little healthier (maybe) than alot of fast food places, and they go a little further.  As I discovered this time, the bones also make excellent soup!

Usually, after a meal of rotisserie chicken, I stick the bird in the fridge and we eat cold chicken off of it for a couple of days.  But one of my pet peeves is picking a cold chicken.  It is just so much easier to do it while it's warm.  Lately, every time I bake a chicken, turkey, etc, I try to boil the bones and make stock for future soup making.  So this time, I boiled the bones...and all the meat left on them after one meal.  It turned out to be some of the best chicken noodle soup I have made!

Easy Chicken Soup

1 leftover rotisserie chicken, with meat left on it

1 quart chicken broth

water

2 cups carrots, chopped

2 large stalks celery, chopped

1 onion, chopped

noodles of your choice ( I used egg noodles)

Place chicken in a large stockpot.  Be sure to add the jelly-like stuff on the bottom of the container...that's the good stuff!  You may want to break the ribs apart a little. Pour chicken broth over it, and add enough water to cover the bones.  Simmer for at least 1/2 to 1 hour. (The longer the better!)  This is a good time to chop up the vegetables.  When the meat is done simmering, remove the meat and bones from the broth, leaving the broth in the stockpot.  Add the vegetables to the broth and bring to a boil.  Let the chicken sit until it is just cool enough to handle.  Pick all the meat off the bones, and discard the bones.  Add the meat to the soup.  When the vegetables are starting to get tender, add a couple handfuls of noodles.  Continue boiling until the noodles are soft.  Enjoy your soup!

Note:  You shouldn't have to add any salt or other seasonings, because rotisserie chickens are already very salty and well seasoned!