Soup Group with Chicken Noodle Soup from Scratch Recipe
Now, here is a topic that is near and dear to my heart – SOUP GROUP.
Here we are! The Soup Group Members.
We just passed our one year anniversary to the start of our Soup Group which we started last year in November.
We have 5 members and we are all busy moms.
How it works is once a month we all make a meal x 5, bag it up, and trade amongst ourselves. So for example I might make a huge batch of chicken noodle soup and divide it up into 5 family sized portions. We generally use freezer sized zip-lock bags or foil pans to share our meals. While I am making my meal the other 4 members of the group are busily working on their family favorites.
What do you end up with? A freezer with 5 different ready made dinners.
Busy? Pull out Lisa’s pulled pork or Katie’s Shepherd’s pie – heat it up and ta-da you have a yummy homemade meal for your family. It saves on time, money and is a great way to try new recipes.
Plus you usually have leftovers in the fridge for lunch the next day or even another dinner.
It is always wonderful to try new recipes that you know other families have already tested and love. We use a Facebook group to track details like due dates and our exchange meetings. We usually use a play-date for our kids at a park or someone’s house to exchange meals. A girls night happy hour would be a great time to exchange meals as well.
One thing I did not anticipate happening is how close we have all become. Sharing recipes and meals is an age old tradition for women throughout history. The reason for it became very clear after we started this group. You are truly helping your friends out and your family at the same time. Food is love and this is a great way to nurture your friendships, family and a great excuse to get together – as if we needed another one.
So I will leave you with my 1st Soup group recipe and have revisited it upon request. It was taught to me by my fabulous mother-in-law, Mari Shorter. If you do not know Mari let it be known that she rivals Martha Stewart on her homemaking, cooking, cleaning and decorating. She also does this with no staff – so I am sure you will hear about her again.
- 1 to 2 whole chickens
- 1 bag of celery
- 1 bag of carrots
- dill weed
- chicken bouillon
- no yoke egg noodles
- salt
- pepper
- Place one or two whole chickens in a large pot – cover with cold water.
- Bring to boil – then let them simmer until the they are fork tender.
- Pull the chickens out of the water. Let them cool. KEEP THE WATER – it becomes your broth!
- While the chickens cool build your broth. Add pureed celery and carrots until you have a beautiful broth. One big bag of carrots and one bag of celery usually does the trick. You can also chop some up for color in the soup. Add dill weed as desired.
- Add Chicken Bouillon to taste.
- Pluck the chicken into big chunks and add to the soup.
- I like to make the no-yoke egg noodles separately because if you add them into the broth they suck it all up. So you can add them as you like after they are cooked.
- Serve – add salt and pepper to taste.
