Dad's Chicken Noodle Soup

This recipe is easy and inexpensive, freezes well, and lasts for days (though in his recipe he says it lasts for 2 days). We keep it in a big pot in the fridge and microwave it all week. My dad posted this at everything2.com back in 2001, but I thought I'd post it here, too! I love it, and it was one of the first things I cooked when I moved away from home, partially because there isn't much skill involved. A college student in a new apartment can definitely handle sticking a chicken in a roasting pan and cutting up some veggies!

• Ready In: 2 hrs 15 mins
• Serves: 8-10
• Yields: 1 big pot o' soup

Ingredients

• 1  whole chicken
• 1  lb  baby carrots (I use one small bag)
• 1  head celery
• 8  teaspoons chicken bouillon
• 8  cups water
• 1  lb  egg noodles

Directions

1. Cook one whole chicken. I use a blue roasting pan with lid, wash the chicken, place in pan, cover, into oven at 350° for an hour. Don't forget to flour the liver and cook it too, it's the best part. No need to add water or anything.
2. When the chicken is done, set aside to cool.
3. Cut up a pound of carrots and boil them for 10 minutes in a saucepan,
4. then add six cut up stalks of celery to the boiling carrots and cook for 10 minutes longer.
5. Drain the vegetables and rinse with cold water. Careful now, make sure the celery is a little crunchy.
6. Start heating 8 cups of water in your large soup pot, when it boils add chicken bouillon in the proper amount and boil for a few minutes. Then set soup pot off heat.
7. Add the cut up chicken meat that has been separated from the bones, and skin and other littly icky chicken parts.
8. The chicken left over stuff then gets boiled for 10 minutes in a small saucepan with about 4 cups of water to leech out the true essence of chicken. That part isn't really necessary, but it tastes better when you do that step.
9. The cooled carrots and celery are now added to the soup pot.
10. Boil a 1 pound package of egg noodles, don't cook too long, al dente is the goal. Rinse in cold water and into the soup pot.
11. By now the chicken parts are boiled, pour through a strainer and when the liquid cools some, the fat will rise to the top. Skim that off, and add that last 2 cups or so of liquid to the soup pot.
12. That's about it. There's enough salt from the bouillon, I guess you could do herbs if you know about that, but I just let it cool a litle while and into the fridge. We microwave it to reheat, it's gone in 2 days. It feels healthy. Bon appetite.