Sunday, January 4, 2009

The Lady's Chicken Noodle Soup

The Lady & Sons is Paul Deen's restaurant in Savannah, Georgia. I am presuming this is one of her restaurant's recipes; I found it on The Food Network. How can you go wrong with a soup that comes from Paula Deen with a FIVE STAR rating from more than 235 reviewers!

INGREDIENTS:

3 1/2 quarts chicken broth, either homemade or store bought
3 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
2 cups sliced carrots
2 cups sliced celery, with leafy green tops
2 1/2 cups uncooked egg noodles
2 1/2 pounds roasted chicken, shredded
1 cup sliced mushrooms
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup cooking sherry
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, optional
3/4 cup heavy cream, optional
salt
freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Add 3 1/2 quarts chicken broth, garlic, Italian seasoning, and lemon-pepper seasoning to large soup pot and bring to a boil over high heat. If you made homemade chicken broth, defat by spooning off top layer.



2. Add carrots and cook for 3 minutes. I like my chicken soup to be chunky, so I added more than the recipe stated.

3. Add celery and continue to cook for 5-10 minutes. Again, I added extra celery to have a chunkier soup.

4. Add egg noodles to broth and cook according to directions on package. I cooked mine for approximately 8 minutes.
5. When noodles are done, add chicken, mushrooms, parsley, rosemary, and sherry.



For rosemary, pull fingers down on stem to remove leaves. Discard stems and chop leaves only.

6. Add Parmesan cheese and heavy cream if using. Cook for an additional two minutes. Adjust seasoning, if necessary, by adding salt and pepper.

Although the Parmesan cheese and heavy cream were optional, I liked the taste with the ingredients added. I did a side-by-side taste comparison of the soup with and without the Parmesan and cream. The results surprised me! I thought I would prefer the lower calorie option, but I really like the additional flavor that the Parmesan cheese and the heavy whipping cream added. Both are good, but if you are looking for more flavor, I would add these optional ingredients!


7. Enjoy with a nice hot crusty loaf of French bread or Herbed Garlic Bread.


Recipe on FoodNetwork.com; Paula Deen; Modifications mine

Click here for printable version of this recipe.

Soups and sauces are by far two of the most difficult foods for picky eaters. They are visually intimidating with a mixture of so many different foods in one place. In addition to that, soups are generally made from a variety of vegetables, which we know all too well, can be another mountain to climb in and of itself.

For our picky eater, I set aside some of each main ingredient as I am cooking. So for this soup, my son had small piles of chicken, carrots, celery, and noodles on his plate. This is a win-win in our family. He eats all of the same foods and gets the exact same nutrition as the rest of the family. I cook one meal.

7 comments:

laura {who planned this} said...

I loved this soup! Chase

Mamahollioni said...

Chase! Your the first child to leave a comment on a recipe. I'm so glad you liked it! Your mom told me you even asked for seconds. You'll have to ask her to make it again for you sometime soon!

laura {who planned this} said...

ok Mama Hollioni

from Chase

laura {who planned this} said...

HI

ALYSSA

Mamahollioni said...

Well hello Miss Alyssa! Good to hear from you. Have you been helping your mom look for some new recipes to cook? Or have you been baking something with her recently? If not, ask her if you can. I bet she will say "Yes" ...and then I would love to join you in eating whatever you make, especially if it is cookies!

Unknown said...

I just saw the show this recipe was made on...it looked sooo good!!! can't wait to try it:)

Enjoy the sun!!!

Four for France said...

I loved this one, too. The first time we had it we added the cream and parmesean, the second time I left it out. My family preferred without, but either way it is a WONDERFUL chicken soup. Easily the best I've ever had.