Shipshewana in a Bowl

Shredded chicken take two: This batch went into what was my first attempt at making my own chicken soup.   I inquired from more experienced soup cookers at work, and got some advice about what to put in, in what order, etc, and headed off to the store for some veggies.  I already had, at home, egg noodles from Das Dutchman Essenhaus restaurant (Middlebury, IN  near Shipshewana) that we had cooked up and frozen around Thanksgiving.

Ingredients were as follows:   

2-3 cups leftover shredded chicken

6 tsp of better than bouillon (mixed into boiling water)

4 carrots sliced

2 1/2 celery sticks sliced

1/2 yellow onion diced

2 cloves minced garlic

2 cups egg noodles 

Ground sage

dried thyme

fresh ground pepper

fresh parsley

I browned up all the vegetables in the pot until they were softened, added the water for the bouillon and brought to a boil, added the bouillon itself along with the spices, and then threw in the chicken and noodles once everything was good and ready.  I  let it simmer for 40 minutes or so and then served it up with toasted rosemary garlic bread, along with some butter lettuce salad with beets and feta cheese. 

I love Essenhaus noodles, which I surprisingly got from Wal-Mart, and am also VERY fond of their stuffing (or dressing depending on where you are from).   I was pretty generous with my sage in the soup, and so actually the result tasted a bit like a blend of the noodles and the stuffing from the restaurant to me.  I thought it was good, my husband thought it was a little over-saged.  Something to remember for next time, but still, not bad for my first soup trial!