Chicken Soup

I recently made a large batch of chicken soup for the freezer.  The girls are going to be starting back to school here soon and I know its just going to be a matter of time before we all fall to the dreaded respiratory/cold that everyone seems to get during the first month of school.  Though, we're usually pretty healthy!  Anyhow, I left the noodles out of this until its time to pull it from the freezer.  Don't want mushy noodles.

In a large stock pot, throw some chicken in enough water to cover it.  I used a half chicken, bone in to get that flavor, but you can use however much chicken you want or don't want, then add 2 tblsps of black pepper.

Finely chop one medium yellow onion, three gloves of garlic and 7 stalks of celery.  Add the onion and garlic to the pot with the chicken, reserve the celery until the chicken is fully cooked.  Bring the pot to a boil.

After the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pot and let it cool.  Reduce heat on the pot.  Pick the meat from the chicken, discarding the bones and skin.  Add the meat back to the pot with a bag of baby carrots and celery.  I added a few extra shakes of pepper and a chicken bouillon cube.  Cover and continue to cook until carrots are tender crisp if you're freezing, or until tender if you're planning on eating immediately. 

Ladle the soup freezer safe containers.  Pull them out of the freezer, plop them in a pot and bring back up to a boil to add the noodles later.  Great soup on the cheap!

Ready for the freezer!