Grandma's Chicken Noodle Soup

The last few years Christmas eve has fallen to my house. It's nice for me because then I can put my daughter to bed before it gets too late and I don't have to drive out anywhere. I like it. 

I don't know what your traditions are but with a big meal on Christmas day soup always seemed like the perfect option for Christmas eve. It's warm and can be filling without being heavy or lots of work. Yes, this soup has a few more steps then the one I usually make I opted for it last year. I was so glad I did. 

My grandma is a great cook, we never lived close to her growing up and she would come visit us about once a year, and every year before she came one of my siblings or I would call her up and tell her to bring her chicken noodle soup recipe. My mom had tried making it, my aunts had tried making it, as a young college student I even  tried, but no matter what it was never like grandmas. 

Now that I live a little closer to her and often go spend the day with her I was determined to learn how she did it. I asked her if we could make it and I would write down everything she did. Apparently her soup is not actually very close to the recipe she followed (and gave out to everyone) because she had changed it so much through the years. 

After careful notes and a few tries of my own I figured it out. I don't have pictures of me making because I will be making it next week, I will come back and add some pictures then. 

Grandma's Chicken Noodle Soup

3 large cooked chicken breasts 

      (cook chicken in water, strain and keep the water it was cooked in to use as a base for the broth) 

or

You can shred any leftover pre-cooked turkey or chicken

5-6 chicken bouillon cubes 

4 large stalks of celery 

5 carrots 

1/2 onion 

1 1/2 - 2 noodle batches (recipe below)

Put the veggies and the chicken in the water, with bouillon cubes and cook on low for a couple hours until the vegetables begin to soften. You can check the taste and see if you need more flavor, sometimes I sprinkle some chicken seasoning in. 

Turn the soup up to boil and using a metal spatula or fork pick up a few noodles at a time and put them in, pushing them under the boiling water. Once all the noodles are in boil for 20 min, stirring occasionally. Then you can turn it on low until you are ready to eat. 

Homemade Egg Noodles

3/4 C + 2 TBL flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

Shake of chicken seasoning (opt.) 

1 large beaten egg

Milk

Mix the dry ingredients, gradually adding the egg, and milk if it needs it, it should just stick together. Roll it out paper thin on a floured surface, let stand 20 mins. Using a pizza cutter cut thin strips. The noodles enlarge as they cook so the skinnier you can get them the better. 

But here is my question, what do you guys eat on Christmas eve?