Chicken Noodle!

A couple of days ago I had made crockpot chicken and had a couple quarts of homemade chicken broth waiting in the fridge. I decided to put together a hearty version of chicken noodle soup. This is difficult to write as a recipe because you have to really taste the broth a lot to get it "right" for your own particular taste preference. Some people like things more or less salty, so my advice is to taste, taste, taste when making chicken soup.

Here is my rough recipe as a guide:

In a soup pot I browned some garlic, one small chopped onion, and 3 carrots chopped in olive oil. Celery would be nice here, too, but I didn't have any and missing ingredients never stop me. I then added around two quarts of stock, some salt, white pepper, 1 T turmeric (this gives the soup a nice color and flavor, I think), a T of chicken bouillon base, and some thyme. Bring this to a boil and add 1/2 bag of whole wheat pasta and any left over cooked chicken you might have hanging around in the fridge. Cook for how long it says on your pasta package for the pasta to be done. Now, begin to do some tasting to see what it "needs"--a little more salt? maybe pepper? When you think you have the flavor about right and you want a heartier soup, you can add some thickener. I use a couple T cornstarch with 1/4 cup water whisked into a slurry and then added slowly to the hot soup bringing the soup up to a boil again and it will thicken. I also threw in some kale for color-what could it hurt? I have to say that this was mighty tasty. If you prefer a "brothier" soup, leave out the cornstarch step.