Lazy Chicken Soup

When I was younger and not feeling well, my Dad used to always make me this amazing homemade chicken noodle soup.  It's the best soup ever.  No restaurant can top it.  It is made the same way my Babcia (which means grandmother in Polish, but I am actually referring to my great-grandmother here) would make it and the same way my Nana would make it.  And now, it's the same way I make it.  It's liquid comfort in a bowl that has healing powers reaching far beyond any drugstore cold reliever. 

This morning I awoke to a cough that wouldn't give up and I could swear that I accidentally swallowed a Brillo pad at some point in the night because my throat was so scratchy and sore.  Never mind the aches and chills and little energy.  So as to not contaminate my fellow co-workers or to make matters worse for my self, I retired to my couch for a day of sleep and terrible day-time television programming.  Somewhere in between all the cough drop consumption and the numerous Emergen-C shots, a very wise (and wicked awesome) person had suggested that I get some chicken soup.  Thinking of all the comfort a piping hot bowl of chicken noodle soup would provide, I knew that's what I needed.  I couldn't bear the thought of getting take-out chicken soup or worse yet, something out of a can (yuck, gross) but I also didn't have quite the amount of energy required to make my Dad's homemade chicken soup from scratch.  So I threw on my Sox had and dragged myself to Trader Joe's to get the makings for Lazy Chicken Soup, which is really just an easy way to get all the comforts of homemade chicken soup, without the time needed to make it from scratch.  Although no where near the soup that my Dad can churn out, in a pinch, this works.

Now it's back to bed.
Lazy Chicken Soup

- 2  32 oz boxes of chicken stock
-  1 lb chicken meat, shredded (Trader Joe's has fantastic pre-cooked chicken breasts that work really well here)
- 5-6 carrots, peeled and cut into coins
- 1 package of mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
~ 1 tsp dried thyme
~ 1 tsp dried rosemary
~ 1 tsp dried basil
~ A couple pinches of garlic powder
- 1 bay leaf
~ 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
- Cooked pasta of choice (I think the more fun shape the better.  Today I opted for farfalle, or bow-tie shaped pasta.)

Heat the oil in the pan and add the mushrooms, frying them until they become tender.  Add the chicken stock (you can add additional water here if you'd like to make more, or you can leave it as is), dry herbs and carrots.  Cover the pot and let it all cook on medium low-heat for about an hour, or until the carrots are soft and cooked through.  Add the chicken and let it cook for an additional 30 minutes or so.  To serve, add a scoop of pasta to the bowl and then ladle the soup on top.  If you add the noodles to the soup, you'll end up with soggy mushy noodles floating in your soup the next day.