Grandma's Chicken Noodle Soup

My grandma used to make this recipe and I was lucky enough to ask her how she made it before she passed away. This is a creamy soup rather than broth and very simple and budget friendly. It is also yet another recipe that you just may have the ingredients on hand or can easily subsitute what you don't. At my house it is raining plus I have a little boy with a cold, so this is what I'm making for dinner tonight! I apologize that the amounts are not super exact but that is how my grandma cooked and passed recipes on. Isn't that the beauty of cooking versus baking, though? It doesn't have to be perfect.

Money saving tip: I used to buy canned chicken broth but now stick only with buillion cubes or granules and make my own. I can get 50 cups of chicken broth out of my Wyler's granules for around $3, which is about the cost of 2 cans alone. I decided throwing some water in the microwave and adding the granules is just not that difficult for those savings.

These are the noodles I use. They are found in the freezer section and are the really thick, fat kind. Grandma's Egg Noodles:

What You Need:
4-6 chicken breasts (Rotisserie chicken is great too but sometimes is not quite as much meat as I would like in this)
Soup noodles (Use egg noodles or rice)
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
36 oz. canned cream of chicken soup (one family sized can plus one 10 oz can will do it)
1 small onion, diced
3-4 carrots, sliced
2-3 celery stalks, sliced
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Sautee onion and celery in a tablespoon of oil until onions are translucent. Add bay leaf, chicken broth and water and bring to a boil. Whisk in cream soup. Let simmer at least 30 minutes or until carrots are cooked through. Add cooked chicken either shredded or cut into bite-size pieces. Salt and pepper to taste. Add cooked noodles or rice just before serving. Note: If I plan to either freeze extra or have leftovers another day, I leave the noodles/rice out and just add them to each bowl before eating. If you don't, they will soak up all the liquid and you will have goop the second time around!

Serve with warm bread and enjoy!