Chicken Noodle Soup (Crockpot)

Chicken Noodle Soup (Crockpot)

Chicken
Amish style noodles (Or wide egg noodles)
"Better Than Bullion Chicken Soup Base"
Onion, chopped
Garlic, minced
Celery, chopped (I used frozen celery tops and leaves saved from making celery sticks)
Peas and Carrots (I use frozen)
turmeric
sage (Or poultry seasoning)
bay leaf

Fill the crockpot just over half full of hot water.
Make sure the crockpot is plugged in! (How many times have I forgotten to do this?!!!)
Turn to "High"
Add your chicken. Mine was frozen, and in whole pieces. I used three breast halves.
Add the chopped onions, garlic, celery, bay leaf, sage, turmeric.
Cover. Allow to cook several hours.
After about 2 1/2 hours, we removed the chicken from the broth and chopped it up. Remove the bones if you used bone-in chicken.
Return the chicken to the broth.
Add the frozen peas and carrots. (I used about a cup and a half of frozen mixed peas and carrots)
Turn crock pot down to low, if it is going to be awhile until you eat.
Cover, allow to continue to cook.
Depending on the noodles, you will want to turn the crock pot back up and add the noodles 1/2 to 1 1/2 hours before you plan to serve. (I added two good handfuls of noodles, about 1 1/4 cups of the wide Amish style noodles. These are thick and hearty, and take quite awhile to cook.)

Thanks to my mother in law Arlene, Tom was raised believing that you have mashed potatoes  when you have chicken noodle soup. My kids love it their noodle soup served over the top of mashed potatoes... which is why I don't add potatoes to the soup. As starch heavy as this manner of serving the soup is, it is completely delicious.

Italian Chicken in the Slow Cooker / Crock Pot

Italian Chicken (Crock Pot)

Chicken Breasts (I used boneless/ skinless)

Canned tomatoes (I used stewed and petite diced)
tomato paste

Garlic (I used minced from a jar)

Onion, chopped

Italian seasoning blend

Basil (I used both dried, and fresh because I had it on hand)
Salt to taste

Cooked pasta or rice

I started with chopping an onion. Put it in the crock of the slow cooker.

Add a generous amount (I used about a tablespoon) of minced garlic. (Hey, we LIKE garlic!)

I then added boneless skinless chicken breasts. These were frozen when I put them in, since I never think to start meals soon enough.

Next I dumped a can (14.5 oz) each of  diced tomatoes and stewed tomatoes.
I added a can (6 oz) of tomato paste later, when I saw this was not going to be as thick as I like it.

(One can of each because I am only cooking for TWO today! If the kids were home, I would probably have either used larger cans of tomatoes, or more cans)

Sprinkle a light amount of Italian seasoning, and basil, over the top.

This should take about four hours on "High" in the slow cooker, six to eight hours on low... depending on several factors: Thawed or frozen chicken, how hot the slow cooker gets, how many pieces of chicken are in the pot... etc...

Serve over prepared pasta or rice, garnish with fresh basil if you have it!