This second installment of What Micky Eats...At Home features an experiment by Keith. We've had some blustery cold days this January (as well as unseasonably warm days - what's up with schizophrenic Mother Earth?), so this morning before leaving for work, Keith thought he should bust out our Crock-Pot. He threw in a leftover roasted whole chicken, water, herbs and some veggies and said "Let's see what happens..."
I was a little apprehensive to hear that he left the Crock-Pot on all day while no one was home, but leaving it on "slow" is not that dangerous and that's what this machine is made for, right? As soon as I got home though, the machine had been on for a little over 7 hours and I immediately checked on it. Looked good - smelled better; so I gave it a slight stir and let it continue to do its thing. By the time Keith got home, it was almost ready but he felt it was still too watery. I suggested we add some pasta to make chicken noodle soup. He dumped half a box of raw bow tie pasta in and let it all continue to cook for an additional hour.
When the hour was up, I was excited to see how the soup turned out. Surprisingly the pasta had soaked up most of the excess water and cooked perfectly. Keith fished out the main chicken bones left from the carcass and served it up. It was so hearty and fragrant from the thyme and other seasonings. Our only notes for improvement include adding even more vegetables and using other types of herbs. We might even try it with rice instead of pasta next time. Overall, this experiment was a success! Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of this whole process but it was pretty easy and made a lot of soup - so we have plenty left over in our freezer. When we decide to pull it out next time, I'll be sure to snap a pic and update this post.
Keith's Crock-Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
- ½ whole roasted chicken, with the meat chopped
- 1 ½ carrots, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- ½ white onion, chopped
- 3 button mushrooms, sliced
- 8 cups water
- 1 chicken bouillon cube
- thyme, celery seed, parsley, garlic powder, salt & black pepper to taste
- ½ lb. pasta
- Dump everything except the pasta into the Crock-Pot in the morning.
- Set on "low heat" for 10 hours.
- At the 9 hour mark, add in the pasta. Continue to cook until done. Be sure to remove any bones before serving.
