Chicken noodle soup

Dear god, I feel like I have been to hell and back without even getting out of bed. I am sorry for my long absence but the inevitable happened. After days of soothing Alex's coughs, aches and pains I fell victim to Sydney's strain of the flu. I haven't had the flu for 5 plus years and really have no memory of how bloody awful you feel when it grabs you and sucks you down into flu hell. To make my suffering even worse I had Alex right there with me, coughing and spluttering.

Seriously, the last thing you want to do when you are in the throws of flu hell is get up in the middle of the night and sooth your poor sick child.....aren't I someones poor sick child? Every mum on the planet knows what I am talking about and every mum has to do what I did- suck it up and make sure they are comfortable THEN throw yourself back in bed and pretend you are the only person that exists.

Today is my first day out of p.j's since Tuesday and I have to tell you being in an upright position is highly overrated from where I'm sitting! Thanks to the resilience of young kids, Alex is bouncing off all walls today. Who would of known he was limp and full of aches yesterday? Now I have to contend with him climbing all over me and asking 'why aren't you all better mum?'

"Let's go ride our bikes"- yeah right, first I would like to be able to breath out of BOTH nostrils and get rid of the 24/7 head thump then I will consider bike riding!

To add more misery to my week. LAST week I made a delicious chicken noodle soup that would of picked up my spirits no end. Last week is a long time ago and of course there was no heart warming chicken noodle soup left for Alex and I when we really needed it. I urge all of you to make a big pot of chicken noodle and stick half in the freezer for that one week in the year when you really, really need it- otherwise you will have to go without just like Alex and me. As soon as I feel like cooking again, I am going to whip up a batch.....nothing quite like running into the stable when the horses have bolted!

Heart Warming Chicken Noodle Soup

1.5 kg whole chicken

2 brown onions, peeled and quartered

6 cloves garlic, smashed

6 peppercorns

2 bay leaves

10-12 sprigs of lemon thyme

5 parsley stalks

2 button mushrooms, sliced

3 teaspoons salt

1 ½ cups carrot, peeled and diced small

1 cup celery, diced small

200g spaghetti noodles, broken in half

Method

Wash chicken with cold water to remove excess fat and juices.

Place into a large saucepan and add onions, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, lemon thyme, parsley and mushrooms.

Fill with cold water until it is 1-2 cm above chicken and bring to the boil.

Once boiling turn heat down to a simmer place a lid on to keep cooking temperature even and cook for 30 minutes.

Chicken should now be cooked- remove chicken with tongs being careful as the legs will be loose, allow to cool then proceed to pull off all the meat.

Add one teaspoon of salt, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes, then turn the heat off and steep for 5 minutes (just let is sit).

Place a strainer over a large plastic bowl and pour in stock.

Wash out saucepan then refill with your stock and bring to the boil.

Add 2 more teaspoons of salt, noodles, carrot and celery.

Bring to the boil and cook until pasta is el dente.

Add shredded chicken meat, check seasoning and serve.

Notes

Steeping the stock before adding the noodles and extra vegetables allows all the flavours to combine and develop before adding more ingredients.

I like to cook the pasta in the stock to incorporate the starch.

If you feel like an extra flavour lift, some freshly ground chilli flakes and a squeeze of lemon juice tastes really yummy.