Chicken Soup for the Holly

I knew it would happen. It comes around about this time every year. The inevitable cold and cough. No matter how hard I try, it does not escape me. It seems to always happen at really bad times. Holidays, times where I have A LOT on my plate, times where I'm supposed to sing in church or (gasp) at someones funeral. I think it would be one thing if it was just a snotty nose and a stuffy head. I could deal with that. But the cough? The cough just really makes everything so much worse!! It's the kind of cough that lasts for weeks before it finally trails away and leaves you. It keeps me and everyone else up in the night. Last night while I was nursing Faith, she would come unlatched with every cough and look at me like I was really ruining her night time experience. I sucked on cough drops to no avail. I'm sure the only thing they did was rot my teeth from letting them sit in the corner of my mouth all night long. It's a miracle I didn't die from choking on them.

The cough starts out innocently enough. Every time it starts, I kid myself into thinking it's just a little cough and maybe it will be gone the next day. It never is. It starts out dry and hits me just every now and then, then it escalates to the tickle in the back of your throat where you must cough and cough and cough until you've itched the tickle. Then comes the worst part. The cough turns into the bark where you bark and bark like a dog until that teensy bit of phlegm in the the back of your throat finally comes loose. It's so exhausting that you feel like you've just ran a marathon. You can actually feel the ab-work. You lie on your bed, curl up in a little ball and say, "Kill me now!"

I made myself feel better by making my famous Chicken Noodle Soup. I've mastered it. It's my mother-in-law's recipe (though of course I tell myself that mine is better. Shhh. Don't tell her) and it's my husband's favorite. He's a weird guy that way. His favorite food is soup. If I want to make him happy, I make him this soup and I'll be forgiven on any shopping spree I went on where I "accidentally" spent too much. Not that I've ever done that or anything. Because I love YOU; my readers, I am sharing the recipe. You're welcome! Feel free to thank me by sending gifts.

Chicken Noodle Soup

One whole roasting chicken

3 ribs celery, chopped

1/2 onion diced

3 medium sized carrots cut in pennies

2-3 bay leaves

1 Package Grandma's Frozen Egg Noodles

3 Medium sized potatoes, peeled and sliced in quarters

2 Chicken Bouillon cubes (optional)

Salt to taste

Cover chicken in a large stockpot with water, diced onion and bay leaves. Cook on high for about one hour. Take chicken out of broth water. Remove skin and bones. Shred chicken with fingers. While you're doing that, cook carrots, potatoes, celery and Grandma's noodles in broth water. Be sure to follow directions on the back of Grandma's noodles package first. Cook on high until noodles and vegetables are tender with bouillon cubes. About 20-30 minutes. Add chicken back into broth water. Serve. Get lucky.

If you want to be a good girl, you can make your broth before hand and skim fat off top the following day. Unfortunately, I am never prepared enough for this and I'm convinced it won't taste as good anyway.