Most-fun-ever chicken noodle soup

It's been cold and snowy, and Kathy has been asking for chicken soup. While she's a big fan of Panera's chicken noodle soup, she hasn't been enthusiastic about my weak and basically flavorless broth. 

Last year when a friend's kitchen was scented with a most heavenly soup, I asked for tips. "Time. Let it simmer until all the goodness is in the broth." The next time I had a chicken carcass, I plopped it in my largest pot with an onion, carrots, celery, and bay leaves and covered it with water. It started in the morning and cooked all day. Hours and hours of simmering led to the best chicken broth I had ever made. Success! 

I hesitated to use this method again because I would need to be home to babysit the stove. I wanted a method with which I could leave the house. Another friend had success with making the stock in a crock pot. Brilliant! 

During our recent big snow storm, we had a roast chicken. After dinner, I set up the slow cooker, turned it on low for fourteen hours, went to bed, and woke up to a most comforting aroma.

Chicken carcass, carrots, onions, sage, peppercorns, bay leaves, water

This same friend with the crockpot idea mentioned making homemade noodles, and what a fun project it was with her daughter. The conversation reminded me that I have a pasta maker in my pantry -- the same one my parents used to make noodles with me when I was little -- that I haven't used for a few years. 

"Taryn, would you like to make pasta with me?" 

Is that a question? 

2 cups of flour, four eggs. Probably more fun to just do this on the counter by hand.

The recipe couldn't be easier with only two ingredients...plus some time and effort.

After an hour, divide up the dough. Clamp the pasta machine to the counter, and get started.

The crank turns a pair of rollers that start out about 1/4 inch away from each other. Process the dough by feeding it through the rollers a series of times. Move the rollers closer to each other each time, and eventually the dough is a paper-thin sheet.

Cutting the noodles

Now crank the sheet of pasta through the cutter of your choice. Kathy likes fettuccine sized for her chicken soup.

Noodles hanging out before going into soup

This noodley gadget is useful, but not necessary. My parents would lay the noodles out on dish cloths on the dining room table. I prefer not to do this because I have three curious, mischievous, thieving cats.

Taryn as noodle walrus

We had fun making noodles!

Kathy-approved chicken noodle soup

Final steps for most-fun-ever chicken noodle soup include:

1. Strain the broth from the solids.
2. Put the broth in the snow to cool down quickly.
3. Skim the fat that has risen to the top.
4. Saute onions and carrots in a big pot, then add broth and bring to a boil.
5. Let soup simmer until veggies are soft.
6. Break noodles into 2 inch pieces, add them to the soup. 
7. Fresh noodles cook fast! After two to four minutes, this soup is ready to serve.
8. Enjoy!

Snow Day!

I remember the excitement of snow days when I was a kid. The best ones were the surprises: waking up to inches of snow piled up outside my window and knowing -- without turning on the radio or tv -- that school would be out for the day.

View from our back door at 6:30am on our snow day!
(I love how snow changes the shape of familiar objects. )

But still there was a thrill of waiting to hear my school system named, among the long list in the DC metro area, as one that would be closed. My parents listened to WAMU for the news, I would turn on Channel 4 and wait for Bob Ryan to make the announcement. Then I'd do a little dance, and head over to my best friend's house to make blueberry pancakes before a day of sledding.

Snow days are different for my kids. It's not just the easy access to information via internet. Facebook, Twitter, and alerts through the local government take all the suspense away. Worse for my homeschooled girls, they don't even know the thrill of the announcement of No School. Since there's no commute, we carry on with "school" as usual.

This winter has been rough for Taryn and Kathy, as they hear about other kids getting out of school for extreme cold, threats of ice, and snow that may or may not be enough to prevent driving to the fabulous sledding hill in another neighborhood. Their routine has remained the same: get up, eat something, do some work, then play. 

Which, to a kid who goes to school, might sound pretty great. But that's another story.

Our school system has already announced that tomorrow is a day off. Our schooled friends are probably rejoicing. From Facebook comments, I can see that their parents have mixed feelings about yet another snow day. At our house? Deep sighs. "I know it will be just another normal day," Taryn muttered.

So maybe it won't be. Maybe I'll call it a snow day, too. We will shake up the routine and play hooky from homeschool. 

Do I tell them tonight? Or wait until morning when they see the snow piled up outside their window?

Either way...Snow day! I'm excited, too.