Classic Chicken Noodle Soup

So who’s Arlene you ask?  Well she’s my wonderful mom-on-law, who happens to be an incredible cook in her own right..she has even published her own cookbook!  How cool is that?!  This is a perfect soup for this time of year and super easy to make!
–courtesy of my mom-in-law
Makes 4 quarts

Arlene’s Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients:
4 cups cooked chicken, diced
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup onion, diced
1/4 cup butter or margarine
12 cups water
1 cup carrots, diced
3 Tbs. instant chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp. marjoram leaves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper
2 bay leaves
1/2 (12 oz.) package of wide noodles
1 tsp. chopped parsley

Directions:
Heat butter in a large dutch oven.  Saute celery and onion in butter until tender. Add in chicken, herbs (not bay leaves), salt and pepper.  Saute an additional 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except noodles and parsley.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove bay leave.  Add noodles and parsley.  Cook approximately 10 minutes until noodles are al-dente. 
This is a great recipe to divide and freeze.  If you decide to freeze half of the soup.  Remove half of stock before adding in noodles.  Place in freezer bag.  Then add in a 1/4 of the bag of noodles to the stock you will be eating.  When ready to eat other half.  Thaw in fridge, re-heat and then add in a 1/4 of noodles.  This will prevent your noodles from becoming mushy when frozen and will make your soup taste fresher.

Enjoy!
from Heather At The Picket Fence