snow day!

I made this on Sunday night, knowing that today would be a snow day and we would have a cold week ahead. This is The Lady's Chicken Noodle Soup from Paul Deen. It's a great homemade chicken noodle. I cheated and used a rotisserie chicken instead of a fryer. I will put my changes in with the original.

Stock:

• 1 (2 1/2 to 3-pound) fryer chicken, cut up (or 1 original rotisserie chicken, skin removed and cut up)
• 3 1/2 quarts water
• 1 onion, peeled and diced
• 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 bay leaves
• 3 chicken bouillon cubes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Soup:

• 2 cups sliced carrots
• 2 cups sliced celery, with leafy green tops
• 2 1/2 cups uncooked egg noodles
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/3 cup cooking sherry
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 cup grated Parmesan, optional (I did not make the soup creamy because I like chicken noodle brothy)
• 3/4 cup heavy cream, optional (did not use)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Crusty French bread, for serving

Directions

For the stock: add all ingredients to a soup pot. Cook until chicken is tender, about 35 to 45 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool. I did not add the rotisserie chicken until the point that you would add the chicken back to the soup (below). Remove and discard bay leaves and onion. You should have approximately 3 quarts of stock. When chicken is cool enough to touch, pick bones clean, discarding bones, skin, and cartilage. Set chicken aside.

For the soup: bring stock back to a boil, add carrots, and cook for 3 minutes. Add celery and continue to cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Add egg noodles and cook according to directions on package. When noodles are done, add chicken, parsley, sherry and rosemary. Add Parmesan and cream, if using. Cook for another 2 minutes. Adjust seasoning, if needed, by adding seasoning salt and pepper. Enjoy along with a nice hot crusty loaf of French bread.