Dear Friends,
For me, cooking from scratch is never pretty. So when I read the blog post of my good friend Julie Garmon about her simple, couldn’t-mess-it-up homemade chicken noodle soup I thought, “Ha! She doesn’t know my non-culinary skills.” But in my fridge sat carrots that had been there a while, some celery (which was the reason Julie made her soup), a bit of onion, and frozen chicken breasts that needed to be used up.
I stuck the skinless, boneless chicken breasts in a pot and cooked them. Blah. They didn’t produce any kind of stock or broth. No wonder…they had no skin, no fat, no greasy goodness. Ok, time to regroup. Julie said in her recipe (below) that she sometimes used chicken broth. I ran to the store and there on the shelf I found….one chicken broth left. No wonder…we’d had four cold, rainy days in a row in Northern Idaho.
I scooped up that last can of broth, dodged raindrops and slick streets, pulled in at home, then dumped it in a pot. With Julie’s “You can’t mess this up,” resounding in my ear, and me thinking, “Yeah, well it didn’t start out so great,” I chopped, diced and seasoned, putting in everything except the noodles, just like she said, and let it simmer. It smelled good. But was it?
Later, I boiled some old-fashioned noodles and added them in. Voila! Homemade chicken noodle soup straight from B.J.’s kitchen to her hubby’s tummy. And guess what? He liked it! What a wonderful world!
P.S. My soup didn’t look exactly like super chef Julie (wasn’t there a Julia Child who was an awesome cook? Must be the name…). Anyway, Julie’s had a rich, golden broth, but mine still tasted good.
Have you ever compared yourself to someone and come up short? Maybe in your own baking or cooking skills, your household cleanliness, your decorating flair? How about as a writer, a coworker, a member of a club or team? My skills may not be the best, but I’m proud of trying, I’m proud of giving it my best shot, I’m proud of serving my husband a good, hot, homemade meal. Oh, I did tell him not to expect this all the time. Ha Ha.
So what have you tried that you’re proud of?
Blessings on all of your endeavors,
B.J.
Go to www.juliegarmon.com for Julie’s blog. And THANK YOU Julie!
Here’s the recipe for the chicken noodle soup in my blog. It’s from a really old Betty Crocker cookbook–with my additions listed too. 
2 ½ pound broiler-fryer chicken cup up—although I usually just use 3 or 4 big chicken breasts
2 cups carrots cut into ½ in slices
2 cups celery cut into ½ in slices
1 tablespoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper (I never measure S and P–probably a lot more pepper)
I usually add a little bit of chopped onion too 
😊 but recipe doesn’t call for it.
And sometimes I even add some fresh corn.
2 cups uncooked thin egg noodles (I use glutenfree noodles b/c I have Celiac. You can use rice instead of noodles. I always cook my rice or noodles and add them after I’ve made soup.)
Heat all ingredients except noodles to boiling in 4-qt Dutch oven; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until chicken is done, about 45 minutes. Skim fat if necessary.
Cook noodles. Or rice. Heck, or both if you want to! Cook from your heart with this recipe–you can’t mess it up! 
Remove chicken from broth; cool slightly. Remove chicken from bones and skin. Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces. Add chicken and noodles to broth; heat until hot, about 5 minutes. Makes 8 servings—about 1 cup each.
Sometimes I’ll add some chicken stock. I don’t measure anything when I make this soup. I just add veggies until it looks pretty. And I let it go all day long even though the recipe doesn’t say you have to. You really can’t mess it up!
Love,
Julie
Ahh, yum! And a classic chicken soup–always good. I make mine much the same way. Sometimes toss in mushroom, if I have some, and have been known to add peas or other left-over veg. But not necessary. Good for you!
And yes, I look at your books and think back about “Letting Go” and wonder if I’ll ever get back to it. There’s so much online info for mothers/parents these days that I doubt if it’d ever be more than a gift book. Maybe after we get out of this house next year and I have nothing left to throw away, I’ll spend more time writing.
Stay warm!
Love & miss you, as always…hugs!
Hey Jean,
Sorry for the late response to your comment. Thanks for the kudos on the chicken soup. A Bonus? Hubby loves it. Hooray!
Aaahhh, the wonderful books we have in our minds and the lack of time we have for putting them into format to sell. I’m hoping for you that the process of getting out of the house and into your new place goes smoothly. My trip from the “big house” to the smaller house was bumpy and grumpy for both of us. But we’re so happy we did it.
Love and hugs!
B.J.
I’m SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO proud of you. And yours looks better than mine! It really does. 🙂
Cheering for you in GA~~~~~~~~~
Now, then. Wasn’t that fun?!
Dear Julie-the-good-cook, Was it fun? Sort of. Kind of stressful though. Once I started the chicken I didn’t want to waste it, so I was nervous about making it turn out right. I guess I did okay. But seriously, yours looks WAY better than mine! (But who’s comparing?) Thanks for the cheerleading. That’s what kept me going!