Chickenless Noodle Soup

There is something about winter and and comfort food that just seems to go so well together. I am always especially excited for comfort food after a hard workout. It reminds me of coming in from the cold as a child at ski lodges and getting steaming cups of cocoa and chili or curry to scarf down. I was definitely in the mood for something warm and tasty after my last bike workout. I’m currently not running as I have a possible stress fracture in my shin. I’m not about to let this completely sideline me so I have gotten back on the bike to keep up my cardiovascular fitness without the stress on my shin. The unfortunate side effect of biking in the winter is that you feel way colder on your workouts versus how warm you get while running. I’m learning I need to dress way warmer for biking but I haven’t figured out what to do about my freezing feet. I’m going to have to invest in some really warm socks. If you have any recommendations please drop them below in the comment section.

With the warm and tasty components my only parameters, I decided to come up with a new recipe to make for dinner. My kids are always a fan of soup and my husband really likes chicken noodle soup so I decided to make homemade noodle soup minus the chicken. And the Chickenless Noodle Soup was born. This recipe came at a perfect time as the whole family was out sick this week with strep throat. And when your throat is sore the best things are easy to swallow like soup and ice cream. And I haven’t come up with a homemade nondairy ice cream. Yet. Anyway, back to the soup.

I have recently started making veggie broth from vegetable scraps, which I thought would be a perfect base for the Chickenless Noodle Soup. It’s super simple and such a great way to use all the bits and pieces of vegetables that you would otherwise throw away. You can pretty much use anything from onion ends, tops of celery and even the botttom stem of broccoli. I knew we were going to be out for the day heading to the doctor’s office to get tested for strep so I went ahead and started the broth in the crockpot. The amount you can make will vary on the size of crockpot you are using. Mine is large enough to hold an entire gallon freezer bag of veggie scraps and 9 cups of water. Once you’ve added all the water you can just add the spices, cover and walk away. I’ve made the broth both with using an extra onion along with garlic and sautéing it and then adding it to the veggie scraps but I was just as happy with the broth by skipping the extra onion and just adding spices to the water and letting it cook for several hours.

Once your water begins to turn a deep amber color you can shut off your crockpot and begin straining your broth. Don’t worry if you end up leaving a lot of the actual herbs in the strainer as they have already flavored the broth through the whole cooking process. I ended up with just under 11 cups of actual broth, six of which I used to make the soup. Add six cups of the strained broth along with two cups of water and one cup of dried beans. I used great northern beans though I think chickpeas would also work well.  You can choose to cook the dried beans on low or high depending on how quickly you  are wanting them done. The cooking time will also vary on the crockpot. My smaller crockpot often finishes beans in under four hours on high whereas my larger crockpot, which I used this time takes a much longer time. I cooked them on low overnight, anywhere from six to eight hours should do the trick. Since I cooked my beans overnight I turned my crockpot to warm in the morning so the beans wouldn’t turn to complete mush before I even added the vegetables. In a large pan, I used my cast iron skillet, add one tablespoon of olive oil and begin letting the pan warm up. While your pan warms up begin chopping the onion. Add one cup chopped onion (any color onion will be fine) to the warm pan and begin to cook on medium heat. Add one tablespoon of chopped garlic to the onions and continue to cook. While these cook chop the celery and carrots add those to the pan as well. Once all the veggies are in the pan you can add the spices. I  used parsley, ground mustard, thyme, sage, allspice and turmeric. Cook until the vegetables begin to soften. Once veggies are soft go ahead and add to the warm crockpot. Turn the crockpot back to low and add two tablespoons of nutritional yeast. Allow everything to mix together and cook for a short time. In a separate pot boil water for the nooodles. I used gluten-free spaghetti nooodles that I broke into tiny pieces. Add six ounces of broken spaghetti pieces to the boiling water. While the noodles cook, check your soup in the crockpot. Once the carrots are soft your soup is done and you simply need to add salt and pepper to taste as well as the cooked noodles. This recipe would also work well with actual chicken if you eat chicken or with vegan chicken if you want it to be more similar to the classic soup. Serve immediately to avoid getting gummy noodles.

It’s easy to tell when a recipe I have created goes over well with my family as that is when they ask for seconds or thirds. Especially, with my kids as they are often just about finishing dinner in order to get to dessert. More so this week as we had leftover birthday cake. So when my daughter asked for seconds and my son gobbled up his I knew I had a winner. I love when they truly enjoy a healthy recipe that I have made. I hope you enjoy it as well!

VEGGIE BROTH
Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS: 
- 1gallon freezer bag
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp parsley flakes
- 2 tsp whole black peppercorns
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp ground mustard
- 1 tsp salt 
-1/4 tsp allspice
- 1 tsp thyme
- 9 cups of water

DIRECTIONS:
Add all ingredients (veggie scraps, spices and water) to crockpot and cook on height for 3-4 hours. Once liquid turns a deep amber color strain the broth with a colander to remove all large pieces of vegetables. If you want a clearer broth you can strain again with a mesh strainer. Store broth in glass jars in fridge for later use. You could also freeze broth if you won’t be using it right away.

CHICKENLESS NOODLE SOUP 
Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS: 
- 6 cups homemade veggie broth
- 2 cups water
- 1 cups dry Great Northern Beans
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp garlic chopped
- 1 cup onion chopped
- 2 cups carrots chopped
- 1 1/2 cups celery chopped
- 1 tsp parsley
- 1 tsp ground mustard
- 1/4 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp sage
- 1/4 tsp allspice
-1/2 tsp turmeric
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- salt and pepper to taste
- 6 oz gluten-free pasta

DIRECTIONS:
Add broth, water and dried beans to the crockpot and cook on low 6-8 hours or until beans are soft. Turn your crockpot off or to the warm feature. In a skillet on the stove sauté the veggies in the olive oil and add all the spices except for the nutrional yeast, salt and pepper. Once veggies are begin to soften add to the crockpot with the broth and beans and turn crockpot back to low. In a separate pot boil water and cook the 6 oz of pasta per package instructions. Drain pasta. Salt and pepper to taste and turn crockpot back to the warm feature once the carrots are soft. Add the pasta to the soup and serve immediately to avoid the noodles becoming gummy. 

NUTRIONAL INFORMATION: 

142 calories per 1 cup serving
Total Fat: 2.2g 
Total Carbohydrates: 30.4g
Protein: 6.2g 
* I used a Kroger’s Veggie Broth for the nutritional info for the homemade broth as it will be a close comparison except for the sodium.