Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

A couple of weekends ago, I started the weekend off at urgent care. Upon my discharge, I was presented with an antibiotic. I was delighted as I walked out, knowing that what I was dealing with was about to be toast. I got up the next morning feeling strange and quite weary. As I got ready for the day, I found an intense need to sit down every few minutes to rest. Hubs had to come in and help me finish my hair and help me get my shoes on. At that point, I should have thrown in the towel and stayed home. I’m stubborn though, some might even agree that I’m as stubborn as a mule. My hubby calls it fire, which I find endearing. We were just going to the mall to window shop and get a small bite. We quickly arrived at the behemoth, filled with shops selling their wares. As we perused, I felt far away like I wasn’t really there; it felt like I was floating, I was burning up, I was shaking and I was weak. I was going through the motions of going on a walk through the mall in a daze. The things I felt were overwhelming, causing me to want nothing more than to curl up in a hole and disappear forever. We popped into J Crew with the water bottle I was holding shaking uncontrollably in my hand. In that moment, something caught my eye. One of the shop attendants was wearing a semi-sheer button down shirt with nothing on underneath. She had secured her top with a single button, a button tempting fate. A single fastener was all that stood between a fashion statement or fashion catastrophe. Maybe it was intentional or maybe not, the intrigue however distracted me from my predicament. I floated around the store and floated back out like Casper. Finally I decided that I must be hungry. We grabbed a quick sammie from Earl of Sandwich and I felt “better”. I felt convinced that the soul drenching warmth of the Cuban sandwich, had soothed my tired body and that all was well. 

As the weekend progressed, so did the feeling of malaise. Into the week it got worse, the nausea began and it kept me awake all night. The shaking was out of control. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t hold anything steady. I thought I had Covid, but after the test came back negative, I was stumped, until night 7 that is. On night 7 I took my 13th pill and immediately began itching everywhere. It finally dawned on me that I must have been having a bad reaction to the antibiotic. I skipped the last pill and the symptoms started subsiding. The longer the medicine was out of my system, the better I felt. I was so relieved that I was going to be ok. I deal with quite a lot of pain and discomfort due to some health problems, but physically that was the hardest week of my life. In all of this, I probably should have realized that I needed a different antibiotic, but I didn’t. While I had to endure a week of physical torment, the one bright side, was that I had homemade chicken noodle soup stashed in the freezer. Not only was it nice for me to have, once I felt well enough to eat, but everyone had a home cooked meal, despite the fact that I was laid up in bed for a week. 

This chicken noodle isn’t your ordinary chicken soup. It’s a thick and creamy soup that sticks to your bones and warms your soul on the coldest, wettest of days. It has all of your basics: chicken, celery, carrots, stock, salt, pepper and noodles. I have added a few extra ingredients that take this soup to the next level. A packet or two of plain gelatin, cream of chicken, thyme (which admittedly is often found in chicken soup recipes) and heavy cream. I have found that in order for a meal to stick with me, the meal must have a decent amount of fat. If the fat is missing, I tend to find myself ravenous within a matter of an hour or two, even if the meal is filling. Chicken noodle soup tends toward the lean side in terms of fat, so making these changes makes this a well rounded meal. In times of sickness, it’s hard to consume much fat, so the cream can be served to taste, instead of putting it in the entire pot, making this meal easily freezable for sickies in bed or a heart warming dinner for the robust. 

If serving as a meal, in times of good health, I highly recommend serving with a soft bread that easily soaks up the broth.