The Holidays are over...

But that doesn't mean feasting is! Happy New Year from your "epicurious" friends at Diane Can Cook! We enjoyed sharing our culinary experiences with you last year and are thrilled to get going again this year!

We have plans to review some of our favorite restaurants that continue to dazzle us as well as venture to new spots here in Salt Lake City, UT and on our travels. In the meantime, there is a wonderful recipe that keeps me warm through these cold months that requires very little prep time and almost no hands-on cooking. Modern technology has created one of my favorite kitchen appliances...the slow cooker!

On winter days the last thing I want to do is to come home after work and prepare a time intensive meal, so this machine combined with a semi-homemade (modified) recipe from Sandra Lee really works for me! The recipe suggest traditional soup vegetables, but use whatever you have or whatever you like!


Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
Recipe courtesy of Sandra Lee (modified by Laura)

Ingredients

• 1 store-bought roasted chicken (LC: I love the Whole Foods No Salt chicken)
  
• 1 cup diced onions (LC: I double this to two cups; I love a hearty soup)
  
• 1 cup diced carrot (LC: I double this to two cups)
• 4 (14-ounce) cans low-sodium chicken broth
  
• 2 (10.75-ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup with roasted garlic
• 2 teaspoon fines herbs*
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cups egg noodles, cooked (LC: you may use whatever noodles you have, I prefer whole wheat pasta.)

Directions

1. Remove the skin from the chicken and shred the meat from the bone.
2. Put the chicken into a slow cooker along with the onions, celery, and carrots.
3. Stir in broth, mushroom soup, and fines herbs and season with salt and pepper.
4. Cover and cook on high setting for 3 to 4 hours or low for 8 to 9 hours.
5. When soup is finished, stir in egg noodles. Taste and adjust seasonings and serve.

*Cook's Note: Fines herbs are a classic blend of herbs that usually consists of chervil, chives, parsley, and tarragon. Fines Herbs can be found pre-blended in the spice section of the grocery store.