This rich and creamy chicken noodle soup sticks to your bones, but bright flavors of lemon and ginger—plus fresh herbs—keep it from feeling to heavy.
It’s winter here in Florida, which means it’s about 68˚F when I wake up and climbs to 78˚F by midday. Truthfully, it feels like 80˚F, and tank tops have become my year-round uniform since moving here two years ago.
I wear leggings (instead of shorts) and my short-cropped cowgirl boots and close-toed Keds instead of sandals to tell myself it’s actually winter. This saves me from having to repaint my toenails every week, too, so it’s a win.
I refuse to cut my hair, even though it’s long and hot here in Florida. Every May for the last ten years, I’ve cut off length, and then I grow it out again through the winter. In the cold and wet Tennessee winters, long hair comforts me like a scarf. It drapes and falls around my shoulders like a blanket. It’s like my own personal shelter.
But here in Florida, with winters that can reach 80˚F, the long hair is less a need and more a want and maybe even an endurance.
I’ve acclimated to the heat since moving here. 50˚F feels cold, and I need socks and sweaters and sweatpants. Maybe even a space heater. My house is made of concrete block and tile, which keeps me cool most of the time, but if it actually dips down below 60˚F, turns my house into a refrigerator box.
But today, there is a beautiful blue and sunny sky, a light 4mph breeze, and it’s 75˚F outside. The humidity is unfortunately 97%, but I expect some of that will burn off by mid-afternoon and it will drop a little. Overnight, the humidity builds up again, and I usually wake with a frizzy lions mane.
I’ve gotten really good at using natural oils to tame the frizz out of the ends of my hair and using dry shampoo to combat a sweaty scalp.
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may remember when I was experimenting with giving up hair products all together. First, I ditched shampoo and conditioner for baking soda and apple cider vinegar (remember that?). Then, I tried to just use purified water for water-washing.
I look back and I feel silly, but it actually did work! That was back when I just let the mane do it’s thing and didn’t blow dry my curls (or brush it, I might add).
These days, I use this AMAZING brush for curly hair, which distributes the oils all the way down to the ends and helps tame the frizz.
I got my brush from Thrive Market for just $5.95. If you look on Amazon, it’s anywhere from $9-23. If you’re looking for a brush, do this—SIGN UP for Thrive Market through this link, and you’ll get a free gift from Thrive for my readers, plus a free 30 day trial to buy anything from their membership store.
Just look at these pics! These are screenshots I took TODAY.
Thrive is basically like an organic online Costco. Everything is marked down 25-50%, and you get free shipping if you order enough. I use Thrive to stock up on my favorite brand of shampoo and conditioner now, as well as many food products (and TAZA chocolate because that stuff is GOOD).
See! If I buy this on Amazon, it costs SOOOO much more than Thrive Market! I love Thrive!
Anyway, so yeah….Long hair. Florida Winter. It’s hot. I don’t care.
I’m going to pretend like it’s real winter, and in the spirit of real winter, I’ve REALLY been wanting to make Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup.
SERVES 10-12, maybe more
Ingredients
- One roasted or rotisserie chicken
- 1 large onion
- 6 large carrots, diced or sliced
- 5 celery sticks, diced
- 5 small red potatoes (or 2 big ones)
- A whole bunch of garlic cloves, minced
- 2 inches of ginger, minced
- At least 1/2 cup of Heavy Cream
- 2 tsp Turmeric Powder
- 2 tsp Black Pepper
- 4 TBSP flour or arrowroot powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 package of Egg Noodles (Tagliatelle)
- Fresh herbs like parsley, sage, oregano, and thyme
If you’re using a roast chicken (and roasting that chicken yourself), I recommend you take a look at my roast chicken recipe!
Once you’ve got your chicken, place it in a large pot and fill that pot with water, leaving 2-3 inches at the top. Simmer for at least 3 hours. I like to roast my chicken the night before and pull it out of the oven before I go to bed. Adding water and letting it simmer on super low heat overnight means that you can very quickly finish up the soup in the morning and have it ready to go for an early lunch! Win!
You can make your stock a couple different ways: (1) Just simmer the roast chicken and water together, OR (2) Add a whole onion with the paper, along with some whole carrots and whole celery to boost the flavor of the broth.
After your broth is ready, remove the bones of the chicken (and the whole veggies if you added them), and leave the chicken meat and broth in the pot. Return to a simmer.
Cut up your onion, carrots, celery, and potatoes into roughly 1/4″ cubes and add to the pot, along with your minced garlic and ginger. Simmer for 10-20 minutes, or until tender. About 10 minutes in, add your egg noodles. If you’re using dried egg noodles, the cooking time is typically 10 minutes. If you’re using frozen, it can be up to 20 minutes.
***TIP*** The egg noodles may absorb some of your liquid, so if you find yourself low on broth, you can always add more water and chicken bouillon in a pinch.
When the egg noodles are done cooking, turn off the heat.
Sift the flour (or arrowroot powder) on top of the soup, and whisk to combine.
ALTERNATIVE: Do you have joint pain, brittle nails, or have trouble with hair growth? If so, you might consider adding gelatin to the soup to thicken it up and give it a more luxurious flavor. Check out this post for other ideas on how to incorporate gelatin into your diet.
Next, add in the turmeric and black pepper, along with the heavy cream. I honestly didn’t measure any of those things, so I gave you estimates in the list above. But seriously, feel free to wing it. It will be impossible for you to add too much turmeric. You can eyeball the cream like you would with coffee. Just add cream until it’s creamy enough for you.
The soup should still be hot, so as you add in the last ingredients, the soup should begin to thicken.
Lastly, add in the freshly chopped herbs and stir to combine.
You should have creamy chicken noodle soup to last you for days! Enjoy!
- One roasted or rotisserie chicken
- 1 large onion
- 6 large carrots, diced or sliced
- 5 celery sticks, diced
- 5 small red potatoes (or 2 big ones)
- A whole bunch of garlic cloves, minced
- 2 inches of ginger, minced
- At least ½ cup of Heavy Cream
- 2 tsp Turmeric Powder
- 2 tsp Black Pepper
- 4 TBSP flour or arrowroot powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 package of Egg Noodles (Tagliatelle)
- Fresh herbs like parsley, sage, oregano, and thyme
- Place your roast chicken in a large pot and fill that pot with water (add veggies for flavor if you want). Simmer for at least 3 hours.
- After your broth is ready, remove the bones of the chicken (and the whole veggies if you added them), and leave the chicken meat and broth in the pot. Return to a simmer.
- Cut up your onion, carrots, celery, and potatoes into roughly ¼" cubes and add to the pot, along with your minced garlic and ginger. Simmer for 10-20 minutes, or until tender. About 10 minutes in, add your egg noodles. If you're using dried egg noodles, the cooking time is typically 10 minutes. If you're using frozen, it can be up to 20 minutes. ***TIP*** The egg noodles may absorb some of your liquid, so if you find yourself low on broth, you can always add more water and chicken bouillon in a pinch.
- When the egg noodles are done cooking, turn off the heat.
- Sift the flour (or arrowroot powder) on top of the soup, and whisk to combine.
- Next, add in the turmeric and black pepper, along with the heavy cream. The soup should still be hot, so as you add in the last ingredients, the soup should begin to thicken.
- Lastly, add in the freshly chopped herbs and stir to combine.
- You should have creamy chicken noodle soup to last you for days! Enjoy!
