Easy Chicken Noodle Soup

There are times when, as a last resort, we do buy takeaway. I refuse to spend in excess of $40 for hamburgers (you know the ones I mean) that taste and look terrible or a pizza that tastes like it could’ve been cooked on a cardboard base. My ‘go to’ takeaway meal is a roasted, rotisserie chicken from the supermarket because I know I can get at least 3 meals from it including this easy Chicken Noodle Soup.

Make your own stock

You may remember the homemade chicken stock I made recently? This the last meal I can get from my roast chicken. I can make a roast chicken dinner, chicken and salad, chicken pies, chicken sandwiches or rolls, a chicken pasta dish or many other things from the roast chicken. Once the meat has been used, I make a chicken stock from the carcass. The stock be either frozen and used in many other dishes or made into a homemade chicken soup.

Add a few vegetables like an onion, carrot and celery, a few fresh or dried herbs and water to the chicken carcass, that’s basically your soup made. It’s so full of flavour and tastes nothing like a ready made stock.

All you need to do is return the stock to the stove.  Add any leftover chicken meat, frozen or fresh chopped vegetables, any kind of pasta you like (I used spaghetti pasta). Heat until the pasta is cooked. That’s it! 

If you don’t have access to freshly made stock, you can always use chicken stock cubes or powder.  Ready made liquid chicken stock is also good but I don’t like paying for water. It pays to have these things in the pantry to curb last minute takeaway temptations. Served with bread, this meal will fill hungry tummies.

Asian beef & noodle lettuce cups {for kids}

I may have mentioned once or twice about my 7 year battle with my daughter’s fussy eating but its not really worth going on about. What I do want to say though is that my 6 year old son, who has always just eaten what she did because it was easier, has been eating whatever I eat. He always asks for tastes of my food so instead of making him and her the same, I make him and my meal the same.

Its nearly like a breath of fresh air has blown into the kitchen and I don’t know why I didn’t try it sooner. I feel like the rest of the population who can cook a ‘normal’ meal every night. I’m not saying my son is not picky at all but he’s such a delight to feed. He just loves food (like his Mumma). The lettuce was cheap, crispy and HUGE at the supermarket last week so I thought I’d try this simple Asian style beef and noodle filling to use some of it up. He just wrapped it up and ate the lot. I added a slurp of sweet chili to mine.

The flavours were simple and tasty and it was a quick meal to get on the table.

Asian Beef & Noodle Lettuce Cups {for kids}

• ground beef mince (or pork, chicken etc)
• brown onion, chopped finely
• grated carrot
• other vegetables, chopped finely
• vermicelli noodles
• 2 tbs tomato sauce
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• oil spray
• liquid beef or chicken stock
• small lettuce cups

1. (Adjust quantities to suit the number of serves.)
2. Brown onion and beef in a pan sprayed with oil spray until onions are soft and beef is brown.
3. Add vegetables, sauces and stock.
4. Simmer until most of the stock has evaporated.
5. Soak vermicelli noodles in a bowl covered with boiling water until softened then add to beef mixture.
6. Spoon into lettuce cups to serve.
7. Add sweet chili sauce to for a spicier version.