Homemade noodle soup

ell, it was just one of those days. One of those low-energy (me), sick-work-from-home (husband) kind of days. A real recipe for getting not much done. Which is okay, I guess, every once in awhile. It was nice to have a partner in my not-doing-much. The to-do list is chock-a-block full for the rest of this week, for both of us, and hopefully there will be a little sunshine to go along with it.

But for today and the fog, there was soup. I simmered the broth on the stove most of the afternoon and the garlicky smell permeated, nicely, without being overwhelming. I would have made it chicken-ish too, but couldn't find any organic free-range chicken at the grocery this morning and I've just turned a corner about the hormone-filled stuff. So it was a noodley, brothy bowl of healing.

Noodles in warming broth
1 large onion, diced
4 carrots, peeled and diced
5 celery ribs, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 container vegetable stock (mine ran out last week... used Safeway Organics and it's good)
1 container chicken stock (ditto)
3 whole bay leaves
3/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
2 tsps. MacKays Chicken Seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste

I was most attracted to the noodle recipe below because of the boiling water. I hunted high and low and can't believe I haven't shared it here before (this could have something to do with my slap-dash labeling...), but my favorite all-time cobbler recipe has boiling water in the crust, which I believe is key to the dough's heavenly consistency. I found it on cooks.com.

If you are in any way intimidated by the idea of making noodles, let me just say this: I understand. It's not hard once you get that you can drop completely imperfect pieces of dough in the soup and it will all taste lovely. That, and you can use whatever noodles you might have in the cupboard and skip this step. Either.

Noodles
2 cups flour (I used half whole wheat flour, half regular)
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 tbsp. oil
1 c. boiling water

In a large bowl, mix flour and salt. Make a hole in the center of the flour and add eggs and oil. Pour in water and stir quickly until a stiff dough is formed, working in as much of the flour as possible.The amount of flour used will depend on the size of the eggs--you may need a little more or less flour. (Here's the main ammendment--I added substantially more flour, probably almost one cup. I was doubling the recipe, but still...)

Place dough on a heavily floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Cover and let stand for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Cut dough in half. Dust work surface with flour.

Roll out each half to about the thickness of your favorite commercial noodles. The dough may also be passed through the rollers or a pasta machine.

Cut with a sharp knife into 1/2 inch wide strips. Separate strips and let dry on a floured surface for 1 hour. Repeat with remaining half of dough. (Second ammendment. No waiting. I started this too close to supper to impose waiting on the dough to rest, and then cutting and resting again. Didn't impact the noodle quality, in my humble, hurried opinion.)

 The best compliment I've had in awhile from Seth: Mom, can I have this in a thermos for my lunch tomorrow? Why yes, you can!