I spent yesterday sitting at home, nursing a sinus infection and wondering what I could possibly have for lunch with the few staples we still actually have in our chicken. For whatever reason (probably because I was cold) I really wanted some soup. Chicken noodle soup, to be exact.

But I've never been one for tradition and to be perfectly frank, I hate my mother's version of chicken noodle soup. Don't tell her though!

I had pretty much no vegetables left in the house other than zucchini, string beans, and red pepper - none of which I particularly wanted in my soup. I had chicken broth, chicken bouillon, some frozen chicken tenders, but precious else.

What's a girl to do? Make up her own soup based off of the traditional recipe (off of the Swanson Chicken Broth can) and combing through allrecipes looking for a recipe with ingredients I might actually have. (Um, none.)

So, here's what I came up with -

ALSW's Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients

4 frozen chicken tenderloins
Cooking spray
2 cans of chicken broth
12-16 cups of water - depending on how liquidy you like your soup
1 package of egg noodles, uncooked
5 chicken bouillon cubes
2 tsp ginger powder
1/4 cup light soy sauce
2-3 tbsp garlic powder (if you're not a fan, just cut it out. I love the stuff!)
2 tsp hot sauce
2 tsp chopped onion seasoning
Black pepper to taste

Everything is very subjective to what you like, flavor-wise, but this is more or less the recipe that I followed.

Directions

1. Coat a medium skillet with cooking spray. Cook the chicken until there is no pink. Cut into pieces about an inch in size. Smaller if you prefer. (If you love soy sauce, one idea is to cook the chicken in additional soy sauce rather than using cooking spray. Yum.)

2. Add water, bouillon cubes, and broth to a stockpot. Bring to a boil.

3. Add the chicken, soy sauce, and egg noodles to the pot. Continue to cook on medium heat for about 10 - 15 minutes or until noodles are done.

4. Season to taste.

It turned out really (and probably surprisingly) well! My husband said, and I quote, "You put soy sauce in it?" in that I-can't-believe-you-did-that voice. He came home expecting to have to fix himself a pb&j sandwich - and instead, he polished off a huge bowl of it! Ha!

Also, I feel like this soup would adapt well - add in mushrooms, carrots, onion - delicious! Can't wait to make it again!