Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

I feel silly even posting a recipe for this. Because, really? You don't need a recipe to make chicken noodle soup! And this particular one isn't even a fancy, spiced up, zesty, exciting one. It is just about as plain jane as it gets. Still, it makes for a tummy-pleasing warm lunch on a cold day and it was a nice bonus after having already gotten five dinners out of those five chicken breasts!

For this simple lunch, I used:

• about 4 cups of stock
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chicken bits
• 2 carrots, diced
• approx. 1/4 lb spaghetti noodles, cooked separately so it didn't absorb all the stock (Spaghetti is NOT the traditional type of noodle used in soup but it works just fine. And I had it on hand.)
• juice from half a lemon (I had this on hand and it really brightens the flavor of the soup... totally not necessary though.)

I brought my stock and salt to a low boil, added the carrots, then reduced to a simmer. About 15 minutes later, I added the chicken bits. Once they were warmed through, about 5 minutes, I squeezed in the juice of half a lemon and added the noodles.

And that was that.

Our family of five happily ate this for a weekend lunch. The one year old really only ate the carrots out, though, so I would have to say this yielded four servings, not five. Nonetheless, I'd say I got more than money's worth out of five bone-in chicken breasts!