Chicken Corn Soup Casserole

A good portion of this month will be filled with ribbon noodles and casseroles. We’re continuing with this chicken corn soup casserole. Chicken corn soup is one of my absolutely favorite soups to eat in the winter. There’s nothing quite like coming in after being out in the chilly air to a nice warm bowl of chicken corn soup! As a kid, I remember how my Granny Griffy would make chicken corn soup every year on the first day of trout season. I remember walking in and seeing her cooking with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and the ashes a mile long! My mom used to say that she felt like she needed to follow Granny Griffy around with an ashtray so that the ashes didn’t end up in the soup!

Now, I know that trout season is months away but I couldn’t help but share this recipe now. I don’t want to say that this recipe is comparable to Granny Griffy’s, mainly because of all of the memories attached behind it, but it’s very close! And it reminds me of her every time I eat it. Although, I don’t smoke, so there’s no chance of any ashes making it into the soup. Maybe that was Granny Griffy’s secret ingredient? 🙂

This soup is warm and delicious. If you are hungry for chicken corn soup but don’t feel like going through all of the work of boiling the chicken, then this would be a great substitute. I actually made this even easier by cheating and buying a rotisserie chicken from the store. I boiled the noodles into the chicken stock. This gives the noodles a savory flavor and makes the casserole taste like you boiled a chicken on the stove. I shredded the carrots finely. You will want to do this as well as it serves 2 purposes. It allows the carrots to soften while the casserole is baking. Also, your children won’t taste the carrots but you’ll be happy that you were able to sneak some nutrition into the meal! I used this same technique with the onion. When you shred the onion it will have a soup-like consistency. This is fine! If you’d like more of a diced onion then you could certainly do that, although you may want to saute them a little bit before adding them to the casserole. Adding the cream of celery soup to the casserole adds an element of scrumptious flavor making it all come together in one delicious dish.