Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

• INGREDIENTS
• 2qt water
• 1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breats about 2-3 chicken breasts
• 1/2 medium sweet onion finely diced almost minced
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. celery salt
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 2 chicken bullion cubes ground up into powder
• 3 medium carrots peeled and sliced diagonally
• 2 celery stalks chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 2-3 cups thick homestyle egg noodles
• . . CREAM SAUCE RECIPE .
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 cups milk
• 1 cups heavy cream
• 1 tsp. garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• INSTRUCTIONS
• 1.      Fill a large stalk pot with 2 quarts of water. Place raw chicken breasts in water. Add finely chopped onion. Add salt, celery salt, onion powder, powdered chicken bullion cubes, sliced carrots, celery and bay leaf. Stir a little bit just to combine flavors evenly. Cover with lid.
• 2.      Cook over medium-high (closer to high) heat and let boil for about an hour.
• 3.      Uncover. Remove bay leaf and discard. Remove Chicken breasts and chop into small bite size chunks, about 1 inch big and set aside.
• 4.      Add noodles (My hubby likes a lot of noodles so I probably added 3 cups of noodles and about 1 more additional cup of water to the stock pot) and bring back to a boil for 20 minutes. If your water is low, like mine tends to get, you can add more water if needed.
• 5.      While noodles are boiling in base, make cream recipe.
• 6.      If using half cream and milk portions, then follow this step. If just using milk, ignore this step. In a medium bowl, combine milk and cream and stir to combine the two. I find this helps the thickening process go faster. Cream thickens white sauces a lot faster than milk does so having an even distribution of it will help speed up the white sauce process. Set bowl aside.
• 7.      In a large sauce pan over medium heat, melt 1/2 cup butter completely. Once butter is melted add flour and stir constantly to form roux. Cook roux for about 1-2 minutes. 
• 8.      Slowly, about 1/2-1 cup at a time, add milk to roux stirring constantly and not adding anymore until each milk addition is thoroughly mixed in.
• 9.      Once desired thickness has been reached, stir in garlic salt and salt to the white sauce.
• 10.  Once noodles have boiled for about 20 minutes or until done, add chicken back into the base. 
• 11.  Next pour and stir in white sauce to evenly combine. If mixture is too thin for your liking, stir over medium heat until it reaches desired consistency.

I made this for a sweet friend who just had a baby.  It was really good and warmed the soul.