Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

We were sick last week and I saved the day by making soup. Without a recipe, here's how I did it.

Ingredients:
1 pound frozen boneless skinless chicken breast tenders
About 4 cups water (OR chicken stock OR water + a chicken bullion cube or 2)
About a tsp each of thyme, sage, celery salt, pepper, and Season All
About 1-2 TBS each salt, minced garlic, dried onion
A dash of crushed red pepper
2 Celery stalks, chopped
10-15 baby carrots, chopped
8 oz. pasta

Boil the chicken with the water, vegetables, and spices (I would highly recommend using chicken broth or bullion if you have it, I didn't, but it would have improved things a bit). In about 20-30 minutes the chicken will be cook, scoop it out and chop it into bite size bits. Simmer until carrots are tender. Add the pasta (egg noodles, penne, whatever, pasta's pasta, right? Maybe not lasagna noodles, but then again, may so.) and cook for another 8-15 minutes, until pasta is tender.

Now, here's the kicker, being sick, therefore, not in my right mind, I wanted not just soup, but also garlic mashed potatoes - so I prepared the soup and let it simmer on low whilst I made garlic mashed potatoes. Then I combined 1.5 TBS (or one big scoop) of cornstarch to 1/4 cup water, mixed it thoroughly and added it to the soup, allowing it to reach a boil for a few minutes, thus thickening the broth to a nice almost gravy consistency. We then served the soup (pasta, chicken, and all) over the mashed potatoes. AND it was really yummy.

So yeah, sure you could open a can of fancy pants chicken and noodle soup, but the noodles ALWAYS taste funny and the soup is too salty and there's not enough chicken. OR you can make it yourself and within an hour you can have a whole pot of yummy health.