Grandma B's Chicken Noodle Soup

My mom's most famous meals always involve putting a whole bunch of meat and vegetables in a huge roasting pan, and roasting them in the oven until they are so tender they simply fall apart when you put them in your mouth. My daughter and I were wanting some chicken noodle soup that we could keep in the freezer (an alternative to canned). Here's Grandma "B's" recipe for chicken noodle soup:

Rinse a whole, cut up chicken in cold water and put it in a roasting pan. Sprinkle in cut-up carrots, celery, and onions. Add at least 2" of water, cover with aluminum foil, and roast at 350 degrees for about 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Roast on the bottom rung of the oven. Then, dice up the chicken, cool and freeze the broth, vegetables and chicken. When ready to eat, simply thaw and add some pasta, noodles, or rice and water (if necessary) and cook in a saucepan on the stove until grain is tender. You can add your own salt/pepper to taste.

It's turned out great, but again I've had a problem freezing in the glass Ball canning jars. They keep breaking on me and it's hard to remember to take them out of the freezer in advance. If I do this again, I'm going back to plastic freezer containers or Pyrex.

Unfortunately, this one is only allergy-free for my daughter and also makes great "baby food" for my 14-month old in the blender. However, my husband loved the pork tenderloin I made in the slow-cooker with carrots, onions, garlic, parsnips and salt/pepper (another "Grandma B" dish).