Chicken Noodle Soup

Nothing tastes better than chicken noodle soup when you've got a really miserable cold.  Made up a big pot..... along with some homemade rolls and I'm quite certain we all feel just a little bit better.

1 whole chicken
 (3.5 - 4 lbs.)    
20 cups water
3 bay leaves
2 TBSP dried parsley
3 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried basil
5 garlic cloves, pressed
4 celery stalks
3 cups sliced carrots
2 onions, chopped
2 cups fine egg noodles

Combine first nine ingredients (chicken-celery) in a large stock pot. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for one hour or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken and celery from broth, discard bay leaves.  Pull chicken apart from bones and chill chicken and broth separately overnight.  Skim fat from surface.

Add carrots and onions to the broth.  Bring to a boil.  Cover.  Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Add chicken and egg noodles.  Cook for 15 minutes.  Season to taste with pepper, garlic salt and nutmeg. This recipe make a lot of soup, so you can enjoy it for a couple of days and freeze any leftovers.