Re-Imagining Chicken Noodle Soup?

When I think of chicken noodle soup, the red and white canned variety is what first comes to mind; it conjures comforting memories of "I ate this when I was home sick and only my mother's love could make this taste so good".  Speaking of my mother, her homemade chicken soup is incredible--thick, perfectly seasoned, guaranteed to provide warmth all the way to the core, and the best medicine for making everything right in the world.

Recreating her soup-de-perfection was my vision for tonight's dinner.  In fact, I started thinking (and salivating) about it early this morning.  Chicken, broth, celery, onions, carrots, noodles, a touch of corn starch with water, and a hint of Italian seasoning are the only ingredients necessary, which I always have on hand.  When I started cooking though, of course I started re-imagining.  What started as traditional chicken noodle soup ended up as this:

Not what you were expecting, I am sure.  Chicken and rice stew with tomatoes, artichokes, carrots, celery, onions, sage, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, and some cracked pepper.  Thankfully, it was equally as soul-satisfying as chicken noodle soup--hot, chunky and thick, perfectly seasoned, and the best medicine for a Monday night.

"Recipe" (a term used very loosely in this instance)

• a few cans of low sodium chicken broth (three I think)
• about 2 cups of cooked rice (ours was leftover from last night's salmon tagine awesomeness)
• 2/3 of a large onion diced (I would have used the whole onion, but we must have used it for some other creation recently)
• 3 celery stalks diced
• 4 or 5 good sized carrots diced (ours came from the Full Circle Farms box and varied from tiny to extra large)
• two chicken breasts cut into small pieces
• 2 cans diced tomatoes (because Alaskan tomatoes are absolutely disgusting, I always use diced tomatoes from a can with no salt added)
• 1 cup-ish of sliced marinated artichoke hearts (I used what was left in our jar from Costco)
• red pepper flakes to taste (I gave it a couple of good shakes)
• sage to taste (probably a tablespoon or two)
• Italian seasoning to taste (probably two tablespoons)

1. Saute the onions, carrots, and celery until tender.  
2. Add the tomatoes, artichokes, and broth.
3. In the meantime, poach, grill, or do whatever you want to do to cook the chicken and then dice it.
4. Add the chicken and the rice.
5. Season to taste.
6. Enjoy!