Miracles, Blessings, and Chicken Noodle Soup

I’ve been thinking a lot about miracles lately.  Webster defines the word miracle as 1: an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs; 2: an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment.  Tall order, huh?

Kathy Mattea sings one of my favorite Christmas songs called Mary Did You Know? Its thought provoking lyrics question if Mary knew the magnitude of the miracle she carried in her womb. Did Mary know that the lame would leap, the dumb would speak, the blind would see again all because of the miracles her son Jesus would perform?

Generally when I think of miracles I think of the huge divine acts like Jesus’ healings.  But do miracles need to be of Lazarus proportion to be a true miracle?  I think I would be frustrated, not to mention spiritually dry, if I had to wait to see a ‘movie’ miracle.  While I do believe these types of miracles occur, I like to think about every day miracles in my life.  You might say I’m confusing miracles and blessings.  Maybe, but just today I witnessed the following miracles in my life: I woke up healthy as did all four children, Husband’s plane landed safely in South Texas, and God used an ordinary event (my trainer at the gym!) to reveal more about His plan for me.  On my way to the grocery store I was hoping I’d remember all the ingredients for Chicken Noodle Soup when I called home to check on Littlest who has an icky cold.  BFF (our babysitter and littlest’s best friend for forever) was having the same thought I was and had already looked up my soup recipe and was texting me the list as we were on the phone.  Blessings? Absolutely.  Miracles?  I think all these events were divine and not so ordinary.

Really, I was just going to tell you about this yummy Chicken Noodle soup.  It’s delicious and a cinch to make.  And it’s definitely what the doctor ordered for the snarky sniffles 2 out of the 4 littles have acquired.

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 tsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 tsp dried oregano

2 garlic cloves, minced

8 cups chicken stock, divided (when I don’t have stock from scratch I always use Swanson’s organic free-range broth)

2 cups diced baking potato (I like to leave the skins on for added texture)

2 celery stalks

1 large carrot, sliced

3 cups chicken, cooked and chopped

2 cups fresh spinach, chopped

1 tsp salt

4 oz uncooked egg noodles (the wide ones!)

2 tbs flour

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp paprika

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Ad onion and saute 3 minutes.  Add oregano and garlic, and saute 30 seconds.  Add 6 cups chicken broth and diced potato.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until potato is tender.  Mash potato in broth mixture.  Add celery and carrot, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Add chicken, spinach and salt.  Bring soup to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 more minutes.  Add noodles, bring to a boil and cook 5 minutes.

Combine 1/2 cup broth and flour in a small bowl, whisk well and stir into soup.  Simmer 3 minutes.  Add pepper and paprika.

Getting this meal on the table tonight was a blessing.  Finding time to shower before the First Grade dinner will be a miracle.