Hearty Chicken Vegetable Soup - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 (3 lb.) whole chicken
1 onion, cut into thick slices
5 stalks celery, thickly sliced
1 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. packed fresh basil leaves
1 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
5 carrots, sliced
1 yellow squash, thinly sliced
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
1 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
12 oz. fresh tortellini pasta
2 Tbsp. chicken soup base
2 c. uncooked egg noodles

Preparation

Place chicken, onion, celery, salt, basil and pepper in a 10 quart stock pot. Fill stock pot with water until ingredients are fully covered and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 1 and 1/2 hours or until chicken is tender. Remove chicken from pot with slotted spoon and set aside for later. Add carrots, squash, zucchini, mushrooms, red pepper, tortellini, chicken soup base and uncooked noodles to stock pot and increase temperature to medium heat. While noodles and vegetables are cooking, tear chicken apart from bones. Cut up into pieces and add to soup in stock pot. Be sure to add additional water if ingredients are not fully covered. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 10 minutes or just until noodles are cooked.