2 2-lb cartons of Swanson's Natural goodness chicken broth (or two quarts of broth, however you care to do so. Technically, I used two cans and a carton, because that's what we had on hand)
3-4 pieces of chicken tenderloin (it's the sort you buy already cut into thin pieces), cut into small pieces (about 1/2-3/4" cubes)
about a cup of mixed mirepoix vegetables (i.e. carrots, celery, onion)*
a clove of garlic
some olive oil
black pepper (freshly ground if you have a pepper grinder and care to do so.)
egg noodles (any sort will do. Just ordinary pasta-aisle egg noodles.)
A couple of sage leaves
A couple inches of rosemary
A few sprigs of thyme (These came as a poultry herbs packet, but if you don't have such a thing, use what you like!)
*What I actually did (and I didn't measure), was find a small onion (about 2.5" in diameter), buy a small, individual portion-sized bag of carrots (advertised as "Eat 'em Like Junk Food"), and fill a largish dressing contain from the salad bar with celery. I probably would have gone that route with the onion regardless, simply because I don't cook with onion often enough to warrant using part of one and letting the rest get strong in the refrigerator. But the carrots and the celery I bought as such because I'm not often fond of them.
Pour the chicken broth into a pot to heat while you cook the veggies and chicken.
Cut up the veggies, dicing the garlic finely. What I did (see above) was cut about three fourths of the bag of carrots into small circles, chop the onion fairly finely, cut the celery slices in halves or thirds. Heat some olive oil in a skillet (Possibly up to two tablespoons) and add the veggies. I did carrots first, celery second, and onions last, but I can't say how much it matters.
Cook until they're fairly soft, adding the garlic and a little pepper in shortly before they're done. Scoop the veggies into the hot broth and add the chicken to the oil still in the skillet, removing any brown pieces of vegetable. Saute the chicken until nearly cooked through and maybe even beginning to brown.
Add the chicken and the herbs to the broth, stir, and add the noodles... about three or four handfuls, as you feel appropriate, remembering that the noodles soak up broth and that this is supposed to be a soup.
Let cook... about 20 minutes or so, until the noodles are tender and the chicken is cooked through. Fish out the herbs. Eat.
