Classic Chicken Noodle Soup

6 meaty chicken legs

4 cloves garlic - sliced

½ grated frozen lemon

3 celery tops - greens

a handful of spinach

¼ lg. purple onion

1 chopped carrot
6c cold water

1t lemon pepper
Opt for a really good Lemon Pepper.  Salt should NOT be the first ingredient.  I found this one at WalMart, and it's excellent!

Combine the first group of ingredients in a 5 quart pot.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Stir, cover, reduce heat to create a low-medium simmer and set the timer for an hour.

Meanwhile, chop the next group of ingredients and put in a medium bowl:

3 carrots - sliced
3 stalks celery - sliced
⅓ purple onion - sliced
4 lg. cloves garlic - sliced
2 turnips - scrubbed and sliced
¼ head green cabbage - chopped
2-3T powdered chicken soup base

a big handful of uncooked German Spaetzle noodles

After an hour, removed all the chicken.  When cool, take the chicken off the bones and throw away any tendons, bones and remaining skin.  With basically no visible fat, the vegetables in the pot looked so good, that I decide to use my immersion blender and incorporate them into the broth!  The only problem with that was the broth ended up a really awful grey-beige color, due  to the spinach.  However, it tasted great!  After everything is blended, add the raw vegetables to the pot and simmer 30-45 minutes.

Add the chicken and the noodles for the last 15 minutes.  Turn off heat and let stand another 5 minutes.  Mmmmmm. . .serve! . . . Lin