Grandmas Chicken Soup

Get out the big pot that came with your cookware set. The one you only use occasionally. Rinse it out and in it place the chicken, carrots, celery, parsnip, onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, chicken base, salt and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 3 hours, until rich and flavorful.Using a large slotted spoon or kitchen tongs, remove the chicken and most of the whole vegetables to a large bowl. Once its cooled down a little, pour the stock through a wire strainer into a smaller pot pressing on the vegetable solids to extract as much flavorful juice as possible. If you dont have another pot, strain into a large bowl and transfer back to the original pot. Using your soup ladle, scoop off and discard as much of the chicken fat from the surface as you can.Slice the cooked carrots and and parsnip and add to the pot. When cool, remove the chicken from the bones, break into chunks and add to the soup. I usually divide and use half of the chicken for soup, and the rest for chicken salad. Soup can be prepared to this point in advance and chilled.To Serve: Bring soup to a boil. Cook either egg noodles or rice separately and add it to the bowls of those who are eating the carbs. Ladle on the broth and vegetables. Add Parmesan cheese over your bowl of hot soup. (optional but what my mother and grandmother did and it is absolutely yummy)