Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup -- The Pot I Made When Jayden Was Sick and the Budget Was Blown and We All Needed Something Warm

Jayden has an ear infection. His first one, which means I've been lucky for thirteen months, but luck ran out at 2 AM on Tuesday when he woke up screaming — not crying, screaming, the kind of sound that makes your whole body go cold because you know something is really wrong. I held him in the bathroom with the shower running hot (steam helps, Mama always said) and called the pediatrician's after-hours line and a very tired nurse told me to give him infant Tylenol and bring him in first thing.

First thing. Sure. First thing means I need to call out of work, which means I lose a shift, which means I lose about $60 in tips plus my hourly, which means groceries are going to be creative this week. The doctor confirmed the ear infection, prescribed amoxicillin (the pink stuff — every parent knows the pink stuff), and Jayden spent the rest of the day passed out on my chest while Chloe watched Frozen for the approximately nine hundredth time.

Mama took over Wednesday and Thursday so I could work. She showed up at 6 AM with a grocery bag of supplies — Pedialyte, animal crackers, her ancient humidifier that sounds like a jet engine but works. She didn't ask if I needed help. She just showed up. That's how Lorraine Mitchell loves you: she shows up with a humidifier and doesn't make a speech about it.

By Friday, Jayden was better — the pink stuff works fast — and he celebrated by pulling every single book off the bottom shelf in the living room. He can't read. He can barely walk. But he can absolutely destroy a bookshelf in under three minutes. His efficiency is honestly impressive.

Chloe has decided she wants to be a veterinarian. This is the fourth career she's chosen this month — previously it was princess, firefighter (like Uncle Kevin!), and "the person who puts stickers on fruit at the store." I told her she could be anything. I meant it. I mean it so hard it hurts, because I know the distance between "you can be anything" and "you can afford to be anything" and I'm determined to close that gap for her, even if I can't close it for myself yet.

I made a big pot of soup this week — the kind of soup you make when a baby is sick and the budget is blown and you need something warm that costs almost nothing. Chicken broth from a carton, whatever vegetables were in the crisper (half a bag of carrots, some celery that was getting questionable, frozen peas), egg noodles, salt, pepper. That's it. Sick baby soup. Broke mama soup. It tasted like exactly what we needed, which is the only review that matters.

I keep thinking about the Nashville State application. The deadline for fall enrollment is June 1st. That's six weeks. Six weeks to decide if I'm going to be a twenty-four-year-old dental hygiene student or a twenty-four-year-old Waffle House waitress who thought about being a dental hygiene student. Those are two very different people. I want to be the first one. I'm scared I'm the second one. Denise's voice in my head says: "Two years." Two years. Two years. I can do two years.

That pot of soup — the thrown-together, nothing-fancy, sick-baby version — reminded me that soup doesn’t have to be complicated to be exactly right. When I had a little more in the fridge and a few extra minutes, I made a cleaner version of the same idea: chicken, sweet corn, carrots, broth, warmth. Here’s how it came together.

Chicken and Sweet Corn Soup

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth (one standard carton)
• 1 cup cooked chicken, shredded or diced (rotisserie works great)
• 1 cup frozen sweet corn
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup egg noodles, uncooked
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter (optional)

Instructions

1. Start the broth. Pour the chicken broth into a large pot over medium-high heat. If using olive oil or butter, add it now. Bring to a gentle boil.
2. Add the vegetables. Add the carrots and celery. Reduce heat to medium and cook for about 10 minutes, until the carrots begin to soften.
3. Add the chicken and corn. Stir in the shredded chicken, frozen corn, garlic powder, and onion powder. Let everything simmer together for 5 minutes.
4. Cook the noodles. Add the egg noodles directly to the pot. Cook according to package directions — usually 6–8 minutes — until tender.
5. Finish with peas. Stir in the frozen peas in the last 2 minutes of cooking. They don’t need long — just enough to warm through and turn bright green.
6. Season and serve. Taste the broth and add salt and pepper as needed. Ladle into bowls and serve hot. It reheats beautifully the next day — the noodles will absorb some broth, so add a splash of water or extra broth when warming up leftovers.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 175 | Protein: 14g | Fat: 4g | Carbs: 22g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 480mg