Church ladles up cheer with Chicken Noodle Soup

While life might feel different this year, you can always count on the classics.

Trinity Episcopal Church, 58 River St., Carbondale, will host its annual Roast Beef dinner, takeout-style, on Thursday, Nov. 19, from 3 to 6p.m. The beloved church event will serve the main course with all the fixings, including mashed potatoes with gravy, vegetables and goodies for dessert. The church also will have piping-hot soup available, including member and volunteer Patty Turano’s signature Chicken Soup with Homemade Noodles.

Turano got the recipe years ago from an older gentleman she worked with and has made the dish ever since.

“The homemade noodles are really what makes it,” she said of the recipe, which earned the church a $50 gift card to Riccardo’s Market, 1219 Wheeler Ave., Dunmore, through Local Flavor Gives Back. “A hot bowl of soup will warm you right up.”

Aside from Turano’s soup, guests can choose to try other soups all homemade by the women of the church, aka the “Church Ladies.” The soups include Clam Chowder, Italian Wedding, and Split Pea and Ham.

Dinners cost $12, and while walk-ins are welcome, reservations are preferred, and guests should reserve meals by Tuesday, Nov. 17. Masks will be required at the event, and all guests must following social distancing guidelines. Volunteers will follow protocol as well, Turano said.

In addition to offering dinners, church members will sell homemade crafts, flavored nuts, fudge and more. This way, guests can do some early holiday shopping while supporting a local cause, Turano said.

“We’re trying to make this event extra special this year,” she said. “(We want) to spread some cheer and make people happy.”

The Roast Beef dinner has been a tradition at Trinity Episcopal Church since the 1970s, Turano said, though many of the volunteers have roots in the church that stretch back even farther. A handful of the women have followed in the footsteps of their mothers and grandmothers, who also belonged to the church’s event committees.

Community involvement is a huge part of the church’s mission, and it strives to offer many family-friendly or free events per year. These also help the church thrive, Turano said, and every little bit helps. For instance, Trinity will put proceeds from the dinner toward a new furnace.

The volunteers see a need for community events like this in the region.

“I don’t know if it’s because of everything going on this year, but people are really looking for these church meals,” Turano said, noting Trinity’s last event served 200 dinners. “Everyone is welcome here.”

If you go
What: Roast Beef Dinner
When: Thursday, Nov. 19, 3 to 6p.m.
Where: Trinity Episcopal Church, 58 River St., Carbondale
Details: Dinners cost $12, and while walk-ins are welcome, reservations are preferred, and guests should reserve meals by Tuesday, Nov. 17. Crafts also will be for sale. For more information, call 570-282-3620.

Patty Turano’s Chicken Soup with Homemade Noodles

For the soup:

• 4 quarts water

• 2 to 3 pounds chicken pieces

• 6 stalks celery, chopped

• 2 large onions, chopped

• 2 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced

• Salt and pepper, to taste

In a large pot, cook chicken pieces in water with onions and celery about 30 minutes. Remove chicken and let cool enough to handle. Remove skin and bones and chop meat.

Return chopped meat back to pot to simmer 1 to 2 hours. Then, add carrots.

For the noodles:

• 2 cups flour

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 3 heaping tablespoons sour cream

• 2 eggs

• Water (if needed)

Mix dough, which should be a little tacky. Roll out to the thickness of choice and cut sections with a pizza cutter.
Drop into boiling water. When dough floats to the top, wait 3 minutes and remove from water.
Serve with soup.