roughly chop your onions, carrots and celery if you haven't already done so and set aside
in a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat
while the oil is heating up, cut the chicken breast into small ,1 cm (1/2 inch) cubes. Season with salt and pepper.
once the oil is hot, add the chicken to the pan and let it cook for three minutes on one side until it's turned golden and has a good sear. Then do the same for the other side, adding in the chopped carrots, celery, onions and garlic. Stir as needed until the veggies have just started to soften and the chicken has cooked through - about 3 minutes.
Add in the chicken stock, salt and bay leaf and bring to a boil over high heat. At this point, if you want to freeze your soup, let it simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes to let the flavours develop and then remove it from the heat to cool before portioning it out and freezing it. Don't forget to remove the bay leaf!
If you want to eat your soup right away, let it simmer for 10 minutes and then add your preferred noodles. Continue to cook until your noodles have reached their desired tenderness - this will vary by noodle type. If your soup doesn't have enough liquid, you can add water until it reaches the desired consistency.
turn off the heat, remove the bay leave and serve and slurp!