Chicken Soup

If it’s one thing I hate it’s having a cold.  All that nasal dripping, the racking coughs, the headaches, the lethargy…  its enough to make you sick!

On such occasions, as well as downing truckloads of vitamin C and Echinacea, I like to indulge in a nourishing bowl of steaming and super smelling chicken soup.  I am not sure what it is but the moment I smell that chicken stock my salivary glands start to drip.   

The soup truly brightens my day, gives me a boost and makes me feel oh so much better.  It is nice to know then that scientific studies that were conducted to determine if chicken soup has anti-inflammatory properties actually backed up my empirical experience. From his experiments with chicken soup, Stephan Rennard, a researcher from the University of Nebraska, concluded that chicken soup plus a variety of vegetables contains anti-inflammatory properties that reduce many symptoms of the flu.  (But, then again, didn’t everyone know that it was good for you without all that testing? ) :) 

So, if you have a cold (or the start of one) you might like to do as I do and have some chicken soup. 

Ingredients:

·         One chicken.  (The chicken can be used raw -or use the carcass remains after a roast dinner. It is actually the bones that contain the active ingredient rather than the flesh).

·         1 onion

·         1 garlic clove

·         Olive oil or coconut oil

·         Water

·         Salt

·         Pepper.

·         Herbs such as thyme, rosemary, and oregano, cut very finely.

·         Vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potato

Making it:

1.        Cover your chicken with water and simmer for as long as you can.

2.       Remove the chicken (or bones) and leave the watery part to cool. This is the stock. If you use a whole chicken use the flesh in another chicken dish.  If bones, throw away.

3.       When cool you may like to skim off the fat, but it is not essential.

4.       Dice the onion, squash the garlic and put in a fry pan to sauté in either olive oil or coconut oil.

5.       Add the onion garlic mix to the chicken stock.

6.       Dice the vegetables; and add to the stock. 

S    Simmer.

7.       When the vegetables start to soften add the herbs.

8.       When soft, mash some of the potatoes and pumpkin so that the soup thickens.

9.       Season to taste. 

             Serve.

And, I will leave you with this little saying. “Laugh a little a day- its better than chicken soup (at least that’s what the chicken say.)” 

 Bon apetite,

Linda.