My favorite Chicken Soup

+ other soups to make with the stock

If you have children I’m guessing you’re either sick right now, was just sick, or bracing yourself for some supercharged cold. Great, me too! Remember your immune system pre-kids. I was so cocky, “Oh, I never get sick! I don’t even have a doctor!”. Welp, those days are OVER- how can my beautiful boys be such walking buckets of disease?!

I’m no expert and I’m not even sure what is effective and what isn’t, but for what it’s worth here is the litany of remedies, supplements and things we are doing to try to stay well:

1. Lemon Ginger “Tea”: all day, everyday. Sliced organic ginger and a whole organic lemon squeezed into a tall insulated cup topped off with very hot water x many times a day. Some other things I’ll add in: a bag of echinacea or throat coat tea, black pepper, one of those turmeric ginger immunity shots you buy in the refrigerated section of the grocery store, or local (wherever you live) honey.

2. Liposomal Vitamin C: This variety of C supplement is more readily absorbed by your body. From what I’ve read, traditional Vit C supplements can pass through you before ever being absorbed. For years I’ve avoided this type of C because typically you have to take it by squeezing these packets of goo into water- I couldn’t stomach it. But my best friend told me you can take it in a capsule now! Score.

3. Ear Oil: This stuff is AWESOME. We all had stuff going on with our ears from our cold (cold is an understatement). Pain, itching, pressure. These oils are a blend of anti-bacterial and anti-fungal essential oils like garlic, lavender, tea tree and rosemary. For me, the relief is instant.

4. Colloidal Silver: Same friend turned me onto this. Do your own research on this because the prices and subsequent qualities vary greatly.

5. Umka: It’s a homeopathic remedy that my MIL turned us onto. It’s to take right when you start feeling it coming.

6. Gan Mao Ling: This hasn’t come in the mail yet, but I’m anxious to try. My aunt, who is a holistic equine vet, is one of my go-to sources of information when it comes to all things health. She swears by this to stave off a cold at the first signs. I don’t know a ton about traditional Chinese medicine but have always been interested in it.

7. Liquid Zinc: This also is on it’s way to me, but I’ve heard it’s very powerful in boosting immunity. My best friend told me about this specific brand. I’m a little nervous about how it will taste. I’m very sensitive to taste. If anyone takes liquid zinc- any tips on masking it?

8. Eating nutrient dense food: for me this is constant goal any time of the year. But with traveling for the holidays and having little kids it’s not always that easy.

Chicken Stock and in turn Chicken Soup

If you’ve been following along for a while, you know by now how passionate I am about how homemade chicken stock vs. boxed really boosts the flavor of your cooking. It’s a game changer in making your dishes sing. It’s also very good for you, especially if you’re unwell. The nutrients and minerals live in the bones and collagen rich bits of the chicken (i.e. wings, legs, tendons, connective tissue) and take at least 3-4 hours of simmering to really be released. I usually simmer anywhere from 4 -12 hours, leaving it on the stove and turning it off and then back on again when I need to leave the house. It’s hands off time. Putting one foot on the soap box: The levels of nutrients in your chicken are directly correlated to how the chicken was raised and what it ate. Choose the best quality you can afford or have access to. For me that’s organic from a supermarket in the least and from my local farmers market in the best.

• Chicken Meat: If my goal is to make chicken soup, I will buy a whole chicken plus a few wings. Start my stock with that. After 1 hour, I pull the chicken out and shred all the meat off-that’s for the soup. Then I put the bones back into the pot and press on with the stock. You’ll end up with more stock than you need for the soup. This is good news! Put that in jars and store in the refrigerator for 1 week or the freezer for months.

• Chicken Stock: Chicken bones & wings (or in this case a whole chicken) + onion + 1-2 heads of garlic (just cut in half, no need to peel) + optional: scraps/trimmings of carrots, celery, parsley and ginger. No salt at this point. Cover with water and simmer. Strain. If you’ve only simmered for 4-5 hours, you can even add water to the stuff left in the pot and simmer again! The bones will release more of their goodness.

• Chicken Soup: Stock + diced carrots + diced celery + diced fennel + any other vegetable you like in your soup + plenty of salt. Simmer this until the vegetables are soft. Meanwhile, boil noodles separately so they don’t suck up all the broth. Add the chicken meat to the soup. Soup + Noodles in the bowl. My favorite garnishes: olive oil, cracked black pepper, and chopped dill. Health in a bowl.

Minnestrone-ish

The day we got back from our trip I sprung into action and made a big batch of chicken stock and a pot of pinto beans. Half the stock went to a big pot of chicken soup. The rest will be turned into a minnestrone-ish soup. The beans serve 3 functions. (1. this soup 2. chili later in the week 3. side dish for my bean loving kids) I don’t have an exact recipe but here’s my plan:

• Chicken Stock

• Beans (white or pinto)

• Celery

• Onion

• Fennel (saving the fronds for garnish)

• Parm rinds for simmering

• Escarole & Kale wilted in at the end

• Big drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to garnish

• served with homemade focaccia (hopefully more on that next week)

Here’s a link to my newsletter featuring my Stupid Easy Chili. I’ll be using the beans I made instead of canned beans here. But it’s a fantastic chili that’s great made ahead and eaten over a few days.