Chicken Soup for the Soul!

There are some foods that hold magical and wondrous powers, chicken soup would be the Yoda of these foods "Delicious and nutritious it is hmmmm."

 At some point of time in most of our lives we have been ill and a friend or family member has nursed us back to the land of the living through the healing powers of chicken soup. I am not sure weather it is the nutrients that we boil from the frames of chickens whilst making the stock or the love of the individual that prepares it for you, I do know however that when I eat a mouthful of hot chicken soup and slurp the fluid into my mouth a healing process takes place instantly, as if every mouthful that I consume is absorbed by the virus or flu that I am battling and an army of powerful healers attack and destroys the now weakened and vulnerable illness.

The warmth of the soup as it slides down our throats and trickles into our belly's is unique, it leaves us craving more and as we sniffle and cough from our unwelcome cold, we can not help but to smile between mouthfuls, wiping our sore, swollen nose before going back for another bite.

I made chicken soup for a family member just yesterday, feeling god awful and spending the day on the couch I offered those magical words to him "Would you like me to make you some chicken soup for the soul" he rolled over looking up and replied by saying "Yes please". I then ducked down to the supermarket in search of chicken frames only to learn that they do not sell them in the deli any more, apparently they are now a butchers line, that is fine by me, I am not fussed by who's line the frames may be on, what I am fussed about is finding those frames so I can keep a promise to an unwell member of my family, Lenard's chicken to the rescue! I purchased four chicken frames for the bargain basement price of $1.50, spending such little money on a miracle is glorious yet it did leave me feeling cheap and nasty.

When I returned home I placed my chicken frames into a heavy based pot, along with them I added enough water to cover and a great dose of white wine. From my garden I picked an assortment of fresh herbs, basil, thyme, oregano, Spanish sage and parsley, I bind them together with cotton and placed them in the pot, to follow I added a chopped onion, garlic and ginger, the leafy tops of celery, a carrot, some salt, pepper and bay leaves. I then left them together to boil away in their own party in a pot for an hour and a half. When the bone begin to crumble I then remove all of my then soggy ingredients and discard them. I add what ever vegetables I find lurking in my crisper, a carrot, swede, a potato, celery, corn kernels, sweet potato and some tomatoes, I dice them all into chunky cubes and add them to my pot of wonder, I pull from my pantry a tin of four bean mix, strain it and then add it to others boiling away, I add pasta, I used spaghetti that I broke into tiny pieces. Don't forget to add the star of the show, that of course being the chicken, I add half a dozen lovely leg, I boil my soup until the chicken falls from the bone and the pasta is soft, I then ladle it into soup bowls and serve with fresh buttered bread.

My usually loud house hold becomes silent as my family sips, slurps and bites into the magical, blissful creation. You do not need to be sick to enjoy chicken soup, you can create it and enjoy it when ever you feel the urge. I am about to reheat a bowl for myself now, I invite all of you who read my blog to join me in creating your own version of the Yoda of the food world, so don't just sit there, get to it, go on, shew and most of all enjoy it!