The kids are back at school, the leaves are brilliant with color, the air is crisp, and the apples are in season. Ahh all the things we love about fall. Just as you are basking in the Autumn glow enjoying your pumpkin spice latte making your Christmas list, here comes one of the troops with a sniffle and a pair of droopy glossy eyes. Unfortunately along with all that fall has to offer, the dropping temperatures and a couple hundred kids in one building also ushers in the dreaded cold and flu season.
Its bound to happen so you might as well be ready. Put down your pumpkin flavored hot drink and dust off the humidifier, break out the tea and honey and of course arm yourself with one of the most powerful age old time tested remedies to the common cold….Good old fashion chicken soup.

There are countless studies and claims that back up what your grandmother already knew, but even above that there is just something so comforting about the smell of a big pot of chicken soup on the stove to cure what ails you. The warm savory blend of spices and vegetables cured in the just right chicken stock topped with the proper egg noodle is enough to wrap anyone in complete body comfort the minute it hits your lips.
For all these reasons I always run to this traditional recipe any time one of my brood shows the first sign of a sniffle.

Grandmas Chicken Soup

What you will need:

 * I try to use organic ingredients as well as free range chicken

1 (3 pound) whole chicken I had a rotisserie already cooked one on hand for this post so I skipped step one

4 carrots, halved or a bunch of baby carrots

4 stalks celery, halved and diced

1 clove garlic minced

1 large onion, halved & chopped

water to cover

salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules (optional)

Egg noodles or any noodle you like

Directions:

  • Put the chicken, carrots, celery and onion in a large soup pot and cover with cold water. Heat and simmer, uncovered, until the chicken meat falls off of the bones (skim off foam every so often). I often sauté my onion and celery and garlic in evoo prior with some s&p to really bring out the flavor but you can do what you like here!

  • Take everything out of the pot. Strain the broth. Pick the meat off of the bones and chop the carrots, celery and onion. Season the broth with salt, pepper and chicken bouillon to taste, if desired. Return the chicken, carrots, celery and onion to the pot, stir together, Add noodles at very end  and serve.

 

  • If you are running late or looking for a fast fix you can use left over chicken and skip step one. Just use a stock or granules to flavor your broth. If you spend the money on a good base and go organic you can get pretty great flavor in half the time. You can also throw it all in the crock pot (minus the noodles do those at the end) and it will be done when you get home!  

I serve mine with home made bread & butter and voilà cold fighting, immunity busting
 comfort food to warm your soul and arm your defenses against those nasty colds.

 

 Its not fancy but you can find this recipe in just about any cookbook, scratched out in a grandmothers handwriting, and all over the internet. You can really add to it in any way as long as you keep the basics in place of onion, celery, carrots, stock, s&p  and garlic! Science  and grandma tell me it’s the properties in the combo that hold the healing power and I am not going to argue with either of them.
However the chicken soup theme is universal so play around with it. I found some really cool recipes on http://www.chicken.ca you can find them here The hot avocado chicken & rice soup looks divine I can’t wait to try it.

So the next time you see a sniffle or hear even the tiniest cough. Go bulk up on fluids and start a pot of Grandmas Chicken Soup or try one of the recipes here that is more your liking. Heck maybe you should just pick a recipe and try it in the name of prevention. Do you have a favorite Chicken soup recipe? I would love to hear it!

Happy Fall

~Jenna The Blogger