I have been dealing with a sinus infection for the past few days. I went to the doctor and she prescribed an antibiotic (big shocker right?). I've never been able to tolerate those well and I'm not big on taking them anyway, unless it is very necessary. So, I was at my regularly scheduled acupuncure appointment (which I go to for my thyroid imbalance) and I'm laying on my stomach with needles in my back telling my acupuncurist about the infection. He asks me if I have ever made a whole chicken soup. I'm laying there stuck on the words "WHOLE chicken." If you don't know me well, you don't know that I'm kind of a picky eater with weird hang ups about food. I won't go into all of my little quirks about things like being repulsed by mayonnaise and such. Anyway, I'm not great with raw meats or poultry so the idea of handling a WHOLE chicken has always intimadated me. Obviously you can't get around handling raw meat or poultry if your are going to cook anything, but it still kind of grosses me out. So, I decided to face this challenge and make a WHOLE chicken soup. The WHOLE chicken...in a soup. This is huge for me! I'm a why-make-it-if-I-can-buy-it kind of girl so I've never made stock of any kind, I always have chicken or vegetable stock on hand. I mean, really, WHY make it? But, I'm a wellness person (at least I'd like to think I am) and the idea of making a whole chicken soup from scratch for health reasons is appealing to me. Plus, my I have a friend (hi Jenn) who makes her own everything...stock, pate, even flour! She inspires me, so the least I can do is make a stinkin' soup right? Thank God my mom was visiting at this time in case I got too freaked out by my little chicken. I bought all my ingredients and my mom cleaned the chicken (I was sick after all so she helped! Okay, I got off easy on that one). I cooked the whole chicken along with spices, vegetables, and herbs to make a stock. It cooked for about four hours. Once the stock cooled, we skimmed off most of the chicken fat and reheated the stock, removed the chicken from the bones and added the chicken, my soup vegetables, etc. into the stock with the fat skimmed away and cooked for about 30-40 minutes longer. My husband told me this was the longest soup EVER to get to eat! Anyway, it came out great and I added a little cooked brown rice to each bowlful and put the soup over it before serving. I'm so proud of my accomplishment and it wasn't that hard at all. I've got the bug now and I'm sure I will be cooking other things that seem daunting now. Also, with the help of the more sleep, the soup, raw garlic, Vitamin C, Echinacea, and use of my Neti Pot, I kicked my infection in two days flat (at least the symptoms were gone). IThursday, December 4, 2008
Chicken Soup For My Cold
I have been dealing with a sinus infection for the past few days. I went to the doctor and she prescribed an antibiotic (big shocker right?). I've never been able to tolerate those well and I'm not big on taking them anyway, unless it is very necessary. So, I was at my regularly scheduled acupuncure appointment (which I go to for my thyroid imbalance) and I'm laying on my stomach with needles in my back telling my acupuncurist about the infection. He asks me if I have ever made a whole chicken soup. I'm laying there stuck on the words "WHOLE chicken." If you don't know me well, you don't know that I'm kind of a picky eater with weird hang ups about food. I won't go into all of my little quirks about things like being repulsed by mayonnaise and such. Anyway, I'm not great with raw meats or poultry so the idea of handling a WHOLE chicken has always intimadated me. Obviously you can't get around handling raw meat or poultry if your are going to cook anything, but it still kind of grosses me out. So, I decided to face this challenge and make a WHOLE chicken soup. The WHOLE chicken...in a soup. This is huge for me! I'm a why-make-it-if-I-can-buy-it kind of girl so I've never made stock of any kind, I always have chicken or vegetable stock on hand. I mean, really, WHY make it? But, I'm a wellness person (at least I'd like to think I am) and the idea of making a whole chicken soup from scratch for health reasons is appealing to me. Plus, my I have a friend (hi Jenn) who makes her own everything...stock, pate, even flour! She inspires me, so the least I can do is make a stinkin' soup right? Thank God my mom was visiting at this time in case I got too freaked out by my little chicken. I bought all my ingredients and my mom cleaned the chicken (I was sick after all so she helped! Okay, I got off easy on that one). I cooked the whole chicken along with spices, vegetables, and herbs to make a stock. It cooked for about four hours. Once the stock cooled, we skimmed off most of the chicken fat and reheated the stock, removed the chicken from the bones and added the chicken, my soup vegetables, etc. into the stock with the fat skimmed away and cooked for about 30-40 minutes longer. My husband told me this was the longest soup EVER to get to eat! Anyway, it came out great and I added a little cooked brown rice to each bowlful and put the soup over it before serving. I'm so proud of my accomplishment and it wasn't that hard at all. I've got the bug now and I'm sure I will be cooking other things that seem daunting now. Also, with the help of the more sleep, the soup, raw garlic, Vitamin C, Echinacea, and use of my Neti Pot, I kicked my infection in two days flat (at least the symptoms were gone). I
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NICE! i'm proud of you. :) home-made stock is so much yummier (then again i boil the bones (not meat) for 24hrs so it's REALLY rich). It's also pretty cost-effective to buy whole chickens vs. cuts...kind of a PIA but for weirdos like me who want to make broth all the time, kind of a necessity, so i can have the bones. :) glad to hear the infection cleared up!
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