Keep Well Chicken Soup

Soup is THE BEST nourishment for illness and recovery, in my opinion. They say chicken soup may contain a number of substances with beneficial medicinal activity including an anti-inflammatory mechanism that could ease the symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections. (Science Daily)

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, my daughter's best friends contracted the Covid virus. Both girls work in high-risk environments, so it was really just a matter of time before one of them got sick. They were quite ill, but both have recovered and are now back to their prospective jobs. Neither has family close enough to help them with errands and cooking while they were quarantined inside their home. My daughter picked up meds and dropped them on the porch. My mission in life is to feed people, so I made them homemade chicken soup - that was also delivered to their front porch.

The recipe I used is called "Keep Well Chicken Soup" from the Once A Month Meals website. (Please click on the link to go to the recipe.)

I cooked the chicken in the Instant Pot, then made the broth from that carcass and some veg scraps I keep in the freezer. The soup recipe I made on the stovetop so I could stir and taste and adjust seasonings. This recipe is quite possibly the best chicken soup I've ever tasted. In fact, I got a text from one of the girls that said, "That soup was amazing. Like omg good!". Lol. She had lost her sense of taste and smell, but it was slowly returning. I'm happy the soup was flavorful enough that she could enjoy it. The recipe calls for orzo pasta, but one of my girls must eat gluten-free, so instead I sent cooked and frozen brown rice for them to add to the soup when they reheated it. Both versions are good, or you can leave that out altogether. I doubled the recipe and put a couple of containers in the freezer. Remember if you're going to make this ahead, wait to add the pasta or rice until reheating.

The key to the flavor of this soup recipe is the herbs. For this batch I had to use dried, but I have used fresh, and both are excellent. Rosemary is a booster for the immune system, as is garlic. Don't skip the kale. It's one of the most nutrient-dense foods available. 

That's it for today - I got a little more outside decorating done. Hopefully that will be finished tomorrow. I really need to get it done while the weather holds. It's chilly, but mid-40s on the prairie in December is really pretty nice. 

Be back tomorrow!