We have a man down in our house. My husband, Brandon is home sick and he has been down for several days. His fever has topped out at 103 coupled with body aches and stomach issues I won’t go into detail about. Ain’t nobody want to hear about that. I’m no doctor, but I think it may be the flu.
In between making sure he stays hydrated, using Lysol wipes throughout the day to disinfect, and washing my hands, I made a pot of chicken soup for him. This stuff will cure what ails ‘ya. For real you guys.
A few years ago I had been dealing with a horrible cold that wouldn’t go away. I started researching online what foods I needed to be eating. That is when I started noticing ALL this information about how great bone broths and soups were. Over and over I read about how our Grandmother’s and Mother’s had been right to force feed us chicken soup when we were sick. It is nutritious, easy to make, affordable, filling, and can ease symptoms of a cold or flu. Sometimes, when I’m hungry and can’t afford the extra calories, I sip on a cup of low sodium chicken broth. One cup tops out at 10 calories with 7 grams of protein. It actually helps me stay full for longer.
The total cost for this soup is around $10 and that is with me buying organic produce and chicken without growth hormones. If you skip those items, you can probably cut the cost in half. This is just a chicken and vegetable soup, but I find it to be quite filling even without noodles or potatoes. I freeze leftovers in individual containers and reheat on dreary days or when I’m feeling sick. My husband was able to slurp some down and hopefully feels better soon.
Chunky Chicken and Vegetable Soup
Ingredients:
One Onion
3 Ribs of Celery
3 Carrots
3 Parsnips (if you are unfamiliar with parsnips they are normally found right next to carrots and essentially look just like a carrot, except they are white instead of orange).
Whole Chicken
64 ounces of low sodium chicken stock
1 bay leaf
Salt and Pepper
Peel the parsnips and carrots, then chop, and put in the pot. Add chopped onion and celery. Pour in the chicken stock, add a small sprinkling of salt (you can always add more later), and plop in the whole chicken. Don’t forget to top it off with a bay leaf. Bring the pot to a boil, and then taper the heat back down to a simmer. Leave it on the stove for about 2 hours to allow awesome flavor to develop. After two hours, take the chicken out. Remove the skin and shred the chicken. Add the shredded chicken back into the soup and let simmer for another 20 minutes, then serve.
Original recipe found on Pioneer Woman