Tis the Season (for Super Healing Chicken Soup!)

Did everyone survive Christmas?  We did.  Christmas Eve felt pretty sad, honestly, but we did live through it. Part of what made me sad was the loss of our traditions.  We did have a couple of different people invite us to their Christmas parties, and a local theater was playing It's A Wonderful Life.  We had sort of decided to go to the movie instead of a party.  However, when my son got off work he was sick and just wanted to go home.  Sooo, no new traditions started on Christmas Eve.  Instead it was home to rest.  Christmas day was nice, though.  He was still feeling poorly but we had a good time just being together.  We enjoyed talking with family through text and Skype as well.  It was nice and relaxing.


It does seem like my son's cold is going around.  Several people I know are sniffling and/or coughing and just generally feeling horrible.  Which means it is that time again.  Yep. Flu season.  In light of the creeping crud that seems to be...well....creeping...in, I think it is time to share my favorite cold remedy.  As usual, I really really don't use a real recipe.  Just add what you like.  And I measure nothing. I'm sorry.  But you get the general idea.

I usually start with a whole chicken.  Or if I've recently made chicken broth or roast chicken, I'll use the carcass and broth I saved.  You can use chicken breasts in a pinch, but to truly be immunity boosting you want the whole thing. You are also going to want to find celery with as many leaves as possible. It is simply distressing that store-bought celery has most of the leaves cut off.  This is where the nutrients are!  If you are lucky enough to have a farmer's market nearby that may accidentally have fresh celery, go for that!  If not, be sure you open up the celery and get the leaves out of the middle of the bunch. (Just a tip: apparently you can freeze celery leaves.  I haven't tried it yet, but the lady at my favorite farmer's market was telling me she does it all summer long so she'll have them for winter soups.)  You will also notice I didn't say how many garlic cloves to use.  I have no idea.  I use several.  Garlic is a natural antibiotic, so more is better!  You'll want to mince or press these. 

1 whole chicken
1 onion
fresh carrots, chopped
fresh celery, chopped.
garlic cloves
Spices to taste (sage, poultry seasoning, thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, etc)
chicken broth or chicken bullion 
egg noodles


Boil chicken in chicken broth or water with chicken bullion.  Simmer until meat is falling off the bone, the longer the better.  I like to let it simmer for 1-2 hours if I can.  You want all the good stuff to leach out of those bones into your broth.  Scoop out the chicken and bones.  It should just fall all apart.  Set the chicken aside to cool.  Now add your vegetables and spices.  Personally, I hate cooked onions.  It is a texture issue with me.  I want all the nutrients out of it, without having to actually eat it.  So I simply drop a whole onion in there to boil.  As my vegetables are cooking, I start deboning the chicken and putting meat back into the boiling stockpot.  I don't often use all the meat so I will bag up the rest to use in a different meal later.  Once your veggies are done, add a bag of egg noodles and cook until they are soft.  Once the noodles are done, I scoop out the onion and press it against the side of the stockpot to squeeze out all the liquid I can.  And then, yes, I throw it away.  Don't judge.

This is our go-to soup when we have illness in the house.  I made it ahead of time when I had my surgery a few years ago, as well. Studies came out a few years ago showing that old-fashioned made-from-scratch homemade chicken soup like Grandma used to make really does help fight cold and flu. Even if it didn't, it certainly is one of my favorite comfort foods.  Enjoy!

Quick and easy veggie beef stew

Through a series of unfortunate events, we had to miss church last night.  I adore my church and was just disgusted with having to miss.  Furthermore, I had no meal planned for dinner.  On church nights we used to eat out before services due to the time crunch.  I can't afford that as much any more, so the plan for last night was just to make some sandwiches to eat in the car after I picked up my eldest from the bus stop.  Since we were no longer in that situation, I had to come up with a real meal.  I raided my pantry and freezer and tossed together a soup/stew.  (What's the difference between a soup and stew?  I always assume stew is heartier, but no idea what makes a soup become a stew....)

I don't often buy canned veggies, but happen to have some in my pantry. And last night I added those to some pre-made frozen meatballs that I keep on hand basically for emergencies like this.  These are great to toss into a recipe that usually calls for ground beef when I haven't taken the time to defrost any.  So tossing what I had on hand into a pot turned out pretty decent.  It filled my belly and honestly soothed my soul.  (Yes, I am a food addict.  I totally have an emotional reaction to food.  Comfort food is my downfall.  Also chocolate.  And ice cream.  And warm ooey gooey brie....not all together of course...)  I added some grilled cheese sandwiches and called it good.  And it was, actually.  Really really good.  And best of all, I have leftovers.  So I get to have it for lunch today and tomorrow.  Mmmmmm....

Without further ado, here is my "recipe" for  Oops, I Need A Fast Meal! Meatball Veggie Stew  (soup?)

Canned vegetables, as many as you feel you need for your crew and whatever you have on hand or your favorites.  Last night I used 2 cans of green beans, 2 cans of corn, and 1 large jar of my home-canned carrots.  I would have used peas as well if I'd had some.  Potatoes would work too.  Do not drain these.  Just dump them in. 

Add whatever seasonings you like.  I generously sprinkled Johnny's seasoning salt into the pan.  Because Johnny's makes EVERYTHING better.  Seriously.  Go try this stuff.  I also added 1 packet of onion soup mix and about 8 beef bullion cubes.

Dump in enough meatballs to feed your family and/or to bring the stew near the top of the pan.  I have no idea how many, I just dumped them in.

Bring to a boil and let cook until meatballs are hot.  Stir occasionally.


I know this is totally frustrating to those of you who measure everything. But seriously, this soup/stew is completely versatile and changes every time I make it.  Because, yeah, I've made it before.  Usually with frozen veggies.  In that case, I add water in place of the canned veggie liquid. As much as I love meal planning, sometimes you just need a quick meal on the fly.  This has become my go-to meal in recent years.  Of course, you can always adapt this to "real" veggie beef stew and use fresh veggies and chunks of steak, but that takes longer.  This is awesome when you are craving "real" veggie beef stew but just simply don't have the time.  Oooh, maybe I should call this one "Imitation Veggie Beef Stew"....

Special memories, special foods

Do you have any particular food that triggers a memory?  Say, for instance, does rocky road ice cream remind you of when you were pregnant and would go through a whole half-gallon carton by yourself? Or does a certain dish remind you of a certain person?  Like, a certain type of yeast roll remind you of a certain aunt who always made them?  (Those are called Polly Buns in our family, after Aunt Polly, my great-aunt who developed her own recipe and no matter how hard we try, no one can get them exactly like she did.  Though my mother comes awfully close!)

I have several examples in my own life (see above...) but the one on my mind lately has been brie and raspberries.  Until I moved to Alaska 7 years ago, I had never even heard of brie.  I grew up poor in a little town in Southeast Missouri.  After I got married we floated around...Southeast Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky...and always too poor to notice "frou frou food".  My parents moved to Alaska shortly after I was married and, until 7 years ago, I hadn't lived near them in many years.  The past 7 years near my parents were pretty awesome, not gonna lie. 

Every holiday, they would host a huge get-together at their house.  Easter, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Eve were the huge ones, where they invited everyone they knew.  It was no odd thing to have 40+ people over for those.  Then we had just our family ones...Mother's Day, Father's Day, all birthdays.  And then of course just....hanging out.  My dad is a grill master.  The man does amazing things with a grill.  And everyone around wants to be invited when he fires that bad boy up.  (which, honestly, was every night during the summer.  And I actually have photos of him grilling in a snowstorm.)  Foods that will forever remind me of my dad's grilling include blackened salmon, corn on the cob, and reindeer sausage.

There are two things that will always remind me of my mother.  Tea and brie.  She loves tea, my mother.  She collects tea pots.  She loves tea parties.  While I'm not big on tea parties or tea, she hooked me with the brie.  The first time she made it for me I thought she was nuts.  WHY are we putting raspberry sauce on melted cheese??  Ewwww. Talk about frou-fou food! But I humored her.  And it was amazing.  And it became of a bit of a tradition.  In fact, she changed it up and did some kind of maple and nut topping once.  I disapproved.  A lot.  I mean, it was ok.  But not right. Sometimes she'd do it both ways if my sisters were joining us.  But she always had the raspberry version available for me. 

And then....they moved.  My dad was called to take a pastorate at a small church in Michigan.  So I bought his big gas grill (my sister bought the big charcoal grill. Yeah, he had 2 huge grills.  40+ people...he had to have both grills!) and we packed them up and waved goodbye.  They've been gone a little over 4 months now.  This weekend my sister and I set up the gas grill and used it for the first time.  It didn't taste the same without Daddy doing it. 

With all of the emotional stuff happening in my life right now, I have been missing my parents a lot.  And Friday night while grocery shopping, I saw a baby brie on clearance.  I knew I had to have it.  So I looped back around to the raspberries.  Last night, for my dinner, I popped the brie in the oven and made Mom's raspberry sauce to pour over the top.  I cut up my french baguette and set myself up a cute little table.  My sons were asking what on earth I was doing.  Why was I having brie?  Nana isn't here...  No, Nana isn't here. But it was almost like she was sitting with me.  I wish she had been sitting with me.  That was the first time I've had brie alone.  But it made me feel just a little closer to her.  And I think brie and raspberries has just become a major comfort food. 



Mom's Brie and Raspberries
1 brie (I used a baby brie, but we've had larger with more people, of course)
1 bag of frozen raspberries (of course can use fresh)
Sugar to taste
1 french baguette

Put the brie on a pie plate or in a brie roaster.  Put in the oven at 350 until soft.  While that is in the oven, put raspberries in a small saucepan. Add just a dash of water and sugar to taste.  Stir frequently over medium heat until heated through.  Slice baguette.

To serve, place brie on a plate and pour raspberry sauce over the top.  Scoop cheese and sauce onto bread slices and enjoy.