Starve a cold, feed a fever?

Feed a cold, starve a fever I say. John has had a miserable cold since New Years. He’s one unhappy person at the moment. I thought I should make him homemade chicken soup to help his stuffed up nose. He does sound quite funny though. Once again I have no real recipe for this. In a way I guess this blog will be helpful for those of you who always ask me for the written recipe of something that you have had at my house to which my reply is usually “It’s not written down, it’s just in my head”. So outta my head and on to a computer screen it goes.

Lisa's Chicken Soup
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed with garlic press
4 carrots, sliced
3 stalks of celery, sliced
8 chicken thighs, baked with skin removed
1/2 pkg. medium egg noodles
8 – 10 cups of chicken stock
Fresh minced parsley
Mrs. Dash

The first thing I do is cook the chicken. I tend to use thighs in most of my soups. You can’t over cook them and the meat from the thighs is really juicy and tender, perfect for soups. I find the whiter meats are much dryer for soup making so I usually try not to use them. Place the thighs on a large sheet pan covered in tin foil. Brush a little olive oil over each of them and sprinkle with Lawry Seasoning salt or Mrs. Dash or whatever you have that you like. Cook the chicken for about 30 mins at 350 or until the juices run clear. While they are cooling you can start on your veggies.

I start my chicken soup, well almost all my soups, with olive oil and onions. In a big pot put a few good tablespoons of olive oil and add the onions. Cook the onions until they are translucent. At the last few minutes add the garlic. Pour your stock into the pan on low heat. I use my mandolin to cut the celery and carrots in nice thick slices. Add these to the pot as well. If you want more carrots, add more, more celery…knock yourself out. All these quantities are strictly approximate. That’s what I like about soup; you can add whatever you like really. Add the parsley and some Mrs. Dash. No measurements, just sprinkle some in until it looks right. Now turn the heat up to high and let the soup come to a slow boil. As soon as you see it boiling, turn the heat back down to low. Test your veggies every once in awhile. You wants them to get tender but you don't want them to cook too much and fall apart. While the veggies are cooking remove the skin from the chicken thighs. Pick the chicken up with your hands and shred it. Yes, your hands are going to be mucky and greasy but there is no way around it. Set shredded chicken aside.

Now in a separate pan cook your egg noodles. For this recipe I used some Amish egg noodles that my mother-in-law sends us. She keeps up well stocked in Amish noodles. I used about half a bag and cooked them until they were really al dente then added them to the pot along with the shredded chicken. I let that all simmer another ten minutes and soups on!