chicken soup Archives • New Nostalgia

Cleansing Chicken Soup, Portable Puzzles & Lots of Kleenex

“This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign withPollinate Media Group™ and Kleenex but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #KleenexTarget http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO”

My little Avery has been blowing her nose and coughing for the past week now. I can’t tell if it is allergies or a cold, but it sure is messing with her asthma! She is our soccer player so she would say it is messing with her game! Usually her allergies are in the spring and fall, and once we have a freeze she gets better. Well, we have had our freeze and she still has an asthma cough and runny nose. I sure hope this doesn’t mean she now has indoor winter allergies. That would mean I have to dust. {grin}

I’m over her constant cough, especially when I hear her coughing during the night in her sleep. My poor girl!

I decided to dig out my super healthy and Cleansing Chicken Soup recipe. I made this often when I was going through cancer treatment, and it was always comforting to know I was filling my body with nutrients. It makes a huge amount and freezes beautifully!

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**I used a very large crock pot, and it barely all fit! I started it at 10:00 pm and it was ready the next day for lunch. I also pureed mine after removing the chicken and bones, I was not too into all the chunky vegetables, so I used my hand blender, then added the shredded chicken, peas, and parsley in at the end for texture.

Cleansing Chicken Soup

1 Whole Chicken (free-range, pastured or organic)
1 Tbsp, raw apple cider Vinegar
3-4 qts of filtered water
4 medium size onions coarsely chopped (I will only use 2 next time)
8 carrots peeled, coarsely chopped
2-4 zucchinis coarsely chopped (I used 2)
4 Tbsp of extra virgin coconut oil
½ c frozen green peas (I added these at the end after pureeing)
4 inches grated ginger
¼- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
6 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
1 lb green beans
1 bunch parsley
5 garlic cloves
2-4 Tbsp Celtic-Sea Salt (I added 2 tsp pepper)

Directions:

If using whole chicken: make sure to remove gizzards, and fat glands from cavity.
Place chicken or chicken pieces in large stainless steel pot (I used a large crock pot) with water, vinegar, garlic, ginger, salt, cayenne pepper, extra virgin coconut oil, and all vegetables (except parsley). Let stand for 10 minutes before heating. Bring to a boil, remove the scum that rises to the top. Cover and cook for 8-12 hours. The longer you cook the Stock the more cleansing it will be. **See my notes above about pureeing. 15 mins before finishing the stock, add parsley.(this imparts additional mineral ions to the broth)

Remove from heat, take out chicken. After it cools, remove chicken meat from carcass, discarding bones. Drop meat back into the soup.

In addition to comforting soup, I brought out our Portable Holiday Puzzle. I wanted to give little one something fun but low- key to do. Every November at the start of the holiday season we bring out a puzzle and keep it portable on a large bulletin board. The cork of the board helps keep pieces from sliding off to the floor. We love being able to move the puzzle from one room to another, but most of the time it stays at our dining room table. When it is time for dinner, we simply move the board. When company comes, we slide it under the couch out of site.

Another way we are helping my poor girl feel better is by keeping stocked up on super soft Kleenex tissues. I use boxed Kleenex tissues for home, but I especially love their little pocket packs. We keep them in my purse, in the car, in lil’ ones soccer bag…they are just so cute and handy. Avery loves the fun prints on the packages, and I am grateful for something soft to use on that cute little nose of hers!

Right now Target has a coupon for $1 of 4 packs or larger of Kleenex. Stock up and be prepared for the season!

RECIPES/ Sides

Cleansing Chicken Soup

It is very important to me to use food as another way fight this cancer. I am so blessed to feel good enough to eat a variety of foods right now. The week after my first chemo session, I struggled with a sensitive stomach, but by day 5, I was good to go, and I’ve been loading up on super healthy foods ever since!

My aunt sent me this recipe. It is usually used as part of a cleansing/detox program, but that is not really how I am using it. I love that everything in it is super good for the body, so for me, it is an easy way to get some very nutritious food into me! I’m all about putting on some weight during the weeks that I feel good, so I don’t feel like a true detox is right for me, but I am making sure 80-90% of what I eat is beneficial to my health, which I think is cleansing in and of itself!

This last week I found myself running to my local health food store and eating at their deli for lunch. It is only a block away, and I know everything they make is super healthy. I ate their Salmon burger twice, with sides of cabbage salad, and broccoli salad, (yum!) but knew I had to come up with a different plan, since lunch there is $6-$8 bucks each time I go. Ouch. I thought this soup would be an easy lunch option for me, and will help keep me out of the expensive deli. I am adding additional foods with it at lunchtime, because it is pretty low calorie, and right now I need EXTRA calories.

It makes a TON! I am going to freeze it in smaller mason jars and pull them out to thaw as needed. I was very happy with the taste of it, although next time I will use a little less onion.

If you make it, plan ahead!

It takes 8-12 hours of cooking time. That long cooking time is what extracts all the healthy stuff from the chicken bones. By cooking the heck out of the bones, you are extracting the gelatin, which is a nutritious source of protein, as well as collagen, calcium, minerals and amino acids.

Cleansing Chicken Soup

1 Whole Chicken (free-range, pastured or organic)
1 Tbsp, raw apple cider Vinegar
3-4 qts of filtered water
4 medium size onions coarsely chopped (I will only use 2 next time)
8 carrots peeled, coarsely chopped
2-4 zucchinis coarsely chopped (I used 2)
4 Tblsp of extra virgin coconut oil
½ c frozen green peas (I added these at the end after pureeing)
4 inches grated ginger
¼- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
6 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
1 lb green beans
1 bunch parsley
5 garlic cloves
2-4 Tblsp Celtic-Sea Salt (I added 2 tsp pepper)

Directions:

Remove from heat, take out chicken. After it cools, remove chicken meat from carcass, discarding bones. Drop meat back into the soup.

RECIPES/ Sides

Homemade Chicken Soup

I made Chicken Soup today and it is GOOD! It is amazing what a good stock can do to a soup, homemade stock has such deep flavor compared to stock from a can. You can read more about the benefits of stock and how to make it here.

We woke up to the smell of chicken due to the chicken bone stock that had been getting happy all night in my crock pot. This morning, I strained the stock, this time I threw away all the veggies and bones, but I have read that you can make stock from the same chicken bones 2-3 times, so I will try that next time. The veggies were very spent and I was too lazy to pick through the bones to rescue them (sometimes I do, then I use my hand blender to blend them into the stock) so they got dumped with the bones.

I started my soup with a bit of olive oil and a pat of butter in the bottom of a soup pot. Adding the butter along with the olive oil gives the soup another layer of flavor, and also allows you to turn up the heat for sauteing the veggies. If you were to use just olive oil, you would have to keep the heat at medium due to the low smoking point of olive oil. Adding butter solves this problem. (a tip I leaned from good ol’ Rachel Ray)

I threw in some chopped onion and 2 chopped garlic cloves. I let the onions get nice and soft over med-high heat, about 5-7 minutes.

Meanwhile, I chopped 3 carrots and 2 stalks celery, and then added them to the pot.

I let them cook a bit to draw out their flavors, about 5 minutes, while I chopped 5 potatoes (1 too many, use 4 instead).

Added potatoes and 11/2 cups cooked chicken to the pot. You can read here how I cooked my chicken.

Added chicken stock (about 6 cups), 11/2-2 tsp thyme, 1 tsp poultry seasoning, 1 bay leaf, salt and pepper to taste. If the soup is too thick, add more stock.

Stir and simmer 40-60 minutes, stirring every once in awhile. Could add all to crock pot and cook on low 4-6 hrs or on high for 2-3 hrs.

Sometimes I substitute whole wheat pasta for the potato, depending what I have on hand. My kids prefer the pasta, but will eat both. I also usually add some frozen peas or corn. Enjoy!