Chicken and Vegetable Soup Stock

S and I just returned from a crazy trip to Whistler to visit my family. I had not seen most of them since our wedding a year and a half ago. I am so glad we went... even though we came down with some form of the flu. I'd like to assume it's the swine flu, not because I want the swine flu, but because we're handling it considerably well, and everyone in Whistler (and the place where my family lives) say that swine flu is the ONLY flu going around. I'd rather have this be the worst illness we get for a LONG time. S has a high fever every afternoon at 3 and it lasts into the wee hours of the morning. My family had the classic flu symptoms-we on the other hand seem to have watched our symptoms morph into something worse. We finally decided to hit the walk-in-clinic after discovering that S lost 10 pounds in the last 5 days and he doesn't have much to loose. The doctor said he thinks S has pneumonia and ordered an anti-biotic and a chest x-ray.

I am beating off my sickness with raw garlic, tea with lemon and honey, homemade chicken soup made with my own stock, red clover, kelp, a neti pot, LOTS of water, fresh apple juice and... a positive attitude. Haha. I've been told that if I get an infection that I shouldn't mess around with it... so I'll get an anti-biotic if I have to.

Just for fun, here are my favorite stock and soup recipes:

Chicken and Vegetable Stock

1 Cooked chicken carcass (with some meat still on the bones)

3 Sticks of celery

Small bunch of fresh or dried sage

6-8 cups of left over vegetable bits

Enough water to reach 4 inches below the top of the pot and/or to cover everything in a soup pot (my pot holds 4-5 gallons-worth of liquid)

For left over vegetable bits, freeze whatever you have left over after prepping a meal to use later in a stock.

Here are some ideas:

Onion ends

Tomato

Celery ends, or wilted celery

Carrot ends

Bok Choy ends

Mushroom ends or shriveled mushrooms

Broccoli ends

Garlic ends (you can cut the bottoms off bulbs of garlic off and freeze them with your vegetable bits.

Boil stock for half an hour. Then reduce heat to simmer overnight. I leave it barely simmering... for 12 hours. The meat should be falling off the bone when it's done and you should strain EVERYTHING out of it leaving only the liquid. Then pick through to find the meat and put it back into the stock.

If you like clear broth, skim the residue off the top of the stock before stirring it. If you stir it, the residue will be impossible to remove. The residue is healthy to eat though, and easy to mix into the soup, so if you don't care, just leave it in the stock.

Freeze your stock until you make soup or continue on to the next recipe...

I found a great webpage with information about the healing properties of soup stock. I hope it inspires you.

Chicken Soup

1/3 recipe of chicken stock (I freeze it in thirds so it's easily accessible)

2-3 sticks of celery chopped fine

2 carrots chopped finely

6-8 mushrooms sliced thinly

1/2 of a large zucchini cut in quarters and sliced thinly

1 1/2 cups of brown rice (cooked)

Ground pepper to taste

Defrost stock by placing in pot on medium. When it is defrosted, add vegetables and brown rice. Boil for 15 minutes. Turn down to simmer until vegetables feel cooked enough to you... I keep it on low with a lid on for up to 3 hours after simmering and serve whenever I want.

Salt Tip: Add unbleached sea salt to taste when the soup is IN YOUR BOWL. Salt's trace mineral content diminishes drastically when heated. It's better to put it in after the food is cooked.