Chicken Soup for the Tummy

In the 1990's Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen made a name for themselves with their ubiquitous Chicken Soup for the Soul books.  When it's cold outdoors or your nose is running like a leaky bathroom faucet, what you really need is some Chicken Soup for the Tummy.  I try to keep a container of chicken soup in my freezer at all times.  You never know when you or a friend will need some Jewish Penicillin.

Homemade Chicken Soup

This recipe nearly fills my 7.25 quart Dutch oven. Add some egg noodles or a handful of rice towards the end of cooking, if that floats your boat.

º One whole chicken or One Family-Size Package of Boneless-Skinless Chicken Breasts

º One-half pound chopped carrots – or thereabouts

º One-half bunch chopped celery – or thereabouts
 

º 1 T salt

º 1 t sugar

º ¼ t ground white pepper

º 2 quarts healthy chicken broth like Kroger Simple Truth Organic or Pacific Free Range Organic Chicken Broth.

Cook chicken in water in a large pot.  If I cook a whole chicken for soup, I generally prepare the chicken the night before.  It's much easier to skim the fat from the chicken broth after it has been refrigerated overnight

Cut chicken into bite-size pieces.

Saute carrots and celery in a small amount of canola oil in your soup pot.

Next, add the water in which you cooked the chicken to the veggies.

Then, add salt, sugar, and white pepper.  Add the chicken that has been cut into bite-size pieces.

Finally, add enough chicken broth to fill the pot. Simmer till done - which basically is when the aroma coming from the kitchen distracts you.

I like Homemade Chicken Soup

almost as much as I like clean sheets.

Be My Valentine

With the exception of this year - I have been really busy with work - and during my middle school years - I did not want give anyone an additional reason to poke fun of me - I have made Valentines for friends since kindergarten.  Some single women do not like Valentine's Day.  Not me.  Valentines Day provides me with another excuse to shower people with cards.

When I was younger, I painstakingly calculated - numbers have never been a strong suit - how many paper  hearts and stickers I needed to make a card for each child in my class.  My motor skills weren't the best, so I cajoled my mom into cutting out the hearts. 

Back in the day, there was no high-speed internet and they didn't sell stickers at the grocery store.  I knew the location of every Hallmark store within five miles of my home, the homes of my maternal and paternal grandparents, and my physical therapist.  I was blessed to attend physical therapy sessions once and sometimes twice a week from age two and a half to 16.

Locating card supplies is much easier now.  I often order blank cards and envelopes from Paper Source.  Paper Source, an upscale stationery store which began in the Chicago area, now has a store in Colorado.  Impress Rubber Stamps, which has stores in the Seattle area, is a great resource for patterned cardstock.  I typically find stickers at King Soopers or order them from Mrs. Grossman's.  EK Success makes the best paper punches and Amazon sells them for the lowest price.  I get rubber stamps all over the place.