Monday, August 29, 2011

Simple Chicken Soup

In preparation for going on the GAPS diet (which I'll tell more about later), I've been doing a lot of reading lately about the health benefits of broth. To summarize, for those of you who may not feel like clicking on the link (although I very much recommend it), consuming homemade broth/stock:

  • Boosts immune system
  • Aids digestion
  • Increases efficiency of protein use
  • Provides easily digestible minerals, including calcium
  • Can improve symptoms of: joint pain, common cold, peptic ulcers, tuberculosis, diabetes, muscle diseases, infectious diseases, jaundice, cancer, food allergies, colic, maldigestion, inflammatory bowel disease, osteoporosis, pain and inflammation, cramps, muscle spasms, delusions, depression, insomnia, irritability, hyperactivity, anxiety, palpitations, hypertension, high cholesterol, allergies….
The homemade part is very important, and also very easy. Here's some how-to if you need it.



But, okay, assuming you have some broth on-hand (I have jars and jars of it in the freezer, and sit a new one in the fridge to thaw as-needed), this soup is really, really, really simple and nourishing and inexpensive to make.

I also try to always have on hand a roasted or boiled chicken. We usually eat it in a meal the first night and then I pick off meat as I need it from there. It's great to put on salad or in soup. Here's some how-to for roasting a chicken if you need that. It's also really, super easy and delicious.

You'll need:
Homemade chicken broth
Roasted or boiled chicken meat
Carrot
2-3 cloves garlic
Salt
Pepper

These amounts are for a personal-sized bowl of soup that I make in my smallest sauce pan. This is so much easier than having to store and re-heat a huge pot of soup every time I want a bowl. Adjust amounts depending on how many you are feeding, ideally about one carrot and 2-3 cloves of garlic per person. 2-3 cloves of garlic sounds like a lot, but it is really, really good for you, and you really don't taste it, I promise.

Directions:
Put broth in pot and bring to boil.
Cut up carrot and garlic, add to broth.
Salt and pepper to taste.
When boiling, which will be about the time you get everything else in there, reduce heat to medium and let simmer while you fix your drink.
Enjoy.

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