Easy Chicken Soup

It’s hard to think that anyone can catch a cold during our ‘cold’ season, but this past week, my fiancé was sick so soon enough I was too. And that’s where “Jewish Penicillin” comes in – Chicken soup.

Chicken soup by itself is a rather boring affair especially when it’s from a can. Apart from the Andy Warhol art that came out of it, the world is not better off for it. The good news is that while we still can’t eliminate the common cold, we can still fight it with chicken soup.

So here is how to take your can of soup and make it into a meal that your grandmother would be proud of. First we’re going to take the can of soup as a base. The best can for this is the ‘double pasta’ can; alternatively you could use any pasta and cook it in. Next, you can get a roasted chicken at the supermarket for even less than the cost of an uncooked whole chicken. Cut about a quarter of it into very small pieces.

Next, open a small can of carrots (the half size can) and a (small) can of mushrooms; you can pour in the liquids directly. You could also have a chopped onion and celery mixed in.

The spices I use for this are rosemary, cumin, curry, and just a small amount of salt. I also use enough garlic to scare away any vampires.

If you want to take this recipe to the next step, skip the can and use fresh chicken and you can cook the chicken and pasta at the same time.

An important “ingredient” in this mix is time… let the soup simmer for at least 30 minutes if not more, it’s essential that flavors blend with each other. You may also have to add water from time to time so that your soup does not dry out while on the stove. Enjoy and feel better.

A Clean Food – Chicken Chili



Yummy Chili Goodness!

Clean food is the idea (movement) that food should have the least amount of fat and calories possible. It’s simple and clean cooking. Of course simple and plain does mean your food has to taste quick and easy.

One of my favorite big dish cooking projects is what I like to call Chicken Chili. It’s not actually chili, which would have ground beef or at least ground chicken but it does carry the same concept.

The recipe for this is simple and rather inexpensive. Take a pack of boneless chicken breast meat or boneless thighs, and boil them for about 10-15 minutes. Be sure not to overcook them and even undercooking them is fine as they will be cooked again. The next ingredient is brown rice, save the water from the boiled chicken (now you have chicken broth) and use it to cook the rice. A good ratio is 1 or 1 ½ cups.  Next I add diced tomatoes, canned spinach, and Chickpeas.

After that put the rice in, followed by the (cut up) chicken and add the rest of the ingredients. From the spice rack I put in chili powder, cumin, curry, and chopped garlic. Then simmer, the longer the simmer the better the flavors get integrated.

This typically makes about 4 good size servings which could come out to be about $3-4 per meal… Enjoy!