Recipe of the Week: Chicken Noodle Soup
Fall: the only time of year when nature misleads us. Bright blue skies and still green leaves trick us into thinking it’s still summer. Then we’re hit by reality once we step outside and get whip-lashed by the bitter wind. Jackets that were once stored away in the back of closets now must be brought to light and taken into an already cluttered dorm room. And so the transition begins.
But it’s all good. Because now the leaves change colors, pumpkin carving begins, and it’s still not as cold as winter. Fall is my favorite season, actually. In fact, just the other day, there I was minding my own business on the arm chair near the window as usual, admiring the splendor outside, when all of a sudden, I hear a strange noise coming from my suite-mates bedroom. A sneeze. And then I remember the other things that fall brings: colds and the flu.
I ran to my own room in a hurry and immediately took herbal preventative medicine to avoid catching the dreaded flu. I was too late. My roommate, huddled up in blankets, had an army of tissues thrown haphazardly around her. The disease had spread to my room. And by that night, I could feel my lymph nodes begin to swell.
And people think Halloween is scary.
Sickness travels fast in dorms. It’s very hard to quarantine the contaminated objects, or rather the person who contaminated those objects, when we all share the same space. When one person is sick, we go out and buy boxes upon boxes of tissues, because we all know what the outcome is.
And so this week, I decided to make chicken noodle soup for the girls. I felt it would be best to make it at my house over the weekend so as to avoid using utensils that could still carry germs…the horror.
Moving on!
Ingredients:
(Serves about six)
-One packet of raw chicken breast (approximately one pound)
-One bag of egg noodles
-Three peeled and cubed potatoes
-8 ounce container of chicken broth
-About three quarts of water
-Salt
-Ground Pepper
-One teaspoon of crushed garlic
-One teaspoon of powdered chili pepper (good for the sinuses!)
Step One: Take chicken breast out of fridge (You should take the chicken breast out of the freezer and put it in the fridge a few hours before cooking to thaw) and place on frying pan with grape-seed oil (or vegetable oil) to sauté on both sides for about three minutes on each side or until it turns white-do not fully cook
Step Two: Cut chicken into cubes
Step Three: Cook cubed chicken on frying pan for about five minutes-once again do not fully cook
Step Four: Dice potatoes into bite sized pieces
Step Five: Mix together cubed potatoes and chicken into pot.
Step Six: Pour one eight ounce container of chicken broth. Add three quarts of water. Sprinkle in salt, ground black pepper, and chili pepper.
Step Seven: Crunch egg noodles and add into pot. Boil for about 50 minutes or until potatoes have softened.
Step Eight: Pour and serve!
Chicken noodle soup may not cure your cold, it may not even physiologically help you, but drinking something warm on a cold day, especially when you’re sick, always helps.
Ah, the classic chicken noodle soup. Love it. Personally though, when I feel sick, a hot cup of hot chocolate is my go-to warm beverage lol.
Good point-hot chocolate always makes me feel better too 🙂