easy Jewish Penicillin

[Charlie B53]

I hope calling Chicken Noodle Soup Jewish Penicillin isn't offensive to anyone.   Growing up a WASP this was a staple of our diet.  And I've always liked it.   Especially when the weather is dreary and/or my sinus' are clogged and any other time I am feeling far below par.  It really is medicine, and very good for me.   Whether this is Renal Freindly or not, I haven't a clue.  I do not add salt to most anything so most everything here is pure and natural, including the lemon zest and black peper, garlic, and sometimes oregano.

I cheated this time, instead of boiling a raw chicken I boned out one of the fresh roasted ones from the store.

Microwaved a couple of onions and carrots cut up into a bowl til tender.

Stewed all the above in about 4 qts of water for close to an hour.  Not cause I had to but that fit my schedule better.

Add a whole bag of egg noodles, or whatever your favorite type.

Done.

Comfort food on a dreary evening in front of a TV with nothing but junk programming.

Sometimes I add a pat of butter to my bowl, or lay a slice of buttered bread in the bowl before filling it.  This soaks up some of the broth.

And butter always makes things better!

[Jean]

Chicken Noodle soup always makes me feel better. Doesnt make me full, but it makes me comfy. Like you, I make my own, since the canned stuff is not so good for us. Never thought of using oregano in it, but you may have opened up a new adventure for me.

[DayaraLee]

I'm not a great cook (okay, not even a good one!), but I've been trying different recipes for a while now with the hope of moderating both protein and sodium. Got really adventurous one weekend and tried to make totally-from-scratch chicken noodle soup. Both G and I love it, but I try not to keep cans of it in the house because of the sodium content.

Veggies, no problem. Noodles? Took some time, but okay (had visions of my great grandmother laying out noodles for the holidays on newspapers all over her house and letting them dry overnight). Broth? Wow. I was good with all the big chunks of veggies and herbs, but once the various chicken pieces and parts and bones were simmering, and the directions said to begin skimming off the fat, I just about gave up.    Again, I am not a great or even good cook, but I gave it my best shot, skimming and stirring and simmering for what seemed like hours. At the end of it, though, what was left tasted nothing like chicken broth, and I had one of the biggest kitchen clean-up jobs ever.

Solution for me was to use low sodium broth cut with a bunch of water. If we concentrate hard, we can still get a hint of traditional Campbell's chicken soup flavor, and the sodium content is acceptable.   

Definitely one of our favorite comfort foods, too!

[kickingandscreaming]

I usually leave a lot of the fat as that's where the flavor is.  But if you want to remove it, it's best to put the soup in the fridge and let it chill and the fat will harden and float to the top where you can scrape if off.  The soup also improves from "sitting" for a day for the flavors to "marry" as the foodies say.

[Zach]

I hope calling Chicken Noodle Soup Jewish Penicillin isn't offensive to anyone.   Growing up a WASP this was a staple of our diet.  And I've always liked it.   Especially when the weather is dreary and/or my sinus' are clogged and any other time I am feeling far below par.  It really is medicine, and very good for me.   Whether this is Renal Freindly or not, I haven't a clue.  I do not add salt to most anything so most everything here is pure and natural, including the lemon zest and black peper, garlic, and sometimes oregano.

I cheated this time, instead of boiling a raw chicken I boned out one of the fresh roasted ones from the store.

Microwaved a couple of onions and carrots cut up into a bowl til tender.

Stewed all the above in about 4 qts of water for close to an hour.  Not cause I had to but that fit my schedule better.

Add a whole bag of egg noodles, or whatever your favorite type.

Done.

Comfort food on a dreary evening in front of a TV with nothing but junk programming.

Sometimes I add a pat of butter to my bowl, or lay a slice of buttered bread in the bowl before filling it.  This soaks up some of the broth.

And butter always makes things better!

YUM!
 

[Fabkiwi06]

Add some matza balls to that soup and my Bubby would be proud!

Those roast chickens you can buy from the grocery store are life changing. I don't have the patience to roast one myself, and I'm often craving chicken soup.

[kickingandscreaming]

The Science of Chicken Soup:  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/the-science-of-chicken-soup/?_r=0

Besides being delicious.

[Charlie B53]

It's good to see that some in the medical community take Chicken Soup seriously.

Grandma taught me very young how helpful this "Jewish Penicillin" is in treating most all of the more common ailments.

So it is pretty neat to see this confirmed a little bit by 'science'.   Even if they don't know the 'hows' and 'why' it works, it just does.

There is also a lot to be said about the benefits of some of the 'teas'.   But that can be cause for another thread.