TRY THIS PANACEA. YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID!

Swimmin' Chick n' Choy

for Body & Soul

(HOMEMADE CHICKEN SOUP)

A salient cure-all.

A comfort when it's cold or you're not feeling well.

Chicken soup has probably been fed to Vikings, Moors, Celts, Chinese Emperors, Wildmen, Gypsies, Tribal Chiefs, Pilgrims, Pharoahs, Sheikhs, Czars, Kings, Giants and Friendly Dragons...

...if they'd managed to snag a Princess who had a Maid who could cook, that is.

Have your Butler look for an ads in the paper that say, “Maid, Can Cook.” (Saves you having to cross the alligator-filled moat to look for a suitable Princess.)

This soup recipe is very easy but it does take some time. The health benefits are well worth the effort!

Your friends, relatives, children and the fairies will all appreciate the minerals found in a homemade bone broth...

Less interesting soup options

I recently checked out the ingredients on Lipton's Instant Chicken Broth box in a friend's cupboard - and nearly choked. Several forms of MSG were listed.

MSG is a flavor enhancer which is both addictive and an exitotoxin. You want to avoid consuming any form of it, unless you have an interest in being diagnosed with a serious illness in the future!

Many canned or boxed soups and broths, as well as instant soup or broth mixes contain various insidious forms of this toxic substance.

Having Swimmin' Chick' n' Choy on hand is one way to nourish rather than hurt your body and brain, as well as those you love and want to protect.

WARNING: PICTURE HEAVY POST

Here are the Seven Ingredients

you'll need to teach to swim

Organic ones float the best going down the gullet =)

• 1 small head of Bok Choy – Baby Bok Choy works

• 2 large Onions

• 3 stalks Celery

• 4 Carrots

• 3 Organic or Naturally Raised Chicken Legs - Dark meat is best -drumsticks and thighs– because it has more nutrition than white meat (yes, SS is against the norm for advice here)!

• Dried Basil leaves

• A small bunch of Fresh Parsley

A Few Cooking Supplies:

A large cooking pot

A bowl or two

A cutting board

A sharp knife

Let us thence commence our soup-making, swimmin' on the deep side expedition:

Wash: your hands, celery, carrots and bok choy.

Then carefully and thoroughly wash each of the chicken legs under running water, both sides.

Anytime you buy meat, try to get it WITH bones,NOT de-boned.

The Reason: Because the bones contain minerals your body needs. When cooked, the meat will absorb some of those minerals and when made into a broth, the minerals leach out, into the broth water, and eventually into your body.

Put the chicken legs into your large cooking pot, and cover them with water.

Cover the pot and turn the stove burner on High.

When the pot boils, you will turn the stove heat down to simmer and continue to cook the chicken. The water should be roiling slightly, not a full boil. You want to keep the heat raised enough to slowly cook the meat. Not too high, not too low heat.

“Juusst right,” said Goldilocks, of three bears fame. Maybe Goldi didn't have a Maid?

Take note of the time. While your chicken is cooking you can quickly prepare the vegetables.

After your vegetables are ready, you can go on break, dance down the hall, play an instrument, read to your children, load the wood furnace (play Cinderella), do some squats, lunges, etc. For the moment, you can listen to music and sing, singing is allowed.

Cut off each end of the onions, then slice down the skin with your knife. Peel off the onion skin and discard it into the compost or garbage.

Slice the onion in half length-wise, lay each half flat on the cutting board and then cut slices about 3/8ths of an inch thick.

Then turn the entire half of slices and cut them through the other direction, three times or so, which will quickly dice the onions using their own separating layers.

Cut the ends off your celery and carrots. Cut them length-wise a few times to make the celery stalks narrower, and do the same with the carrots after you cut them in half.

You should have several piles of long, thin vegetables.

Check your chicken pot and if it's boiling, turn the heat down and cover the pot. See burner heat directions, above.

The chicken will need to simmer WITH THE POT COVER ON for 1-1/2 hours or so, minimum, until the meat will be cooked enough to take off the bone. If it cooks a longer time that is fine. It will help the bones flavor the broth.

Now, holding each pile of vegetables down with one hand, dice your celery and carrots into small pieces.

When onions, carrots and celery are in a bowl, just chop the tips off the Bok Choy ends. Don't cut up the Bok Choy just yet, the pieces will dry out. It's better to wait to cut them until just before you use them.

I sometimes saute the onions, carrots and celery in a separate pot in some olive oil until they are tender, which brings out their flavor. But it's not imperative. The vegetables will cook in the broth and it makes one less thing to do.

Go on break. Dance and sing, broth is coming!

After at least 1-1/2 hours have passed for the simmering pot of chicken, and when the chicken is able to be stabbed easily with a fork, take the chicken legs out of the pot of broth and put them in a bowl to cool.

In the meantime, dump your three cut vegetables into the broth pot and let them cook while you pull the cooled chicken meat off the chicken bones.

You'll have one large leg bone, one smaller leg bone and a very thin bone to remove on each chicken leg.

I don't waste the chicken's joint tissue– it's good for my joints. All cooks must taste what they are working on. Nom, nom...

When the chicken is off the bone and cut in mouth-sized pieces, put it back into the pot with the vegetables.

If the chicken doesn't contain antibiotics or hormones, I also put the skin back in the pot. This is debatable, but most of the flavor is in the fat and so I leave it.

Now add 1-2 TBSP dried Basil and some chopped Parsley.

Cover the pot again and let the vegetables cook until they are tender – maybe 10 to 15 minutes.

While the pot is simmering - finely dice the Bok Choy.

Check to make sure the vegetables are soft.

Then add the Bok Choy to the pot and stir.

If the pot is too thick and doesn't have enough broth, just add a bit more water. Let it heat up and simmer again until you are ready to serve it.

You can eat the soup immediately if you want crunchy soup, or let the Bok Choy turn tender, too, by cooking it for five minutes.

Garnish the bowl with a little bit of freshly chopped parsley.

Enjoy a bowl of hot,

homemade,

chick n' choy soup!

It was easy, right? Now, update your resumé, saying you've become a “swimming coach” - for chicks and choys.

You may salt the soup at the table if you wish. This is NOT a Paleo recommendation.

Salt consumption is a controversial topic. I've heard cooking salt changes it's molecular structure, making it inorganic, while sun-dried salt is organic. After eight years on a completely NO-salt diet, many years ago, my thyroid didn't work well. I've done some reading and decided my body needs salt as I often have very low blood pressure. Everyone has slightly different body chemistry and needs. It's good to educate yourself on what YOU need.

Store your leftover soup in the fridge in large-mouth glass canning jars. It will last a few days in the fridge, or freeze it for another day.

This recipe makes an entire large pot of soup, giving you plenty to share with your cat, dog, or the man or woman down the block who looks like they need a hot meal.

Don't forget the fairies.

Was this recipe helpful to you? Have you taught other sorts of vegetables to swim?

Please let us know in the comments below!

Soupily with love,

Elise

A sincere cook from up north who rebels against unwholesome plastic-like chemical-laden products found in brightly-colored packages, disguised as food.