One of the main factors working against good nutrition in our world is that it happens on a cellular level. It happens slowly and it can often take years to see the effects of what we eat has on our health. In a society of instant gratification it is easy to understand why people make choices that do not pay off in the long run. Fast and convenient foods are huge markets and their products suit our lifestyles much better than making things from scratch. When we are sick, I find that the relation to what we eat and how we feel as well as how our body responds, is much more immediate and apparent. Good nutrition can be the difference between healing ourselves in a day or two and laying in bed miserable for a week. Sometimes when we start to feel unwell, part of what we really need most is just to slow down, remove ourselves from major sources of stress, and relax. At this point, cooking a slow meal can be quite restorative. If that doesn’t work and you end up getting sick anyway then at least you have some good food to nurse yourself back to health with.
I made this soup because my brother is starting to get sick and since we are going to Whistler tomorrow I don’t want him to miss out on the activities I have planned for us. Chicken noodle soup is a very nourishing and healing food for our immune systems. Quite often a few bowls of soup like this with some extra vitamin C and a day of rest will be effective in warding off colds and the flu… although I have been pumping him with extra vitamins, minerals and chlorella (a protein powerhouse and a type of blue green algae) just to be safe. They key in this soup’s healing powers lie in the type of broth used. The boxed and canned versions just will not cut it. Since I didn’t have the time to prepare bone broth myself I took a shortcut and purchased some from the closest health food store, along with a whole organic chicken already cooked, a bag of organic frozen corn and a bag of organic frozen corn pasta. With corn I always recommend going for organic since the vast majority of what is on the market is GMO, and for chicken it is ideal, as is free range, since the breeds used are different and the birds are given better quality feed, space to roam and eat insects, and many more months to mature which leads to an end product with higher levels of vitamins and minerals. Plus they are free of antibiotics and hormones, making them much more healing to our bodies when our health is already compromised.
- 2L chicken bone broth
- 4 cups cooked chicken, cut into small pieces
- 3 cups organic corn
- 2 cups organic corn pasta
- 1 cup leek, diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- A few dashes each of sea salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper
- Place a large pot over medium high heat and add in the olive oil. Once warmed, sautée the garlic and leek for around 3-4 minutes until they have softened. Add in the broth, cover the lid, turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Add in the pasta and cook according to package instructions. Add in the chicken, corn and spices and turn off the heat but leave the pot on the element for a couple minutes so that the newly added ingredients come to the right temperature.
