Warm Chicken Soup

It's a cold, rainy day in Chicago today.  I think it calls for some homemade chicken soup.  Totally healthy and good for getting over a cold or staying warm.  There are many chicken soup recipes out there, but mine is simple and it starts with Martha Stewart's chicken soup recipe.  I have added my modifications below to add more flavor.

Basic Chicken Soup

• 1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds), cut into pieces (including back)
• 8 cups water
• Coarse salt
• 3 medium onions, thinly sliced (4 cups)
• 2 celery stalks, sliced crosswise 1/4 inch thick
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 6 medium carrots, sliced 1/2 inch thick
• Tina's ingredient additions: 2 bay leaves, thyme, black pepper, a little oregano.  Whole chicken should be de-skined

Directions

1. Bring chicken, water, and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil in a large stockpot. Skim foam. Add onions, celery, and garlic. Reduce heat. Simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes.
2. Remove breast, and set aside. Add carrots. Simmer, partially covered, for 40 minutes.
3. Remove remaining chicken; discard back and wings. Let cool slightly. Remove meat from bones, and cut into bite-size pieces.
4. Stir in desired amount of chicken; reserve the rest for another use. Skim fat. Season with salt.

Source: Martha Stewart's Basic Chicken Soup
My past posts: Cold Remedy II How to Stay Warm

Cold Remedy II - How to Stay Warm

In my previous post (Cold Remedy), I talk about staying warm.  It seems so commonsensical, but really all my life, and I really mean, almost all that I can remember - I usually felt cold in the winter, fall and spring (and in the summer when most of America blasts the air conditioning).  My mom said also I had this problem of wearing the wrong clothes for the wrong season.  For instance, it was spring, summer seemed like it was almost here, so in April I would start to wear thinner T-shirts or a skirt.  In high school, if I got a new jacket for spring, I would want to wear it in Feburary.  I guess from a little girl, I was always looking forward to the next season (maybe I should have gotten into the fashion industry).

I thought my cold state was only due to what I was wearing (or not wearing).  However, as I have grown older and now dress more "in season," I am still usually cold.  I think this is indication that something is wrong.  Our bodies are strong, especially if we have moms who fed us organic and homemade baby food from the get go (I love you Mom!), but over time, without proper knowledge and practice, our bodies will deteriorate and become more susceptible to sickness and disease.  I don't want to ruin this beautiful creation.

How to stay warm.

1) Wear "in season."  After my explanation above, you get my point.  Wear layers so that you can adjust when you feel warm or cold.  The material of your clothes also makes a big difference.  100% Cotton is best - but in the winter, you will want to layer on top of it.  Acrylic is not warm.  Cashmere, silk, wool blends are warm.  A lot of polyester is out there, especially wicking fabrics.  I think wearing polyester/spandex blended materials in the winter makes me feel cold (especially before I work out), it creates a lot of static (not sure how "healthy" it is), so I stopped buying them and have gone back to cotton.

2) Slap yourself.  I think I will need to qualify this, since you probably think I am craaazy.  First of all, this is a Chinese medicine practice.  Not on your face, but slap your arm joint areas (top side of elbow), and behind your knee and around your knee (above and around knee cap area).  Not hard, but just enough to feel a little sting, and you will find your hand and hit areas get warm.  Do it like 15 times to each spot, and it will start to get your blood flowing.  When blood flows, you will not be cold.

3) Warm feet.  Women tend to have cold feet because we like to wear fancy shoes, skirts with pantyhose or for whatever reason.  Thing is, warm feet are essential to good health.  Buy some booties and layer in socks in the winter.  Treat yourself to some warm boots.  If your feet are cold, fix the situation.  Hot showers, foot spa (I have the one from Brookstone because Target sold out of their $20 dollar ones!), leg exercises all help.

4) Warm foods.  Hot soup with bone marrow is really good.  This is what I do.  Go and buy some chicken - whole, drumsticks, thigh, whatever with bones.  Cut the fat out.  Then put in a steamer or you probably can do it on the stove if you don't have a steamer, put chicken in with shitake mushrooms, ginger (4-5 pieces), scallion, salt, pepper, bay leaf, goji berries, some water.  Steam for about 25 minutes.  You can steam again to really get the cartilage jelly out.  Highly nutritious soups heal your blood.

Healthy Restaurant Review: Panera Bread

It's hard to eat healthy all the time, and it's even harder to cook what you know would be healthy.  Since I am always on the lookout for healthy food, I am here to share my suggestions.  One place markets itself as a "healthier" restaurant: Panera Bread, and the question remains, so is it really healthier?

Panera has an interesting history; it comes from the birth of Au Bon Pain and the acquisition of St. Louis Bread Company.  Early in the company's growth, the co-founder decided to put all his eggs in the Panera basket, sold off the Au Bon Pain business units, and thereby re-branded and grew the old St. Louis Bread assets into Panera Bread.   Sort of a complicated series of events, but I guess that is what entrepreneurial ventures are about: becoming something out of nothing (or from relative little).

So, what is healthy at Panera?  Forget their entire bakery selection.  Although made from higher quality ingredients than of that available at a local, regional chain grocery store (i.e., Safeway, Jewel, Dominick's), they are almost all points of high intake of sugar, flour, butter, etc.  However, referring back to one of my previous posts Croissants are Better than You Think?, if it is between a blueberry muffin or a plain croissant, go for the croissant - more air, less fat and sugar.  The bread section will not be that nutritious either.  And, please make no mistake that eating the bread bowl is like eating a piece of cake - the body basically treats the refined flour as sugar, going straight to your waistline.

Enough about what not to eat.  Here's what I would suggest: do a pick two.  Pair the Garden Vegetable Soup with Pesto with the Asian Sesame Chicken salad.  This garden vegetable soup is warm on a cold day and helps if you are battling a cold.  Vegetables include yellow wax beans, zucchini, onions, Swiss chard, cauliflower, etc.  And, also contains barley!  The only drawback is that the soup is still relatively high in sodium (1240 mg of sodium per serving), but still not as high in sodium as some of the other Panera soups offered.

I like to pair this soup with the Asian Sesame Chicken salad with dressing on the side, because although the salad doesn't have much to it, it has a nice helping of chicken, a slightly sweet savory dressing that can be used sparingly if you choose, topped with cilantro and almonds, and the sprinkle of sesame seeds are the bomb.  The nutty flavor just explodes!  The vegetables from the soup help the lack thereof in the salad, but another idea that I have done in the past is to ask them to add red peppers and tomatoes.  These are at an extra charge, but if you go solo salad, I think it is worth it.

Cold Remedy

It's that time of year again - common cold season.  And, why is it that it sometimes takes so long to get rid of?  No one size fits all answer here, but from my experience, I offer a few remedies, and of course, some of these remedies revolve around food.

First off, I am getting over a cold right now.  Less than a week ago, I went to try on bridesmaid dresses, and the places was an ICEBOX.  Literally, it was freezing -- and lo and behold, the next day I woke up with a super sore throat.  Immediate things I typically do when this happens: gargle mouthwash or saltwater.  It kills whatever is harboring in my throat.  But, the real problem is my immune system.  It wasn't strong enough from the beginning to fight the germs already around.  So, my plan of attack when I am sick or getting sick is to boost the immune system and create an environment for my body to heal.

I used to load up on vitamin C.  I don't know if it really works, because most of the time for me, it doesn't help all that much.  It might offer a sliver of help, but I believe most of the help comes through other means.  Vitamin C might be more a marketing game than your answer.

Here are a few ideas:
1) Stay warm.  Western medicine does not emphasize this enough.  When your immune system is down or boost your immune system, take every effort to stay warm.  Wear an extra layer, scarf, hat, extra socks, heaters, hot water bath or hot water spa for feet, cover exposed skin, extra blankets at night.  Drink warm water, don't drink cold (your organs work extra hard to get the cold water to your body temp).  Don't have cold feet -- all your major blood veins run through your feet, this will keep your blood flow moving.

2) Drink hot soup.  The soup warms up the inside, and when you have a homemade chicken soup, it is highly nutritious for your blood.  Try to load up on garlic and onions in your soup or meal. Don't underestimate the power of broth or soup, and I typically strip the saturated fats from the soup.

3) Steep ginger and drink as tea.  Ginger is powerful for empowering your immune system.  Peel the ginger, cut in slices and put in 2 cups of water or so.  Try to make it more potent than diluted.  Boil for a few minutes, then steep.  It should open up sinuses and give you a "fire-y" feel.

4) Drink goji juice.  So, for this one, I am promoting a supplemental juice that my family started to buy a couple of years ago.  It's called NingXia Red - and is a blend of goji and other berries, but this stuff is AMAZING.  I took 2 shots of it the day my throat started to get sore, and the sore throat subsided - I probably would have been fully better by the third day but I went outside in the cold for a while the third day, which then caused me to wake up with stuffy sinuses and a runny nose since then.  I should listen to my own advice...Here's the link: http://www.youngliving.com/essential-nutrition/goji-juice

5) Don't eat junk.  It will cause your body to fight even harder.  And, please don't eat sugary anything, breads, cakes, cookies, candy, etc.  This reduces your immune system.