Chicken Soup for the Flu

Flu season has arrived with the November winds challenging us to keep warm, to deal with fallen trees and debris, to keep healthy. We’re told on one hand to get a flu shot by the National Institutes of Health and on the other hand by the Health Sciences Institute to avoid it like the plague, that it does not prevent the flu but even makes us more susceptible to whichever one we’re vaccinated against and similar strains of a virus that’s always mutating anyway.
 
I’ve managed to avoid flu and haven’t even had a bad cold for at least eight years due to an anti-viral, anti-bacterial spice tea I make. I’ve given you the recipe for it several times, but here it is again just to be sure you’ll have it this fall, winter and early spring. Flu season goes on through March. Sip this magic potion and gargle with it at the first twinge of a sore throat.
 
MARJ’S MAGIC POTION: 2 cups water, 1 cinnamon stick, and 1 Tablespoon whole cloves. Bring to a low boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until the water has turned brown. Cool and store in a capped glass jar. Dose: 1 to 2 Tablespoons in a cup of hot water, green tea, or hot lemonade. Sip. Enjoy the flavor and good health.
 
Chicken soup is a delicious flu preventer. If the flu or a bad cold strikes someone in your household anyway, apply the magic potion to lessen misery and shorten the malady, and give them chicken soup. It has curative ability, too. Besides the chicken for protein and protection, all kinds of mushroom have healing power, basil and oregano are both anti-bacterial, cloves are anti-viral and anti-bacterial, carrot yields more than a day’s worth of Vitamin A, garlic kills germs, and onion boosts immunity. Chicken skin contains cysteine, a protein that protects against cold and flu germs. Dice it after cooking.
 
CHICKEN SOUP
6 servings
1 small chicken, cut up, or 6 to 8 drumsticks, skin on
1 large onion, diced
3 to 4 long carrots, sliced
1 parsnip cut in 1-inch chunks
4 crimini or other mushrooms, chopped
1 teaspoon iodized salt
12 peppercorns
1 Tablespoon vinegar or 1 wineglass white wine
½ cup coarsely chopped parsley,
1teaspoons chicken granules or 2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 teaspoon dried crumbled basil leaves
½ teaspoon dried crumbled oregano leaves or 1/8 teaspoon oregano powder
Water
 
In a stockpot or large kettle, put the first group of ingredients. Cover with water an inch deeper than the ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, put the lid on the pot, and cook gently for 1 hour.
 
Add second group of ingredients and water as needed to keep an inch deep over the ingredients. Simmer another half hour. Taste and adjust seasonings. By now the meat should be so tender it almost falls off the bones. Serve warm.