Chicken Soup For Your Soul- And Your Health!

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

“Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food.” — Hippocrates

Cold weather breeds colds and I’m already feeling the bite of the season. This past weekend felt more like November in Seattle than October in NoVA and I, for one, began feeling the effects. The driving cold drizzle and the arctic (feeling) temperatures made me want to curl up on the couch and nurse my sniffles with that magic elixir known as chicken noodle soup.

It’s known the world over as an age-old home remedy for treating the common cold- but does it really work?

As a matter of fact, there may be legitimate healing properties to that cup of soup and there is actual scientific research being done to support this. The most widely cited of these studies, published in the medical journal Chest in 2000, is by Dr. Stephen Rennard of the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. He conducted laboratory tests to determine why chicken soup might help colds.

And a lot of research took place in the kitchen with Grandma:

Using blood samples from volunteers, Dr. Rennard showed that the soup inhibited the movement of neutrophils, the most common type of white blood cell that defends against infection. He theorizes that by inhibiting the migration of these infection-fighting cells in the body, chicken soup essentially helps reduce upper respiratory cold symptoms.

Read the full article here.

While no one seems to be able to pinpoint the exact ingredient that makes chicken soup so special, some think it may be a combination; that all the vegetables and herbs and protein work together in harmony to create the perfect, all-natural cold-buster!

Pretty cool, huh?

None of the research is definitive, but at the very least, the soup contains healthy vegetables and vitamins, keeps you hydrated and tastes good too!

Now, I’ve never made chicken noodle soup before. I’ve always grabbed a can or Campbell’s, dumped it in a pan with one can of water, and called it a day. But I’m a big girl now and feel like I deserve a big girl soup.

So- why not make it? Can’t be too hard, right?

Turns out, it’s not! In using ingredients that I already had lying around my kitchen, I was able to come up with a tasty and healthier version of that go-to canned soup.

I simply used leftover grilled chicken from dinner the night before and any vegetables I had lying around in the fridge. I sautéed together onions, garlic, celery, baby carrots, yellow squash and a whole bag of baby spinach before pouring in some chicken broth, a box of pasta I had in the cupboard and the already-cooked chicken.

Use any seasoning you have on hand- I used dried Italian seasoning, dried basil, salt, pepper and a few healthy dashes of Tabasco sauce. Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat and cook everything together for about 20 minutes. I also added frozen peas at the very end so they didn’t get too mushy.

That’s it! I had a big girl, cold-weather, cold-fighting, vitamin-packed dinner that’s yummy, healthy and easy to make!

Find restaurants in your area serving up chicken soup!

Grandma’s recipe above is fine, but my way is quicker. So here’s a reference guide of ingredients I used:

About 2 cups of grilled chicken
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 an onion
1/2 cup carrots
1/2 cup celery
1 bag baby spinach
1 package frozen peas
32 ounces of Chicken broth
1 box of whole wheat noodles
To Taste:
Italian seasoning
Dried basil
Tabasco
Salt and pepper

Happy noodles, all!

– Jennie Whistler

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The Rise of Comfort Foods in Recession Era Googling

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

With the recession taking a hit on the nation’s disposable income, restaurants have taken to inventing “tax relief dinners” and “economic stimulus dinners” to lure customers back through their doors.

So, what’s on the menu?

Comfort foods, naturally. Plenty of feel-good foods, like fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, chicken pot pie and s’mores.

It looks like restaurants have been picking the right recession menus because the 2008 Google Zeitgeist (a glimpse at “the spirit of the times” through breakdown of the year’s Google searches) finds a distinct upsurge in people seeking comfort foods.

Here are the Top 10 Most Googled Comfort Foods in 2008. For fun, we’ve linked each search term to its “I’m Feeling Lucky” destination

1. 1.  ice cream
2. 2.  chili
3. 3.  spaghetti
4. 4.  meatloaf
5. 5.  fried chicken
6. 6.  chicken soup
7. 7.  apple pie
8. 8.  pot pie
9. 9.  potato salad
10. 10.  macaroni and cheese

11. For some reason, Google doesn’t count “booze” as comfort food. However, they did include a list of the year’s most popular cocktail searches because there’s been an apparent increase in people looking to mix their own cocktails.

    Makes sense to us. Why pay for a round at the bar when you can drink twice as much for less cash, right?

12. Here are the Top 10 Most Googled Cocktails in 2008, along with their “I Feel Lucky” links (when searching “[name of drink] recipe”).

13. 1. martini
14. 2.  mojito
15. 3.  margarita
16. 4.  manhattan
17. 5.  cosmopolitan
18. 6.  sangria
19. 7.  bellini
20. 8.  mai tai
21. 9.  white russian
22. 10.  bloody mary

What are some of your favorite comfort foods and cocktails?

– Christina Lee

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