Healthy Chicken Soup

Welcome to the first of many recipes and health tips from the comfort of my self isolation, which I will be providing free of charge in an attempt to assist/improve the health of the nation (and maybe the world?!). I will be following the Government directive and only leaving the house for essential activities and being a Nutritionist, buying food is certainly top of my list! So, here we go!

This week has been very interesting in the grocery shopping world, with some items unavailable. But what I have come to realise is that we must go back to first base and make the most of any valuable foods that we can purchase, as food wastage at this time is so painful to see.

I was fortunate enough to purchase an organic chicken (a rare commodity of late) - let’s just call it in the right place at the right time! So after two meals based on said chicken (a traditional roast dinner, followed by an Asian noodle and chicken stir fry), I felt it was only fitting to honour the life of the chicken and use the carcass and remnants of the chicken attached to make a chicken soup. Plenty of time at home to prepare and what a comforting aroma is the smell of slowly cooking chicken soup? A real boost to the soul!

So, why is chicken soup so healthy?

1. You can pile in the veggies, as many as you can find that will simmer nicely in broth. If you choose the full spectrum of colours then you have got all your vitamins, minerals and antioxidants covered especially Vitamin C and A which are great for boosting the immune system. What did I use? Onion, garlic, celery, spinach, potato, carrot (wish I had purple ones!), cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, green beans and fresh parsley. You don’t need many of each, so it’s a great ‘use up’ meal.

2. Chicken contains some amazing levels of amino acids (protein) such as histidine (anti- inflammatory), lysine (a strong virus killer, the herpes simplex virus in particular) and tryptophan (precursor to serotonin, the ‘happy’ hormone). Tryptophan helps elevate mood, improves sleep and reduces anxiety. What a great thing to have around right now! Protein also reduces fatigue, improves energy levels and builds antibodies that fight infection. Why wouldn’t you?

3. Water – a bowl of soup increases your water intake which is great for your energy levels, hydration, skin health, brain function and in fact nourishes every cell in your body. All of the nutrients in the water/broth are consumed, so nothing is wasted.

Ingredients:

1 cooked chicken carcass (with some meat left on it!)

2 tbsps oil (of your choice, I used extra virgin olive oil)

1 or 2 onions (diced) 2 garlic cloves (finely chopped or crushed)

2 - 4 cups of vegetable stock (dependent on how many veggies you are using)

4 cups of assorted veggies (diced in similar sizes if possible) - no exact science on this one!

4 tbsps parsley (chopped) Black pepper (to taste)

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large heavy based saucepan on the stove top.

2. Gently fry the onions and garlic until translucent.

3. Pop in the carcass and enough stock to cover.

4. Bring to the boil (lid on), turn down and simmer for at least half an hour. (turn carcass now and again to ensure it is covered on all sides at some time.) The meat should come off the bones.

5. Carefully scrape off any remaining chicken and remove the bones to the bin.

6. Put in all of the veggies (feel free to do this gradually as things like carrots and potatoes will take longer to cook than broccoli and cauliflower). Bring to the boil and simmer for around half an hour. The longer it cooks, the softer the veg.

7. Add the parsley and black pepper with about 5 minutes to go on the cooking time.

8. Enjoy with fresh bread!