Between holiday merriment, the traditional Thanksgiving sickies (my family always seems to get sick around Thanksgiving), and end-of-semester busyness, blogging has taken a backseat lately. I thought I’d pop in to say hi, though, and share my “recipe” for super-powered chicken soup, in case anyone else could benefit from a batch. (And I use the word “recipe” lightly–really, it’s just chicken soup with a couple unusual ingredients tossed in.)

Boil up a chicken with several cloves of minced garlic, and maybe some onion and bouillon for taste. When the chicken is cooked, remove it from the broth, take off the skin, and shred it up. If you’ve got a couple hours, you can cool the broth in the refrigerator and skim the grease off the top. Otherwise, just toss the meat back into the pot.

Add salt or chicken bouillon to taste, and toss in whatever veggies you like–I’m a fan of carrots, corn, and maybe green beans. Season to taste with oregano or other favorite seasonings.

Here’s the unusual part–I add curry powder or cayenne pepper (enough to relieve congestion, but not enough to make the kids hate it), a good deal of lemon juice (to help with sore, gunky throats and provide extra vitamin C), and chopped okra to give the soup a smooth, almost-but-not-quite slimy texture that slides easily down sore throats. It sounds weird, I know, but it tastes good and is very soothing.

Bring the soup to a boil and simmer until the veggies are cooked. I usually add the lemon juice and extra seasonings at the end, when I can gauge the taste. The soup freezes well, so there’s no harm in making up a huge batch and stashing some in the freezer for days when you don’t feel up to cooking.

And that’s about all the extra brain-power I have today, friends. Back to studying and soothing sick kiddos!