Chicken Soup

This is how I feel today... blech.  Can you see what's in the picture?  It's an upside down kitty, paws in the air, head thrown back, sleeping.  He just doesn't look quite as green as I feel.  I've been on the good old toast and tea diet for a few days.  It's nice for getting those jeans snapped up nicely, but it doesn't help one much with getting the "must dos" taken care of does it?   I don't have to tell you that school doesn't stop, people don't stop needing to be fed, nor do the animals for that matter; the laundry keeps piling, the activities continue that the kids need to be driven to... it's time for the good old chicken soup rememdy!  No time for sleeping.  

So chicken soup it is.  I'm afraid I do not feel up to doing my favorite thing - baking - so it may have to be meticulously made homemade chicken soup, with store bought bread.  I'm always in search of a "perfect" chicken soup recipe. Today I came across yet another "best" recipe.  Jewish people, you might know, pride themselves on making the best chicken soup.  There was actually a "Shabbat Across America Chicken Soup Challenge" last February.  One judge had to sift through and taste roughly 500 recipes before narrowing it down to 5!  These 5 then made their soups again for the judge and it came down to a grandmother of two who needlepoints, plays the piano and cooks.  She was the only grandmother of the 5.  I wonder if there's something to that?  Well, I hope there's something somewhat healing and comforting to her soup; I am making it as I type.

Here's the recipe:

2 quarts of chicken broth (homemade of course)

1 3 -4 pound chicken, quartered

1 large carrot, peeled and cut up

1 larg onion, peeled and cut up

1 stalk of celery

1 leek, white and light green parts only

1 parsnip, peeled and cut up

1 parsley root, with green attached

1 sweet potato, peeled

a handful of dill

1 small rutabega

a few sprigs of cilantro

salt and pepper to taste

Put broth in pot; bring to boil.  Add chicken.  Return to boil; lower heat.  Gently simmer uncovered for 1 hour.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Simmer for one-half hour more; stir occasionally.  Skim fat from top.  Pour into bowls; into each add a slice of carrot and a sprig of cilantro.  

Grandma Rosely says, "When the soup is done, i love to eat the boiled chicken with horseradish, Dijon mustard, and a sour pickle.  If I don't eat the chicken right away, I refriegerate it and make chicken salad the next day."