Everybody in my office has a cold this week. Same where you work? I would not be surprised, we have reached the part of the year where winter seems very, very long. But we can take care of ourselves and feel better! By making soup, like these!
Kimchi Miso RamenPeople cleave into two camps about eating spicy foods when you’re sick. Some people feel like: No, never, what are you nuts!, no spicy foods for sick people!! And other people think: Give me all the spice, so I can clear out my darn head and scare these viruses into retreat. If you’re a pro-spice sickie, or love one, this recipe is brilliant and easy—all you need is a microwave and some juice from the jar of spicy Korean pickles called kimchi. It’s a good idea.
Split Pea Soup There’s nothing easier than split pea soup – I like to make it in a slow cooker, because the kids can stir it up and then they’re very impressed with their cooking skills. While many of us know that split pea soup is good, probably not that many people know it’s a nutrition powerhouse, loaded with fiber and Vitamin A. If you want to be very thrifty, and I think you do want to do that, make plans to throw your Easter ham-bone in the freezer this year, along with some ham scraps, and make soup a couple weeks after the holiday. Oyster Mushroom Miso SoupBarbara Kafka is one of the greatest cookbook writers of all time, and her book “Soup: A way of life” is one of my favorites, it’s just one of those cookbooks that usable on every page. I’m really feeling her Oyster Mushroom Miso soup right now, because of all the disease-fighting antioxidants in mushrooms, this recipe calls for chicken broth but I feel strongly you could use a good vegetable broth, and then if you have a vegetarian loved one with a cold, there you are!Beef BrothAll the athletes, all the new age health practictioners, everybody is all about bone broth these days. Bone broth. In the olden days we called it soup! It’s what happens when you cook bones in water with a little vinegar, which liberates the gelatin, the chondroitin (con-DROY-tin) and glucosamine which people are always taking in pill form to make their joints stop hurting. Are you in the mood to do something thrifty and old fashioned which makes you feel better? Also: this is how the Lakers eat!
Chicken Soup!They don’t call it Jewish penicillin for nothing. Chicken soup has been scientifically proven to end colds faster, fight flu, clear up congestion, boost antibody and white blood cell counts—did you think your grandma was wrong? She was not wrong! I picked a recipe from Ina Garten because she uses parsnips, which gives the broth an added sweetness that I like, but if you don’t care parsnips, just leave them out. Also, this recipe uses three chickens and will give you enough stock to get you to spring. Also also: Save your rotisserie chicken, roast chicken, and deep fried turkey carcasses, and boil the bones with water and whatever wilty veggies you have in your crisper drawer. It’s good for you! Cold season is stretching before us like an endless tundra. You will need that soup!