Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Chicken Soup - Oy, Does this Jewish Mama know how to make you feel better.

It's Flu Season!
And it's a bad one. 
In order to keep healthy, this Jewish mother says there is a few things you have to do.

  1. Get a flu shot - I know that some people are against that, but if you're not, then do it.
  2. Wash hands, use Purell, Wash hands, use Purell and wash hands. 
  3. Keep your hands away from your face.
  4. Don't make non-essential doctors appointments during flu season.  Sick people go there.
  5. Think about wearing a surgical mask on buses and trains, and don't touch anything. If you are going to a doctor's office definitely wear a surgical mask.
  6. Most of all - eat Sopa de Milagros (Spanish Soup of Miracles, the recipe is in this blog)
  7. AND, eat this Chicken Soup! Jewish Penicillin.
Although I an a pescatarian and I don't eat chicken, I made this Chicken Soup for my dear darling Alessio who just returned from Thailand and immediately got the flu. Airplanes are an incubator.  

This soup isn't a broth, it's a meal. A healthy meal.  But if the person for whom you are cooking this is too ill to eat the healthy meal, I'll also show you how to make just the broth.  

Jewish mom's will note that this is not their Bubbe's recipe. It's updated and more like a meal.   

No, I'm not a doctor, just a Jewish Mother.
Click here for the recipe

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Lemon Orzo Soup (Avgolemono)

We are ringing in 2018 with record breaking cold.  It's the coldest recorded weather at this time in a couple of hundred years.  Climate change in full force. 
It's soup time!

I had Avgolemono, Greek Lemon Orzo soup, at a Diner in Tallahassee, Florida.  We were visiting my sister Cathy and her family for Thanksgiving, and the next day we headed to the Diner.  It was really cold outside and the soup was delicious! Fortunately for me there was no chicken in it.  This soup is often made with chicken and since I'm a pescatarian, this was perfect. We were in a diner and I didn't expect much, but the Lemon Orzo soup surprised me and I have been thinking about making it ever since.

When I returned home from a New Year's Day party at friend Julie's house in Brooklyn there was a chill in my apartment.  I always keep the windows open, even if only a crack since at 12 degrees opening the window more than just a crack would be crazy.  I put on my fleece pajamas and my fleece bathrobe and covered myself in a warm throw blanket, and my cat Mollie snuggled on my lap, but I couldn't shake the cold out of my bones.  So what does one do when they feel like that?  Make soup of course. 

I wanted to warm up right now, so there was no time to make a long cooking soup.  I realized that I had some veggie broth in the cabinet, and some lemons and orzo, so it was perfect.  I would make the lemon orzo soup.  I had no idea if throwing together this recipe would be as good as my memory of the soup from Tallahassee.  It was even better! A success!  It was MY Avgolemono, MY lemon orzo soup. 

Note - if you can't eat carbs, leave the orzo out.  Lemon soup is delicious.

Note Note - Avgolemono is often made with rice instead of orzo, and it's just as delicious plus it is gluten free

Note Note Note - I love preserved lemons.  Rather than serving this soup with regular lemon wedges, I serve it with preserved lemon. If you happen to have preserved lemons, give it a try.  Yummmm

Click here for Recipe