Soon after I finally got rid of my allergies and sunburns I came down with a nasty flu. Extreme times call for extreme measures so I called my parents and retrieved my mom’s chicken soup recipe. The miraculous flu medicine of all times.
After bringing 8 cups of water with 1 onion, 1 butternut squash and 2 chicken thighs and shins to a boil, the recipe calls for 2 hours of simmering over low heat.
During those 2 hours the entire house was filled with scents which magically brought me back to Thursdays on my parents’ house, while my mom was getting ready for the sabbath and getting all the cooking done.
I was already starting to feel better, there and then, while waiting for the chicken and vegetables to leave their healing essence in the water.
After the soup was ready, following my mom’s instructions, I added fresh minced ginger and garlic and a handful of fresh spinach leaves and some chopped spring onions with a sprinkle of parsley leaves.
The soup was very fragrant. Flavored by all the fresh ingredients with just a dash of salt and pepper.
One spoonful and my head was less pounding, my nose less stuffed, my throat less dry and my bones less aching. Finally I felt good enough to take a long nap, without getting up every minute to wipe my nose… One spoonful was better than all the 1000mg capsules of vitamin C I was taking ever since my nose started to feel funny on Friday.
This is the story of my healing food. What is yours?
For this week’s journaling prompt document your healing food – the dish that instantaneously makes you feel better.
- What food comforts you? What dish can heal your ailment?
- What is the recipe?
- Who did you get the recipe from? Is it a part of your family’s tradition?
- What is the magical healing power of the dish?
- When do you eat it?
- Does the process of making this food heal as well?
- Does it bring back any healing memories?
- How does it smell? What does it taste like?
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I shared my healing food with you, share yours by leaving a comment on this post.
I would LOVE to hear about your comfort food.
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Mine is sort of odd. After my first grueling day of junior high school (I had to WALK to classes all day!), I was so tired. My mom cut up hotdogs, fried them and served them with pork ‘n beans and sliced white bread. Oh my gosh, but it was so good.
Whenever I think comfort food, that is what I think of.
Thanks for sharing, Melanie. That does sound like a wholesome meal.
What a beautiful post! Ok, I have two comfort foods. The 1st one is a typical spanish soup made by my mum and it’s called “consomé”. It has 3 big carrots, 1 big leek, 1 turnip, 1/4 of a chicken (the tigh quarter), 3 big veal bones (the round ones) and 250 grs of veal leg.
You have to place all the raw ingredients in a pressure cooker, cover with cold water and add a couple of meat stock cubes. Then you leave it to cook for 25 minutes and strain it. I swear this concotion can bring the death to live 🙂
Tip: To make it lighter and take all the fat out, once the soup is ready just put the pot in the fridge for some hours. The fat will solidify in the surface and you will be able to take it away. Then strain it again, better with a cloth strainer and voilá! The best spanish consomé ever 🙂
Hope this recipe makes someone at leas as happy as I feel everytime I taste it!
Thank you so much for sharing, Lorena, it sounds WONDERFUL!!!
Thank you so much, this was very interesting. I was actually born in Spain ( not telling what year though!) but was moved around various parts of europe and lastly settled in Britain when I was 6. I dont remember much of the few years I was in spain, but the smell of spanish food always seems to get me going or something. Funny, how I dont remember anything except the smells,isn’t it! I actually found a whole website dedicated to spanish recipes, which gave me great delight and thought I ought to share with your readers. Anyway, thank you again. I’ll get my son to add your cast to my rss app…