Finished! I'll have a bowl now and pack some for later.
I'm really big into cooking. I share with my friends sometimes and they'll eat their portion faster than I eat mine. Usually I'm the faster eater. :|
When I cook, I make a lot of food - for the week. Variety is nice but the most I can do is nuke my food since I'm out of the door by 7:30am and I come back between 6pm and 8pm. I cook for Mr. Gazer as well. We have roughly the same taste so it makes things easy! However, I can never make him eat cucumber and he'll never get me to eat a banana.
There are also times when a cold or flu likes to sneak up on me and I will make a soup. Lots of it. I'll eat some of it to help me get through the cold/flu and then freeze the rest so that the next time it sneaks up on me, I have a very trusty soup. I don't like buying soups from Panera or whatever because it just doesn't taste right to me... or it's too damn salty. Or... the establishment somehow refuses to give their workers healthcare so when they work, they're sick and then I get sick.
If you have the spare time to prepare foodstuffs for when you're a sick puppy, read on.
Cooking is a personal art, I think. You make it the way you like it or to suit your dietary needs. You can feel free to add to the basic recipe or share your own.
Kitchen equipments: knife, cutting board, peeler, giant pot (>8qrt)
Ingredients:
1. 4lbs of Chicken with some kind of bone. I use drumsticks
2. Usual bundle of celery - I think they're a pound?
3. 1 lb of baby carrots
4. A giant onion or 2 medium onions, diced
5. Mushrooms. White button or shiitake work
6. 2 tablespoons of dried basil
7. Salt or cheaters like me use vegeta. Salt is to taste. Vegeta is 1 Tablespoons per 2 cups of water.
8. 4 medium sized potatoes... about 1-1.5lbs worth. you can substitute with parsnips.
9. 1 bulb of garlic, peeled. Cheaters need about 10 pre-peeled cloves.
Directions:
1. Add 10 cups of water into stock pot. Vegeta if you use it. If you use salt, don't add salt yet (you will want to salt at the end so you can taste test)
2. Chop and dump into stock pot if you are quick at peeling and cutting. Otherwise, you can priortize carrots going in first, then potatoes and then the rest. Carrots take longer to cook if you like em soft. When "dicing" make all your longest cuts first before doing the "chopping" so that you can line them up and dice quicker.
3. Add chicken.
4. Simmer for 45 minutes
You can add or subtract any ingredients to your liking. For chicken noodle soup, boil the noodles separately and store them separately. That way the noodles aren't soggy.
Permutations and Options:
Speed chicken soup - Chicken, mushrooms, salt, garlic, bamboo shoots.
Reduced fat - Boil chicken first, let it cool (put it in the fridge), then skim off the fat on top. THEN add all the vegetables when heating it up again to a simmer.
Beefy tomato - swap chicken for beef. Instead of water, use low sodium tomato juice.
Herbier - add your favorite herbs... dried or fresh. Rosemary is a good choice.
My throat hurts help - Speed chicken soup + ginger
Remember to keep hydrated.