It All Started When I Caught Cold...

It all started when I caught a cold flying back from the East Coast. That's what you get for stuffing yourself along with 300 strangers into a metal tube and projecting yourself across country at unnatural speeds. Flying doesn't scare me but it almost always gives me a cold.

So, when I roasted a chicken for dinner, I saved the bones for cold-beating chicken soup. I simmered them in water with a coarsely chopped onion and some carrot tops until the veggies yelled "uncle!" and the bones all but dissolved.

But then Cora broke her toe and the medicine the vet gave her to reduce inflammation in her toe gave her a serious case of the collywobbles, and she needed the chicken broth more than I did.

So, I tried the broth to settle her stomach, but it didn't work.

So, I cooked some rice to mix with the chicken broth - all I had in the house was arborio rice for making risotto but I figured, what the heck? It didn't work, either.

So, I took her back to the vet and he gave her a med and cans of bland food to stop her vomiting, which worked. At last. After we had run out of carpet cleaner and had to go buy two more bottles. If you are looking for a good stock in which to invest, here's a hot tip - buy stock in the Resolve carpet cleaner company. They will be declaring a dividend any day now, based solely on our recent purchases.

So, there I was left with chicken broth, chicken pieces picked before I brothed the carcass, and white rice. All I needed to add was salt, pepper and green peas to make a great lunch to serve with a ham and cheese sandwich.

I may never fly back east again. It all started when I caught a cold.

Chicken Soup for the Cold

Who cares about the soul? I have a cold and all I care about is having enough tissues, enough fluids and enough chicken soup. I hate colds.

Luckily, I had some homemade chicken stock with chicken bits in the freezer when this particular bug bit me, so I added a handful each of chopped onion, celery and rice to that and simmered it until it was a comforting lunch. As you can see, I rather overdid the rice portion and while it was warming and tasty, it wasn't very pretty.

Until I had the idea to add orange zest, that is!

I figured that the Vitamin C in the zest would be good for me and the bright taste might actually penetrate my woefully stuffy nose. Guess what? It did! The flavor of the soup was immeasurably improved by the zest and, another time, I'd add bigger pieces while the soup simmered, just for that added kick.

I feel better already.