Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Recouperation and Recipe

Getting over this flu has been a slow uphill climb. I have been having sinus problems. I am feeling not to bad this morning. John is finally starting to feel better. He had a pretty rough weekend but did manage to keep himself out of emergency. He had to go for blood work yesterday. The stem cell team has been keeping a close eye on him. He did have to go for a little bolus (I.V.) yesterday because he was a little dehydrated. The nausea is settling and he is able to eat now. Hurray! He is going for a bone density test on Wednesday. He is going for gamma globulin on Thursday and Friday. That should give his immune system a boost. I think the whole thing was a bit of the stomach flu on top of the other flu symptoms. Nothing else showed up.

I am going to post the chicken noodle soup recipe. This is going to be difficult because I don't measure anything. I have made so may pots of this soup over the years.

Mennonite Style Chicken Noodle Soup

8 - 10 chicken drumsticks
12 cups of water ( 1 cup = 500 ml. )
1/2 large onion finely chopped. ( or according to taste)
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbs. star anise
1 chunk of fresh ginger root about the size of a walnut or two medium sized dried roots
3 bay leaves
salt to taste
fresh ground pepper to taste

Bring to a boil then simmer drumsticks and onions in the water in a medium size stock pot until the chicken is ready to fall off the bones. I use drumsticks because they are cheep and I want bones in the chicken. I think that this makes a better stock than boneless chicken.

Remove the chicken from the stock and add all the other ingredients. Simmer for another hour. After the drumsticks are cool remove meat from the bones and add half the chicken. John does not like a lot of chicken in the soup. If you like a lot of chicken go ahead and add all of it. It is simply a matter of taste. I always remove the chicken before adding the spices so they don't take on the flavor of the spices. I make chicken salad with the rest.

If you don't have enough chicken for the stock you can use canned chicken stock. We have done this on occasion. I don't think that it tastes quite as good.


Noodles

6 eggs beaten
2 tsp. salt
4 tbs. milk
4 cups flour

This recipe is doubled. When I make noodles, I usually double the recipe because I can use the extra in other recipes. These noodles are very good served with a cream gravy and Mennonite style farmer sausage. Very high fat meal there but ever so good. Anyway, I digress. Mix that all up into a nice glob of dough. If you have a noodle maker you can proceed to make your noodles. If you do not have a noodle maker you will have to do it the old fashioned way and use some elbow grease. Roll out the dough using lots of flour over and under it. Cut it into strips. Stack the strips in workable piles putting liberal amounts of flour between the strips. Cut the noodles. You cand make fat noodles or skinny noodles. This is a matter of personal preference. LOL Have a large pot of boiling water ready. Shake the excess flour out of the noodles and boil until done. They will float to the top of the pot. Your noodles will look quite rugged if you have to make the hand cut kind but never mind. They are wonderful. Because we live in Mennonite country, I can purchase some reasonable ready made noodles so I rarely make my own anymore. It is a messy buisness. LOL But worth it! John's mother has a noodle making machine so she does give me noodles she has made and dried from time to time. You can dry the noodles you have made if you want. You need a large surface to lay them out on.

8 comments:

The Invisible Mo said...

I'm going to have to try the soup and definitely want to try my hand at making the noodles. Sounds a little messy, but fun. I bet they taste way better than store-bought. Thanks for the recipe!

Sue said...

This sounds so good Chris. I haven't had chicken noodle soup since Mom left for B.C. I may have to make some. She might enjoy some when she comes home.

Becky said...

Um... I'm coming home... I can tell you right now, it's not a might for me. I would enjoy some. Yum.

Eve said...

It sounds wonderful. I'll have to cut the recipe down a bit. Or make it and share with the kids. I don't like making large amounts and then freezing the leftovers. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

Momisodes said...

That soup sounds so good. I am such a soup person, I could have it for all my meals. I love that you use ginger. It's a wonderful thing to ease a queasy stomach.

Those noodles though....I'm not sure if I have the elbow grease. I may have to buy those :)

Christine said...

This is wonderful soup if you are sick. The ginger root has healing properties.

Jientje said...

Thanks, it's eight o'clock in the morning and I'm drooling all over my keyboard! I love the recipe, and thx for adding "= 500 ml" in the recipe!!

Fluffy said...

Is that anise oil, extract or powder. I use the oil for cookies. They are great dunked in coffee.