A Recipe for Get Well Soup

Its that time of year, the time when students are back in school trading new strains germs and viruses and bringing them home. While this soup cannot prevent the inevitable, it can help you body have a better fighting chance in this battle. And its pretty darn cheap and easy to make too, so us starving college students can enjoy a good pot of soup to come home to after a long day of lectures and study hall.

Personally I am a part time vegetarian, I eat animal products socially when it's inevitable that I will have to lest I offend someone. Generally I make this soup for my roommate and me out of chicken fish or leek broth. So that is where we will start!

Fresh leeks work the best; a couple of pieces of chicken will do the trick nicely and so will some good ole cheap "whiting" or other white fish that in your freezer department. Sometimes I combine the broth for some added variety. Enough of this, lets get cooking.

What you'll need:
5 quart pan or larger
Cutting board
Scissors/cutting shears/ or a large knife
Colander or straining bowl
Two gallons of water (preferably filtered or distilled)
Running tap water (to wash the food in)
Vinegar for fish broth, a disinfectant such as bleach if you choose chicken
Salt
Fresh ground black pepper (white or colored works too!)
Italian seasoning
Poultry seasoning (for chicken or leek broth)
A variety of fresh vegetable such as:
potatoes,
broccoli,
kohlrabi,
beets,
green beans,
mushrooms,
Finely chopped onions (fresh or dried)
Finley chopped garlic (fresh or dried)
Your favorite greens finely chopped
anything you think you would like, and don't be afraid to experiment with different combinations

To prepare your broth:

Leeks:
2 or 3 medium sized leeks should do the trick buy them fresh and cut off the root ends and the part of the green ends down to where there are no more broken leaves. Next slice them starting at the green ends with a pair of kitchen shears or large knife. (Be Careful and don't cut yourself!)

Work your way down dropping the cut pieces into a colander or strainer as you go. Separate these pieces and wash then thoroughly removing all traces of dirt, sand, and grit. As soon as the leeks are sparkling clean carefully dump them into a large 5 or 6 quart pan full of cool water and gradually bring to a boil. Wash up the preparation area while you wait. (Distilled is best)

Next add salt and simmer until a good thick brother is obtained. You may have to add water. The leeks should simmer for about 2 or 3 hours and should be translucent to clear and crumble easily when then touched. Next skip down to "adding the ingredients."

The fish:
Soak the fish in lemon juice or vinegar for about 10 minutes then rinse with water. This should leave them not so fishy smelling. In fact, they should smell like next to nothing.

Slice the thawed and rinsed fish into 1 inch long pieces and into half. Then dump them into a large 5 or 6 quart pan full of cool water and gradually bring to a boil. (Distilled is best)

Next add salt and simmer until a good thick brother is obtained. You may have to add water. The fish should simmer for about an hour two hours and should be white and crumble easily when then touched. Wash up the preparation area while you wait.

Now skip down to "adding the ingredients."

The chicken:

Take your chicken piece with skin and bone intact and place into a baking pan and cook in the oven at 350 degrees or place them under a broiler on the broiler tray and cook till you can stick a fork into them and the meat slides off the bone.

After turning off the heat and removing the chicken. (Place it in a cool place for about 5 minutes) Carefully add water to the pan and scrape the drippings off the bottom, add this to your water along with the meat you will shred apart. (After it has cooled off enough to touch)

Separate chicken into pieces and carefully dump them into a large 5 or 6 quart pan full of cool water and gradually bring to a boil. Wash up the preparation area while you wait. (Distilled is best)

Next add salt and simmer until a good thick brother is obtained. You may have to add water. The chicken should simmer for about an hour or two and should be translucent to clear and crumble easily when then touched. (Be sure the preparation area is very clean after handling the chicken to avoid cross contamination!) Next skip down to "adding the ingredients."

Adding the Ingredients:

You should have been cleaning and chopping the onions and garlic and other vegetables while you watched and waiting for the broth to simmer down.
Add the salt, pepper, and other seasonings to taste. In other words, add as much as you think would taste good to your and other people eating it.
Then add the garlic and onions to the soup pot. And wait 10 minutes. At this point, if you or the consumer is very sick, this broth may be eaten as is. It's very cleansing and healing to a sick body.
If you want to move on and add the vegetable do so.
Hopefully while the broth was cooking you:
Washed the vegetables you selected
Chopped them into bite sized pieces
And put them into a large bowl
Cleaned up your mess

After about 5 or 10 minutes of simmering in the broth the vegetables should be crisp and tender and the soup will be ready to eat. Enjoy!
The soup should be good if kept in the refrigerator and covered, for about 3 to 4 days. I make a variety of this soup nearly every week in the winter time as it's nice to come home to something that's easy to heat up and eat. it costs about $10-20 to make this soup at the very most, if you already own the utensils, and usually serves up to 20 servings or more.