Chicken soup for the Sunday-lover’s soul
By Gina Spadafori
October 19, 2008
I love chicken soup. In the winter, I break my “I hate to cook” rule to make CS about twice a month, a big, big pot of it that will last about a week. It’s a simple recipe I got from some Web site almost a decade ago. When I’m feeling particularly ambitious, I go all the way and make the matzoh balls, too. (The picture at right is just representative: In fact, I hate cooked carrots, so they never go into the pot.)
Today I wasn’t feeling that ambitious, so no matzoh balls. To start with, I had to finish two of our syndicated pet-care pages today so I can go out of town later this week. And then, I started the day early with a trip to the farmer’s market, where I got all kinds of really wonderful fresh food for me and for the animals.
The farmers market is best in the fall. The greens they have now are my favorites, because they remind me of my time living in the South. All winter long there you see people with their pick-up beds on the roadsides, full of fresh greens, cheap as can be. And they’re good for you! (Unless you cook them in lard, that is.)
Many of the greens I buy end up in my diet “second-hand,” since I give them to the chickens and they come back to me as fresh eggs. Today, I left the market with great big bunches — mustard, collard, even sweet potato greens — enough for the whole week for less than $5. And I got sweet potatoes, too, which the dogs and I eat a lot. (Favorite dog dinner: mashed sweet potatoes, steamed kale/dandelion greens and either canned salmon or fresh cottage cheese.) I also got some lovely winter squash!
Summer veggies, too, the last of the corn and tomatoes. I think I hurt myself getting it all back to the car, and I didn’t spend more than $30 for all.
Some of it went into the soup. Some of it went straight out to the chickens. Some of it to the dogs and the rest into the fridge. Tonight it was a bit of a mash-up for the dogs: Steamed, mashed sweet potatoes and yams, some leftover chicken and beef, steamed greens, barley and some blueberries, with fresh chicken broth to mix. Oh yeah, and some water-packed sardines, which they shared with the cats. Everyone ate well.
And me … I’m having some of that soup, in just a few minutes.
But not before I mention Maureen, one of those people I “know” through the Internet. She has a wonderful dog named Sam, who helped raise her children and is now approaching his 20th birthday. You read that right — 20! Maureen has fed him her own dog-food recipe all his life — Sam’s Healthwise Raw Food Cakes, she calls them — and although it’s just one dog and one dog’s life, you can’t argue with how well it has all worked out. Today on Twitter, she mentioned she was preparing her Sam recipe, and graciously again shared it with everyone. Check it out.
Farmers’ markets at this time of year are the best! Alas, ours is drawing to a close, as we’ve had good frosts the past 2 nights, one expected tonight, and for the foreseeable future. Always a sad end, but frosts bring on the best brussel sprouts and do wonderful things for sweetening up winter squash.
Thanks for the link to Sam’s homemade raw. Sounds great from a dog’s perspective, although I just loaded up the freezer with our two month order. Have to wait until I have some room to try Sam’s recipe.
The soup I made came from NPR, Sasha’s Mushroom Soup, and it’s yummy. I did have to futzle ( no organic chicken base on hand, so used both organic beef & vegetable). Well worth repeating!
Comment by Anne T — October 19, 2008 @ 6:26 pm
That dog food looks awesome! My guys would love it, I might give it a try.
I’ve been feeding them Jean Dodds’s liver diet for a few months because of my old dachshund. I mix it with their kibble, they love it. It’s different though because it’s very simple and everything is cooked. It’s white low-fat fish (has enzymes good for the liver she says), sweet potato, white potato, celery, green beans and zucchini. She says cottage cheese is excellent for the liver too.
Comment by Caveat — October 19, 2008 @ 8:53 pm
I just finished making soup. From my CSA yesterday I got, along with other things, leeks, celeriac, turnips, potatoes, and parsley which all went into a pot. Used some local clams for the “meat” along with CSA onions. I get a huge kick out of making meals where all the main items came from my CSA. I’m thinking of getting a small fridge for root veggies and cabbage type veggies and the organic citrus I found for delivery. My reg fridge and 2 freezers are full along with all the canning I did. I started making soups for the winter this year because it was such a “bountiful” year. Also did an orchard share this year along with a poultry one. And then bought bulk local tomatoes, beans and corn etc for the winter. I just bought a smaller pressure canner for leftovers, lol!~ I’m able to get local dairy and such from my park on Saturdays and also a couple small markets down a couple blocks.
We have 2 more weeks of the CSA. I’ll be happy the first weekend just for a break, and then prob have withdrawls, lol!~ The pets enjoy the Saturday ritual when I bring home all the goodies. I photograph everything which means cats crawling all over and working for the camera. And of course we all share in all the goodness :) Dot’s taken a liking to raw kale and gets all happy when I come in with the veggie bags.
Comment by straybaby — October 19, 2008 @ 9:54 pm
Gina, thank you sweetie, for the link and pic. Sam says “Woof!” I made soup yesterday — Lakota Squash soup — and like I bet yours was (and Anne’s and Straybaby’s) — ours was scrumptious. I’ll come back in a couple days and post a link to my recipe. It’s all from our garden except the milk and chicken broth… take care. :-D
Comment by maureen — October 20, 2008 @ 12:50 am
By the way, the one thing I did differently was throw three new varieties of farmers market mushrooms in the soup. Wow!
Comment by Gina Spadafori — October 20, 2008 @ 10:50 am
Thanks for that link to the recipe! I’ll have to try it sometime.
Comment by Amy — October 21, 2008 @ 1:29 am