Souped up Canned Chicken Noodle

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

It never fails that whenever you add the word, “holiday,” on top of your usual activities, a cold or worse seems to be lurking around the corner. I've heard that the flu season is well under way and that this is a very virulent strain…oh great, just what we need!

Some of us think we are super human and can juggle everything without any reckoning. But when your body starts to talk to you, listen. It’s saying, slow down. And if that doesn't work, your body will just take control and put on the brakes… possibly rendering you bedridden with an ailment.

Being in bed is not an option for me this week as I have a two-day food shoot. The two days prior to that include lots of shopping, which means schlepping, hauling and running around New York City to find everything. A day of prepping includes a bit of the same with lots of standing.

So, in an attempt to ward off whatever is causing my body aches, mind-splitting headache, chills, a hint of nausea and a very red hot face, I turn to the old standard of chicken noodle soup, lots of liquids (hot tea with honey) and plenty of sleep. The first two are manageable. It’s the last one – sleep or at least restful sleep – that seems out of my grasp on most nights. I have only limited advice on that subject.

Back to the soup…generally when I start feeling under the weather it takes me a bit by surprise. I’m not sure about you, but it’s not like I have a batch of homemade chicken noodle soup sitting in my fridge or someone at home just sitting around waiting to whip up a batch. (Clue: my blog is titled, One or Two bites…the “Two” is around only part of the time.)

My not-so-clear head went racing with visions of takeout from my local Chinese restaurant (wonton soup) or going to my Fresh Market grocer that sometimes has homemade soups. But given my state, it just seemed like too much work and effort.

I thought I always keep a couple of cans of organic soup in the pantry just for moments like these but was a can of chicken noodle still among them? Eureka! There was one can left standing…just the antidote I needed.

When I dumped out the contents of the soup in my saucepan it just made me feel a bit sad. Not so exciting...guess I was not feeling that bad! I thought, why not doctor it up with what I have on hand?

In the fridge I had some remnants of leftover cooked chicken, carrots, organic chicken broth and in the freezer, a frozen bag of Annie Chun's chicken wontons. To garnish it and give it more depth of flavor, some Parmesan. At least I still had my sense of smell and taste… might as well live it up.

So technically this is really not a recipe but some suggestions on how to stretch a can of soup into a tasty and satisfying large bowl of soup….is it feed a cold and starve a fever? I never get that right. At the moment I feel it could be either one….

Souped up Chicken Suggestions

Try these add-ins to canned chicken soup:

• Frozen peas
• Frozen corn
• saute up some chopped onion, leek or shallot in a little oil before adding the soup
• Fresh herbs such as chives, thyme or cilantro
• To give it more heft add some rinsed drained black, cannellini or great northern beans and top it off with some sour cream
• Spice it up with cayenne, chili powder, cumin or smoked paprika
• Give it a drizzle of some extra virgin olive oil for a better and fuller mouth feel
• Add any cubed root vegetable, either fresh or frozen, such as butternut squash, sweet potato, turnips and parsnips
• Jarred pesto, such as basil
• Stir in some hot stuff, such as sriracha, Tabasco, curry paste or harissa (heat is good for a cold)
• Dippers or floaters, such as toast, croutons, oyster crackers, crumbled pita crisps or saltine crackers (I love Suzie’s Organic ones)
• More egg noodles and the wide kind...so comforting, those noodles!

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Related posts:

1. Quick Take – Chicken Noodle Soup
2. Use Your Noodle to Perk-Up Weeknight Pasta
3. Going Meatless with Eggplant Parm Stacks
4. Asian Style Crab Cakes
5. Cooking with Kids

Comments

[Zonia C]

I really love soup specially a chicken noodle like that! Can I get the recipe?

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