What are some good homemade cold remedies?
I have a cold. The works- chills, sweats, cough, sore throat, body aches. My nose is not stopped up and I haven’t really been sneezing, though. My dad usually makes me “feel good soup” made with veggie boullion, garlic, noodles, egg whites and hot sauce. Any other suggestions?
You won’t feel like making this now, while you don’t feel good but you it saves for a long time, and the next time you’re sick (or just a little hungry!) this soup will definitely make you feel good. I just finished a batch of it yesterday, and actually wrote down how to do it. Here it is, for future reference anyway.
Snuggle Soup
Yield: 20-30 servings.
Total Preparation Time: 24 hours
Phase I
1 Whole Roasting Chicken (about 5.3 lbs.)
8-pack of Chicken Wings (about 2.3 lbs.)
Coarse Sea Salt
2 Five 5 quart stock pots or Dutch ovens
Carving Knife
Rinse whole chicken and split down the middle. Divide the halves between the two pots. Divide the giblets between the two pots. Rinse the wings and put four in each pot. Add some salt to each pot. Fill with water, cover, and simmer over low heat for about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Phase II
1 Lb. Carrots
1 Lb. Celery Hearts
1 Lb. Frozen Peas
2 Large Tomatoes
6 oz. Sliced Portobello Mushrooms
Small Bunch of Fresh Parsley
Remove chicken pieces from pots and allow to cool enough to touch. Separate meat from bones, innards, wing tips, sinew and skin. Split meat into small pieces. Pack meat tightly in mason jars or a plastic bag and refrigerate. Retain all other parts and return to stock pots.
Carrots:
Wash. Chop ends off and add to pots. Chop all but two or three carrots into rounds and put into large bowl. Chop remaining carrots into quarters and divide between pots.
Celery:
Wash. Chop ends and leaves off and add to pots. Retain lightly colored stalks, quarter, and add to pots. Slice remaining celery and add to bowl.
Peas:
Remove about 1/3 of the peas and add to pots. Add remaining peas to the bowl.
Mushrooms:
Use your thumb to remove the gills. Break the slices into small pieces and add to the bowl.
Parsley:
Remove enough sprigs so each serving will have one. Seal in a snack sized bag and refrigerate. Chop stems off the remaining parsley, if you want to, and add to pots
Tomatoes:
Set aside.
Mix the vegetables in the bowl and pour into a 1 gallon plastic bag. Fill the bag with enough water to cover the vegetables, and then some. Put the bag into the bowl and refrigerate. Simmer the broth, and allow vegetables to soak for another twelve hours or so.
Phase III
Sea Salt
Pepper
Coriander
Parsley
Smoked Paprika
Strain broth and integrate broth from the two pots. Return to pots and simmer on medium for about 30 minutes, skimming fat and oil from the top. Add chicken meat and vegetables, except tomatoes (retain vegetable water) to both pots, cover, and simmer on low for about 3 hours, or place in oven at 175-200 degrees. Continue to skim fat off the top. Season to taste using sea salt, pepper (ideally fresh ground white pepper), coriander, parsley, and paprika.
Phase IV
Better Than Bullion base
Desired seasonings
Create an auxiliary broth in another pot or two using the vegetable water. You can use a chicken, vegetable, or mushroom base, or a combination. For a Louisiana style flavor, use ½ lobster base, ½ vegetable base, and season with Tabasco, or your favorite Cajun seasoning. Use Better Than Bullion paste bases, because using a prefabricated broth or dry bullion will defeat the purpose of going to all this trouble. Simmer, and season to taste
Cook two cups of dry white rice at the same time. This should yield enough for the entire batch.
Phase V
Strain meat and vegetables and retain the broth. Integrate the broth if desired. Coarsely chop the tomatoes, and place in blender with a couple cups of broth. Blend into a coarse pulp. Distribute meat and vegetables between 20-25, or as many as 30 pint-sized mason jars. Distribute a desired amount of rice between the jars. Distribute tomato mush between the jars. Distribute the main broth evenly. Fill (almost to the top) with auxiliary broth. If more broth is needed, make some using (ideally) filtered water. Seal.
I would recommend placing the hot jars into a bath tub, adding cold water, and even some ice. After a while, drain the tub and screw the tops on the rest of the way to ensure a good seal. The perishable foods in your refrigerator will not appreciate a few gallons of boiling liquid invading their cold environment. Refrigerate. This soup will stay good for a few months at least, if sealed correctly.
SWEATLOAF – Human Cannonball / Graveyard / Cough Syrup – Live 04/16/09
