Healing Recipes to Fight Winter Colds | Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Happy Monday-before-Christmas!

Last week was rough, y'all. Ryan was out of town and both girls came down with terrible head and chest colds. Charlie was on breathing treatments every 4 hours, they both had ear infections, and nobody slept for three days. The girls are just now getting on the other side of it (of course, now I'm sick. Ryan hasn't caught it...yet).

While I am sick with the cold, I definitely don't feel as bad as I could, and I attribute the lack in severity of my version of this cold to the three healing recipes that I make every time we catch a bug. I know it's going around so I thought I'd make a little series out of it and post them here!

Everyone in our circle has been under the weather in rotation now for a few weeks. It's inevitable this time of year, with the weather changing, the heat running and just general winter germ-y-ness. That's why I'm so excited for you to join me this week as I highlight these recipes that we have found to be truly healing and comforting.

First up is this chicken and wild rice soup that I was first introduced to by my dear friend Jamie, who brought a big pot of it to us last time we had to stomach flu. This rich soup is insanely comforting, with chicken fat, fresh herbs and nutty wild rice. It'll have you feeling better in no time. We eat it for every meal when we're really sick. It gets even better the longer it sits in the fridge. If it gets too thick, simply add a little chicken stock to your bowl before reheating it in the microwave.

It's very important that the ingredients in these healing recipes be the best you can find. When you're trying to heal your body, it only makes sense to ensure everything is pure and chemical-free. For any locals reading this, we get the Just Bare chickens at Schnucks and we buy a gallon of filtered water while we're there so that we aren't using tap water. I also opt for Himalayan salt in this recipe because of its healing benefits. You have to be picky about the Himalayan salt you buy... some of them aren't legit. From what I've read, the brand HimalayaSalt is the best and it's available at The Fresh Market. I don't use it in every recipe because my taste buds prefer kosher salt, but any time I'm trying to be extra conscious of the health benefit of my food, it's the one I go for.

Chicken and wild rice soup

Ingredients:

1 Whole organic chicken

1/2 Gallon filtered water

HimalayaSalt brand pink himalayan sea salt

Black pepper

2 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

1/2 Organic Yellow onion, diced

1 Large organic carrot, diced

1 Rib organic celery, diced

1 Clove garlic, minced

1 Tbsp Fresh thyme leaves

1 Cup Organic wild rice blend

In a crock pot, add a whole grass-fed organic chicken and as much filtered water as you can, to cover the chicken. Salt the chicken and the water well, with Himalayan salt.

Start the crock pot in the morning and allow it to cook all day--even overnight if possible--to allow all the fatty and marrow-y goodness to seep out. After 8-12 hours, remove the chicken from the slow cooker and set it on a cutting board. Strain the cooking liquid into a large bowl with a fine mesh strainer and set it aside to use later on in the recipe.

Pick 75% of the meat off the chicken and shred it, set aside. Save the chicken carcass (with what's left of the meat still on it) in a separate dish. We'll use it in the next recipe in this series.

In a large stock pot over medium heat, add 2 Tbsp olive oil. Add onions, carrots, celery, salt and pepper and sauté until the onions are translucent. Add thyme cook another minute. Add in the wild rice and stir 1-2 minutes to coat the rice with the oil and lightly toast it. Pour in all of the reserved chicken cooking liquid. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook 45 minutes or until the rice is tender. The consistency should be a very thick soup -- more like a rice stew, really. Add in the shredded chicken and stir. Taste for seasoning and adjust by adding more salt, if necessary. Grate a clove of garlic in at the end if you want an extra boost of natural antibiotic action (and flavor).