Saturday 1 March 2014

Orchids and One Food That Qualifies As Medicine

For Valentine's Day hubby surprised me with this lovely orchid.  I'm not impressed with that particular holiday and he knows this but thought I would enjoy the challenge of keeping an orchid alive.  The instructions are very specific...lots of light but no direct sunlight and I must feed it three ice cubes once a week.  It came with tiny hair clips holding the flowers upright and attached to the main stem.  I would like to see what would happen if I removed one but I'm afraid.  Gosh, hope I don't kill it or at least not for a while.
I'm deliberately showing you this flower today to cheer myself.  We have just had three days of frost bite warnings and today it is dark and gloomy and snowing.  About ten centimeters are forecast by tonight.  Though the calendar is steadily moving us towards spring, the weather is surely not.
Some time ago I told you about a busy day when I put a whole chicken into my slow cooker and left to run errands.  Here is the soup I made.  Many years ago I would watch Martha Stewart's t.v. show and jot down recipes; this chicken soup recipe was one of them.  She had a guest cook, as she often did in those days, and this woman made the simplest soup I had ever seen.  The recipe consists of the whole chicken, a container of chicken broth, chopped carrots, turnip, parsnips and potato.  The chicken is boiled first for about 45 minutes, most of the bones removed, the vegetables added and a few simple seasonings such as salt and pepper while the vegetables cook through.  It is the kind of chicken soup that would hearten you if you felt sick and I have made it often ever since.  The secret to this soup is in the broth and to get good flavour  you have to start with a good chicken.  I don't think you would have the best success if you use a utility type chicken. 
There are not a lot of solid examples of food as medicine but chicken soup actually has some research backing its value; I believe in its goodness.

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