Thursday 7 May 2009

Chicken Soup for the Swine Flu

I'm sick. More than a week ago I got a bit of a cough. I started sneezing like crazy, lots of yucky phlegm, headache, tiredness, aches, and generally feeling crap. After googling my symptoms, it became clear that I must have swine flu.

Being that there's a global pandemic - after all, something like 46 people have already died in the whole world, which is a lot, especially compared with the thousands who die each year from the regular seasonal flu. Especially considering the terrible avian flu pandemic that caused havoc around the world just a couple of years ago. Not to mention the 1976 swine flu pandemic that only one person died from, yet, many died from the US government's vaccine.

The government's recommendations were all basically related to buying stuff (go out and stockpile canned foods, buy flu treatments, buy face masks, and keep buying pork).

So I did what any sensible person would do - I started taking echinacea tincture, drinking ginger lemon tea, I made elderflower tea, onion and honey cough syrup, and loads of vitamin C. I went out and bought some fresh veggies and an organic, free-range, local chicken. (incidentally, the veggies I bought made a beautiful rainbow in the shopping trolley)

CIMG6539

Thus armed, I made chicken soup. Starting with a whole chicken

CIMG6540

Chopped it up a bit

CIMG6542

Took my yummy veggies

CIMG6544

Chopped them up too

CIMG6545

and put it all into my pressure cooker with a splash of vinegar and a few litres of filtered water.

CIMG6546

Let sit for an hour, then bring to a boil. Scoop of any foam that rises to the top, and then close the cooker, and simmer for 20 hours. Add in a bunch of chopped parsley at the end.

The final result was a wonderful, rich chicken stock. I made myself bowls of yummy chicken soup, we cooked brown rice in chicken stock, I made a yummy quiche with all the chicken and veggie bits I strained out. And froze all the rest, so now we have a freezer full of stock :)

11 comments:

  1. LOL, definately swine flu- lucky you presure cooked it for 20 hours :-)

    I am wishing you well MF and you have inspired me to drag out my old pressure cooker and see if it is still servicable.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh girl, I hope you feel better soon and that your magic soup can keep Litte Tree Healthy. Lots of vitamin D too (via sunlight). It's hard when mama takes care of everyone all the time, now it's time to take care of you! Glad to see you're doing that.
    Healing vibes your way...

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm certain that soup will help you feel better soon!! Health to you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I couldn't help but chuckle.. I too think that there's been a total over reaction to the whole Swine Flu.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi! I have an unschooled teen and I love reading your blog. I've given you a Lemonade Award - you can see here

    http://unschoolinginedmonton.blogspot.com/2009/05/lemonade-awards.html

    Keep up the great work :)

    ~Bedhead from MDC

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh majikfaerie I love this post :-)
    I make a very similar soup that brew up at the first sign of sniffles. How wonderful for you to keep such a clear head amongst the swine flu no less ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes had my bout with sickness in paradise too (@Lago Atitlan) mum helped out, brought me carrot juice. But pretty much stayed in bed for 1 week.

    Had some great vegetarian soup mum and the gang made... no ritual bird mutilation...

    L

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for such a lovely blog, I have enjoyed reading.

    Just a question, with all the talk going around about "If you have swine flu, stay at home", why did you go out and about in the community knowing you had it?

    My workplace has a ban on people who have been diagnosed showing up for work.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for your comment Lilly, but if you read closely, you'll see that I "diagnosed" my "swine flu" just by googling symptoms (not a valid method of medical diagnosis).
    I didn't *really* have swine flu, which, to be honest, I never really believed exists as a serious threat in the first place (which you'll see if you click the links in the post).
    I just had a regular bad cold, and I was posting all that stuff about swine flu in a very tongue-in-cheek manner.
    Hope that clears some things up.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lol, thanks for clearing it up :-) I often miss the 'tongue in cheek' stuff and take it as serious.

    Yes, the swine flu certainly caused an uproar in my workplace and the bosses went mad banning all sick people.

    ReplyDelete
  11. No problem, Lilly.
    Really, silly that so many people panicked about the "swine flu" nonsense, especially considering that it was considerably less of a risk than the ordinary seasonal flu.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your lovely words, witty banter and entertaining discussion :)