Chicken Soup for the Sniffles

You can starve a cold or choose to feed a cold with this easy to prepare chicken soup.  It would be wise to keep most of the ingredients ready and at your fingertips or in your pantry.  You never know when a cold will sneak up on you.  Of course, if you travel, you can almost count on being exposed to something from all that recirculating air in airplanes!  You know, the air that's been recirculating since the 80's!   And, there's a reason  why the grocery stores have hand wipes now as you enter the store!

My hubby brought home the gift that keeps giving in the form of a cold.  I vowed (refused) to catch it as I pushed him away most of the week.  He'd just laugh and say, "You know you'll probably get this, anyway".  So, as I felt a little sorry for him as he sneezed and sniffled, I went into the kitchen to make some chicken soup.  Isn't that what mothers wives do for their family?  I have a confession to make, though.  I used to just open a can and heat that soup up!   Sodium city, anyone?  No longer, because it's so easy to make. 

Ingredients:

3 chicken thighs, skin and bone removed

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped  (or more is better)

1/2 onion, chopped or sliced

3 carrots, sliced

1 handful of chopped fresh parsley

3 leeks, cleaned and sliced (the bottom white part)

1 container or 32 oz. of chicken broth

2 cups water

1 cup rotini pasta

First I browned the thighs in oil, removed them  from the pan and cut them up.  In the same pan, I added the onion, leeks, carrots and cooked until onions were soft.  Add the garlic and parsley.  Then add the chicken,  broth and water, bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer.  Cook for about 35-40 minutes or longer.  Add the rotini or pasta of your choice the last 12 minutes.  Serve and watch those cold symptoms subside (temporarily anyway)  And, by the way, as I cross my fingers, I never caught that cold!  Hooray.  Must have been this wonderful soup!