Healing Soup for The Body and the Soul
A few months ago, I found myself feeling a little melancholic watching my yard through the window. The days were becoming shorter, the tree leaves were changing color and falling off a little more each day. In my head, I traveled in time remembering some of my late grandma’s delicious recipes. She used to have a lot of great food ideas for each season, or moments like a rainy or snowy day, birthdays, weddings, and formal and informal gatherings. She was very particular with her recipes and she would never share them with anyone.
However, I was a very curious four-year-old and I remember I would come to the kitchen and observe quietly for hours as she began to cook the meal of the day. On any cold and grey day, she would prepare an awesome chicken soup with colorful vegetables, brown rice, onions, cilantro, lemon and even avocado. This soup is multi-purpose. I remember she would make this soup when someone at home was sick with the cold or the flu, or after someone had a major surgery and needed a healthy and nutritious meal. She would also make this soup for the neighborhood women as part of their postpartum care.
As an adult now, I have made this soup for my family members, friends, coworkers and neighbors when they are ill or when their spirits are low. They all seem to love it! This soup is delicious, nutritious, healing and guilt free; not to mention your heart does really feel happy after you eat this colorful soup. It might be the ingredients grandma used or the love she put on each batch. I would never know for sure, but what I do know now is that when I make this soup for a loved one, I spend the time picking the best organic ingredients and I put tons of love in it. I am now a birth doula student and I spend a lot of time with women as they share their amazing journey with me. I can’t help but think about my grandma and the love she shared with all of the women in her life, even the ones that she hardly knew. This exciting new career allows me to share some love and kindness with other women and I cannot be happier for this opportunity.
I want to share the love that had been passed to me through the years by sharing the recipe for this awesome soup! I hope you enjoy it and you share the love as well with special people in your life.
Ingredients
This is good for four servings:
2 Gallons of water
2 Organic Boneless Chicken Breasts
4 Organic carrots washed, peeled and cut in small pieces
4 Organic golden potatoes washed and cut in four pieces
1 Organic small cilantro bunch
1 Organic medium onion
salt to taste
1 Lemon and 1 avocado
1 Small bag of brown rice
Bring the two gallons of water to a rapid boil, then add the carrots and potatoes. Proceed to wash the chicken breasts and add those to the boil. Let everything cook for 60 minutes in medium heat. Proceed to separately cook some brown steamed rice. While this is happening, chop the cilantro and the onion finely and place those in small bowls. Now cut the lemon in four parts and set it aside. After 60 minutes has passed by, take your pot off the stove and let it rest. After five minutes has passed, take a big fork and get the two pieces of chicken out of the pot, place those on a plate and begin to shred with the fork. Proceed to gather your soup bowls and add 1/2 cup of brown cooked rice to the bottom of the bowl. With a soup ladle, begin to add the soup to the bowl. Make sure to serve the same amount of vegetables in each bowl. Once your soup and rice are in the bowl, proceed to add some of the shredded chicken, onion and cilantro. Cut your avocado and add some chunks to it. Lastly add a few drops of lemon and salt to taste. I hope you like it as much as I do!
With so much love and healing,
Dita Schuerman- Mentee Birth Doula .
Additional Notes -
As an herbalist as well as a mother who looks at food as medicine, I’m always interested in the healing properties within recipes. Below are just some of the benefits found within this family recipe.
Cilantro - contains vitamins A, C and K, as well as trace amounts of folate, potassium, manganese, choline, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxantin, lutein, and zeaxanthin. Studies have shown cilantro to have antifungal properties, assists with pain and inflammation, and has anticancer effects.
Onion- Did you know that 1 cup of chopped onion provides 13% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin C? A nutrient dense food, they are great for skin and hair, contain vitamins B6 and manganese, calcium, iron, folate, magnesium, phosphorus, and potasium.
Lemon- More vitamin C! Just one lemon can provide 30 milligrams of this important vitamin that is essential for our health. The Vitamin C that comes from foods like lemons are shown to lower risks of stroke, lower blood pressure, can prevent asthma, increases the body’s ability to absorb iron, and boosts the immune system.
Avocado- Another food that is a great source of vitamins such as C, E, K and B6, as well as riboflavin, niacin, folate, magnesium, potassium and contain omega-3 fatty acids. While most of the calories within avocados come from fat, this type of fat is healthy and beneficial, and helps to keep us feeling full and satiated. Healthy for our hearts, our vision, they also add 25% of our daily intake of vitamin K which can aid bone health. And did you know that it takes an avocado 9 months to grow? What does that remind you of?
Enjoy the soup! - Tamrha Richardson CD, CPD, CBE (CBI)