January 2006
Dear Friends,Happy 2006! Where did the past year go? Is it just me or did the year just seem to fly by? I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas; we certainly did at our house and look forward to what the Lord has in store in ’06.
As we look forward to a new year, I have also enjoyed looking back to 1928 and reading the diary my maternal grandmother wrote that year. No one knew about the diary until after her death. It’s a window on a time long ago with glimpses at the every day life of a wife and mother almost 80 years ago. I’ll share a bit of her diary later in this letter, and in future months as well.
But first, since we’re now in the depth of winter, I thought it would be a good time to talk about
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. I must confess that here in north Florida we are enjoying sunny days in the 70’s lately. However, just a week ago, the early morning frost lay so heavily on the grass that it looked like a dusting of snow. We do get freezing temperatures here but our winter is mild compared to what most of you must deal with. I know; I grew up in Wisconsin!
Wherever you live, your family will enjoy a steaming bowl of soup this time of year. Last Spring my husband had major surgery and, as soon as the doctor would let him eat, the only thing he wanted was some homemade chicken soup. Each day I thawed some in the microwave and took it to the hospital in a thermos. It was certainly soothing for my husband and I’m happy to report that he recovered well.
Chicken soup is something worth keeping on hand in your freezer any time of the year; it’s a good comfort food especially when someone is ill. It’s not difficult to make and it is much cheaper and tastier than canned or boxed soups.
Here’s my basic recipe: Put 2 – 3 pounds of chicken in a large pot and cover with water. Bring just to a boil and turn down the heat so the water gently simmers (boiling toughens meat). Skim off the foam on the top and discard; it’s not harmful just unsightly. This also skims off some of the fat.
Now add seasoning. If you add it earlier, some will get skimmed off, so wait until after skimming. I add 3 bay leaves, 2 teaspoons of poultry seasoning, 1 teaspoon of thyme, ¼ teaspoon of pepper. You can add more pepper if you like and salt if you wish, but go easy on the salt; you can always add more at the table. Since my husband has a kidney transplant, I don’t add any salt to our food and the soup is still delicious.
Add the vegetables: a medium onion chopped, 2 – 3 ribs of celery, finely sliced, and about ¾ pound of sliced carrots. If you’re pinched for time, you can use a bag of frozen soup vegetables from the grocery store.
When the chicken has simmered for at least 45 minutes, carefully remove the meat from the soup with a slotted spoon. Set it on a plate to cool for about 15 minutes and then remove bones and skin, and chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Return the chopped chicken to the soup pot. Add fine egg noodles or rice and simmer until done; serve. I add about 8 - 12 ozs. of noodles or 1 Cup of rice. It depends on how much broth you have; remember that rice doubles in bulk when cooked.
What cuts of chicken are best for soup? I think the best flavor comes from using the whole chicken. I buy a 2 – 3 pound chicken, whole or cut up, rinse it, discard the liver and other innards you’ll find inside the bird, and put the whole chicken in the soup kettle. You will have a lot of bones to remove when you use the entire bird. A quick alternative is to use boneless chicken. I use a mix of boneless chicken breast and thighs. It costs more, but it saves a lot of time and boneless chicken often is on sale. White meat is drier and we like a mixture of dark and white meat in soup.
Recently my husband had a bad cold and I really wanted to increase the nutritional value of the soup. I call it “Extreme Nutrition” when I make a more nutrient dense recipe. Just a couple of simple changes really boosted the nutritional value of the chicken soup. First, I added only a couple of the carrots at the beginning to add flavor to the broth, and added the rest during the last 5 or 6 minutes before serving. I used to think the veggies might lose some vitamins during cooking but that somehow the vitamins floated around in the broth! It doesn’t work that way! Many nutrients are destroyed by heat and prolonged cooking times. So the first change I made was to add most of the sliced carrots and another rib of sliced celery at the end of the cooking time.
But I wanted to
“kick it up another notch” as Chef Emeril says – nutritionally, that is! I bought a 10 oz. bag of fresh spinach, cut it with kitchen scissors into pieces and added about ¾ of the bag during the last 2 minutes before serving – just enough time for it to wilt and still remain bright green. The remainder of the spinach I added the next day while heating the leftover soup.
Now I had fresh veggies that were not overcooked for the soup. I made one other change; rather than noodles, I added 1 ½ Cups of barley to the broth before adding the vegetables. I used “quick” barley, or pearled barley, available in the grocery store. It cooks in 10 – 15 minutes and is high in fiber, low-fat, and rich in potassium and other nutrients. Instead of barley, you could use brown rice, or wild rice in the soup, but these need to simmer about 50 minutes. Any of these has much more nutritional value than noodles or white rice.
I hope this winter you’ll try making homemade soup for your family. Check your local library for a selection of cookbooks. You’ll find soup recipes in most cookbooks and some entire books written on soups alone! Add some hot cornbread and you have a satisfying, filling winter meal.
Too often we rely on canned soups and convenience foods these days, but there was little of that in 1928. That year my maternal grandmother wrote a daily diary. She was 28 years old. She and my grandfather had two children, a girl and a boy ages 6 and 8. My mother was born the next year.
I have so enjoyed reading
my grandma’s diary! It’s a wonderful window on the life of a 1928 housewife. During the coming year, I’ll share portions of her writing and hope you enjoy reading it as I have.
My grandparents rented a house in Ft. Wayne, IN. My grandfather was a typesetter and steady work was hard to find. He had job but continued to look for a better paying job. My grandma began her diary on
Sunday, January 1, 1928: “Just real cold with high wind and the thermometer went to 8 below zero. We enjoyed chop suey for dinner but came near not getting it done, the gas was so low. Mildred and Earl (friends) called for us to spend the afternoon and evening there. I made biscuits while Mildred made oyster soup. Her gas was worse than mine. We all came home straight to bed. All the windows are frosted over white; we couldn’t see outside all day.”
Tuesday, January 3, 1928: “The paper said 5 above zero early this morning. I got my wash done early because I didn’t take Paul (her husband) to work. Mrs. Stapleton (a neighbor) came over to get me to take my mending over to do at her house, so I spent the afternoon with her. Earl’s water pipes and gas meter froze so we went out there to see if we could help him any. Mildred was just sick; she had tried all day to thaw it out. Carried water outside, etc. We were all there until after nine.”
Wednesday, Jan 4, 1928: “Fair and not so cold. The paper says the zero weather’s back is broken. Let us all pray. Went to the city and paid the kids’ insurance. Purchased salt and pepper shakers, percolator top, cotton, gloves for the stove, pliers, three light shades. Looked at but did not buy curtains and floor lamps. Ironed all afternoon. Washed that dress Mrs. Stapleton gave me for Arla (her 6 year old daughter). Found I had to cut it straight; there wasn’t enough goods (fabric) to do otherwise. I said she gave me the dress. Rather she traded it, if I would sew her pajamas. However that bargain suits me better under the circumstances.”
Sunday, January 15, 1928: “We spent the day reading and talked all day of going to the show (movies) but there was nothing fit for the kids to see, so we didn’t go anywhere. We enjoyed grape juice and popcorn for lunch. I see that I must make more than seven quarts of grape juice next year; it’s so very good. After supper I bathed the kids and then embroidered while Paul read aloud.”
My, my, movies not fit for children in 1928 either! Of course there was no television, and only later that year did my grandfather get a “crystal set” radio. So my grandma noted frequently in her diary that they stopped at the library and my grandfather often read aloud to them in the evening. Simple pleasures.
They had a difficult time cooking on very cold days because the flow of natural gas through the lines would get very low as everyone was using more for heat and cooking. They had electricity, but relied on a gas stove and oven for cooking. No microwaves in those days! And no clothes dryer, either. When it was too cold to hang clothes outdoors, grandma hung them in the house near the stove the best she could, and then ironed everything!
We can truly be thankful for the many conveniences we have that make our housework so much easier! Let us all purpose in our hearts to go about our daily duties with joy this year!
Watch for more from grandma’s diary next month.
Until next time ~
Copyright, 2006, Laurie Latour.
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