Chicken Soup For The Sick Child's Soul

About author / Pamela Chester

Mom of two; graduate French Culinary Institute; kids cooking program instructor; Master's degree in food studies. Creates kid friendly foods and loves her slow cooker.

As it seems this winter has been dragging on and on, we are still in the midst of the winter cold and flu season. Our kids are exposed to millions of germs at school and daycare, so it is inevitable that they will get sick sometimes, no matter how much hand washing we foist upon them. When your son or daughter get stuck with an illness, it’s nice to give them a little love and special attention and give them good nutritious foods that will help them get better faster.

Having been blessed with a pretty good immune system, I don’t remember being sick and home from school all that often as a kid. But the times that I was home with a cold it was a special treat. My mom would bring food up to my bedroom on a tray – breakfast was always cinnamon toast, and for lunch that classic elixer, chicken noodle soup. And always, hot tea with a squeeze of lemon and honey. In a family with three kids and two working parents, it was nice to get the individualized attention sometimes, even if it took getting a cold!

Along with that dose of TLC, I think good old-fashioned chicken soup really does do the trick to cure the common cold. It’s usually my go-to remedy for a case of the sniffles. I even keep a couple cans on hand (must be Campbell’s if it’s not homemade) to get us through the winter months, in the rare case I don’t have the ingredients on hand to make it from scratch.

But there’s nothing better than homemade chicken noodle soup, sick or not. The recipe is really easy, you can leave a pot simmering on the back of the stove or place all of your ingredients in the slow cooker in the morning while you work from home or get other things done. Then you’ll have a healthy, cold fighting lunch for yourself and your sick little one, with enough for leftovers. On the side, the perfect thing is a couple of saltine crackers. Chicken soup is also good for keeping healthy kids immune system’s strong, so you may want to give it to your non sick kids too.

Now the old saying is to feed a cold and starve a fever. I did a little research to see if this advice actually holds true… And guess what? There is a bit of truth to this pearl of wisdom. Colds and flus are bacterial or viral infections, and your body needs energy to fight them. But the process of digestion may take away from the body’s reserves in fighting whatever infection is causing a fever – so if you have a fever, it may be wise to lay off heavy meals for a while. Any illness is benefited from taking in lots of fluids – fruit and vegetable juices and warm broths. With a cold, you may want to avoid dairy and orange juice though, to keep the system clear.

So try these proven remedies, and your kids will be back up on their feet and back to their old tricks in no time!

Serves/Makes: 10

• 3 pounds chicken pieces
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1 package egg noodles
• salt and pepper, to taste