Healing

So part of healing is feeding your soul, I really do get it. I knew this when after my heart surgery Best Friend showed up with a bag full of beans and her walking shoes. We were in for a bumpy afternoon. You feed your body, your soul, you get up and shake it off. She's good at this and she should know they have removed every disposable organ she has, well just about and she's the strongest person I know.

So I have been jotting down recipes that heal, a little piece of this and that I have known along with a little adventuring on my part. So when you are weary and you need to nourish and can't imagine yourself ordering anything, here goes. Yes, this is a real first for me, a recipe. I will share more, I promise. I am working on some recipes with poems and some ideas in how to share them.

I love Thai anything and soup fixes anything. So let's start with the broth because that will be the constant that you keep around. I start with a chicken, a big one, some carrots, celery, onions and a bay leaf a few cloves of garlic and anything that makes you happy. You don't have to fancy cut the veggies, we won't be saving them. Cook them all slowly in a big stock pot, the biggest you can find with a little salt (not much salt is one of the evils, like sugar) and cook the chicken down. When the chicken is falling off the bone and it smells beyond good, take it off the heat, fish out everything, pull the chicken from the bone and put it in a little container for later. The broth can be saved in a big sealed container in the fridge. Then it's the fun stuff. I fill little sealed containers with some cilantro, a hand full of cooked and devained shrimp, the aforementioned chicken shreds, crushed peanuts, sprouts (sprouts heal anything), bean pods, peas (does anything say spring like green peas?), and if you have an oriental store hear you, some wonderful oriental egg noodles, (ramen works in a pinch here but throw away that little seasoning package, you won't need it.) The broth will be your base here, you just make a serving of noodles fresh and pour that broth over the top after you've reheated it on the stove. Then make the top of this into the real fun. the shrimp, the chicken, some wonderful vegetables, a dash or two of fish sauce or even hoisin sauce.

The crushed peanuts will make you think of child hood and you will kick yourself hard if you forget the cilantro. The smell of cilantro heals most anything and if you aren't a cilantro fan and there are those out there, I would use parsley, flat leaf, of course. The soup is a dance and even a little interactive and if you are a busy busy busy, tired, looking for something easy, it's quicker than take out and with a little ahead prep, you will feel like a genius. Sometimes when I am at the market I will buy 2 or three mussels or a piece of fish to cook up and put on top, even some shredded pork will do but I have to confess I am not a pork fan.

If you are healing, my good thoughts go out to you. I know the road is a difficult one, but rewarding.