Tag Archives: flu

April 7, 2026 · 11:55 am

Chicken Soup

There’s something inherently special about chicken soup. It’s not just the flavor, although that alone has tremendous merit. It’s also the magic it works as a tonic for what ails people, like a cold, Covid or the respiratory flu. It’s comfort food on steroids. I’d go so far as to say my homemade chicken soup has a medicinal quality so great it could probably regrow a limb, or put hair on your chest—whichever you prefer.

There’s nothing complex about my mom’s recipe, though. The ingredients are simple and probably what everyone currently has on hand—some fresh veggies (like carrots, celery and yellow onion), ground black pepper, a little parsley and can upon can of chicken broth or chicken bouillon cubes. Of course, I boil two or three whole chicken legs and save all of the broth and a little of the fat for the soup. I like the whole legs because they’re mostly dark meat, which makes the soup more flavorful and I always get them from Tony’s Deli in Williamsport—one of the best butcher shops/delicatessens in the area (in my humble opinion). I aim for a nice balance of broth and meat/veggies so that it pleases most of those I’m feeding. Near the end stages of cooking, I throw in a few handfuls of noodles and let them soften. I use Kluski, but any egg noodle would do.

As for quantities, I’m embarrassed to say that I add some and not a specific amount which would make it easier to duplicate. Just like my husband’s parents did, the word “some” would appear on their Pennsylvania Dutch family recipes and I would cringe when I tried to recreate their favorites for my family. How much flour is in that dough? Some. How much cinnamon and butter are in that recipe for apple dumplings? Some. It’s so frustrating when I encounter that, so I really do feel your pain if you’re planning to try this recipe anytime soon. But isn’t it more exciting to just wing it anyway?

At any rate, chicken soup is my go-to meal for wintry weather and particularly for friends and family who have fallen ill with something respiratory. There’s something truly brilliant about the steamy blend of brothy goodness, savory meat and delectable vegetables that I almost crave it in July. Almost.

Not surprisingly, there’s real science behind this nearly perfect food for people who are under the weather. I Googled it, because of course I did. According to AI and Dr. Stephen Rennard at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in a study published by the American College of Chest Physicians, chicken soup reduces inflammation, improves the velocity of nasal mucus and hydrates—all good things for alleviating the symptoms of the common cold. And it’s been used therapeutically for thousands of years, apparently. Who knew?

A great online resource for tasty recipes I’ve followed for some time is the Stay at Home Chef, Rachel Farnsworth. She shares short, easy-to-follow videos of a variety of homecooked meals she prepares on Instagram in just minutes. Her website is a wealth of information, too. Check out her sites if you feel so inclined. And let us not forget Webb Weekly’s own columnist, Andrea McElroy (Andrea’s Home Cookin’). She offers terrific recipes and cooking tips both online and in the physical publication, right here in Lycoming County.

I know most of the people in my household are big fans of chicken soup, except one of my daughters who hates soup and certainly wouldn’t eat it on purpose. I’ve personally witnessed her twin sister, however, enjoying my soup. Cold. For breakfast. With a straw. That’s just plain weird, but not all that surprising.

Welcome to my world. It’s where I live (probably making a batch of chicken soup). Visit me there at www.facebook.com/NotesFromPlanetMom. Signed books are available on Etsy at PlanetMomMarket.

Chicken Soup: It Does a Body Good

There’s nothing quite like an interminable week spent with my brood to remind me why I don’t homeschool. Sprinkle the aforementioned with an unmerciful bout of the flu and I’m that much surer I made the right decision.

Indeed, last week was ugly. For all intents and purposes, it qualified as one of those unspeakably unpleasant parenting events I hope never to revisit. That said, there were fevers and sore throats, dizzy spells and delirium, stabbing pains from head to toe and waves of uncontrollable shivers that seized their smallish bodies seemingly without end. There were moments, too, during which the afflicted pair demanded proof that they would, in fact, survive the dreadful ordeal. And because misery loves company, a profusion of sneezes, debilitating headaches and seal-inspired coughs joined the medley of horribleness that befell my unfortunate bunch.

Despite their woeful situation, they somehow summoned the strength to grouse with one another, which, of course, multiplied the joy felt by all. Not. For the record, I witnessed some of the most absurd bickering matches heretofore known to man—ones over who had spiked the highest temperature, who could more skillfully imitate a basset hound on command and who could heap the foulest mound of Kleenexes upon the floor following a sustained fit of sneezing.

The jury is still out on that one.

Considerable time was spent holed up on the couch-turned-sickbay, too, buried beneath mountains of blankets, clad in sweats, socks, Sponge Bob whateverness, a fishing hat for one and, at one point, mittens for the other. Not surprisingly, a certain sock monkey, a basketball and an armadillo named Frank were also requested—and dutifully fetched, I might add. The suggestion of naps, fitful at best, took place there in the thick of their tormented state.

Thankfully, there were times when the gods of bodily ailments smiled upon my progenies (i.e. the brief yet delicious slivers of time during which they didn’t feel as if they’d been hit by a bus that happened to be transporting a small herd of elephants). That, of course, is when they became hopelessly immersed in the ridiculousness that is YouTube (read: Harry Potter’s Puppet Pals). Naturally, an embarrassment of time was also invested while Googling the bejesus out of weird animal sounds—in the name of comparing and contrasting said sounds with their incessant barking. Like a fool, I offered my two cents—suggesting that their hideous coughs most closely resembled a cross between a depressed sea lion and the aforementioned basset hound.

Mostly, though, my function was to make voluminous quantities of chicken soup—soup that promised to tame the ills that besieged my crew. Just as it is every other time someone in this household begins to sniffle and sneeze, hack or hurl. Aside from constructing cozy nests upon the sofa, feeling foreheads and fetching whateverness day and night, I suppose the soup gig is my so-called bailiwick—not to be confused with my calling as the celebrated shoe-picker-upper, toilet-flusher and Homework Nazi.

Unlike so many of my pedestrian functions as a parent and caregiver, this one is far from thankless. Over the years, I’ve been showered with high praise and a wealth of validation for my efforts in the kitchen like: “Mom, your soup is so…SLURPABLE! You’re awesome! Can I have some more?!” Even the child who isn’t particularly fond of soup will humor me sample some when she’s reached rock bottom with a cold or the flu. Furthermore, my oldest has gone so far as to shame me into making her a batch to remedy all her ills, leaving a sad little trail of posts on my Facebook wall. I should be flattered, I suppose.

But perhaps the strangest bit of critical acclaim I’ve received to date for my soup was a request for the slurpable stuff from one of the above mentioned weirdish children.

“I’d like some for breakfast, Mom. Cold. With a straw, please.” A request that was (and continues to be) duly granted.

Once again, I think I ought to be flattered.

Planet Mom: It’s where I live.

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Filed under Sick-O Central

Tagged as children, family, flu, humor, kids, parenting, sickness, winter

February 9, 2011 · 4:44 pm

It Was a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

My mother warned me there’d be days like this—days during which I’d rather swallow a cheese grater than raise children. Times when I’d seriously toy with the notion of running away from it all, forsaking those who depend on me to scrub grass stains, to scribble sappy little lunchbox notes and to be the voice of reason for my woman-child/co-ed. There would be an abundance of woeful moments, too (she assured me), when I’d bury my miserable self in the deepest, darkest recesses of a closet in hopes that no one, least of all my needy charges, would ever find me in such a sorry state—desperately clinging to my last marble.

Those unbearable chunks of ugliness, Mom promised, would be sandwiched in-between chapters of sheer joy and passages of tolerable madness—but they’d be there just the same. Shame on me for not believing her.

I had to actually visit the horribleness (as well as the pleasure) myself in order to be convinced of its existence. Like so many things in life, the highs and lows of parenthood cannot be experienced vicariously. They must be lived—for better or for worse. Tuesday, the 26^th qualified as “for worse” for me. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day—in a hurling-profusely-into-big-buckets sort of way. I have no doubt that Judith Viorst, of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day fame, would be proud of me for painting the picture so vividly.

That being said, every joint, muscle and square inch of skin ached with unprecedented intensity. Every solitary strand of hair pulsated with pain and my head felt as though it would explode (which might have been an improvement in retrospect). Even my teeth hurt. For what seemed an eternity, tsunami-sized waves of nausea crashed over me unrelentingly. At one point, I distinctly recall wanting to be put out of my misery. Like a horse with a bad leg. “Just shoot me already!” I groused to no one. Because, of course, no one else was lying on the bathroom floor at 3 a.m. in a pool of self-pity gazing at the underbelly of the loo and wondering when the urge to retch would strike again. If nothing else, having such a vantage point reminded me that my bathroom needed cleaning. Desperately.

Not surprisingly, such a ludicrous thought made me chortle—despite having reached the absolute depths of despair. There I was, seized unspeakably with an ailment that can only be characterized as evil and nestled in what I believed to be abject squalor. But like a fool, I was SERIOUSLY CONTEMPLATING THE POSSIBILITY OF CLEANING MY BATHROOM. How absurd is that?! I rarely allow such frivolities to enter my mind on a good day, let alone one in which I’d been hit by a bus.

What made matters worse (and what could be more vile than bowing to the porcelain god—again and again and again?!) was that one of my brood was stricken a mere ten hours later—in the very same hurling-profusely-into-big-buckets sort of way. Blarrrrg!

As a parent, I felt dreadfully inept—dragging my sickly body to and fro in an effort to aid this smallish child of mine. My paltry offerings were limited to reassuring her that EVENTUALLY this horrid malady would go away and find someone else to torment. I then bestowed upon her a pail and advised her never to let it leave her side—even as she slept (i.e. tossed and turned and groaned and moaned roughly 637 times) in my bed. (Indeed, I had found a surefire way to add drama and excitement to the bedroom…will she, or won’t she hit the bucket/make it to the bathroom in time?)

And to illustrate, once again, that bizarreness knows no bounds, the event itself became a twisted sort of competition—between and among those who spewed forth with wild abandon. “Mom, I beat you! I threw up 22 times and you only did it 5 times!”

Yes, we counted.

What’s more, the wretched affair had become a bit of a spectacle to the non-vomiting child in the household. “Let me see! Let me see! Oh, that’s really GROSS!” Clearly, the circus had come to town—complete with freakish sideshows and crowd-pleasing performances. Had I possessed an ounce of strength, I could have choked a certain member of the peanut gallery—or at the very least, I could have planted the seed in her mind that she, too, would soon be having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day in a hurling-profusely-into-big-buckets sort of way. Needless to say, I wanted nothing more at that moment than to desert my post. Indefinitely.