Tastes like home

I really love how some dishes bring back all of the memories and really make you feel all the feels. Today, because it has been cold and blustery outside for a few weeks now and because for some reason I am really missing my grandfather (Grandpa Zetts, on my mom’s side), I knew I had to do something. Grandpa Zetts passed away a couple of years ago (just before the pandemic hit actually), and things just haven’t been the same since. So today, because he was on my mind and this is perfect soup weather, I decided to whip up a pot of his soup.

Now let me just clarify something so you all know where I am coming from… in my family, soup is life. The recipe we use has been passed down for many generations, and even though each of us makes it slightly different, I really think that mine tastes the most like the one Grandpa Zetts used to make.

I have joked with my friends that this soup will “cure things that haven’t even been invented yet!” And as much as that’s just a funny way to say that it’s just really healthy, I really do believe that it’s true. It seems to cut down the length of just about any sickness by a fair bit, and makes the whole experience of being sick a little easier to take (is there anything better when you aren’t feeling so great that wrapping yourself up in a fluffy blanket with your flannel pants on, and sipping on a hot mug of bone broth?).

I don’t even know if you could consider this a bone broth or a chicken vegetable soup… I used the carcass from one of the three turkeys that Alex’s mom made over the past few weeks and as many veggies as I had in my fridge, so that gave the soup ALL THAT FLAVOUR! Simmered that in the pot with water for about 4 hours earlier today. Then I added the usual suspects for vegetables (so rainbow carrots, garlic garlic garlic, onion, celery, celery leaves, shiitake mushrooms and turmeric. Then I added black pepper, chicken stock cube, oregano, chili powder and a pinch of salt. Then back to simmering, covered, for another couple hours. All that’s left to do now is whip up some egg noodles like the ones grandpa used to use, and then dive in!

Rainbow carrots are a strategic choice for soup, especially in the winter, because the different colours produce provides us with different types of phytonutrients (plant nutrients). It just seems logical to try and get as many types of nutrients into this soup as possible!

To say that I am pumped about dinner tonight would be an epic understatement. I love this recipe because it is so warm, so healing, and reminds me so much of all the great times I hung out with my mom’s parents.

Stay warm, everyone! Baby, it’s cold outside…

Heals-Just-About-Everything Soup:

· 1 turkey or chicken carcass (you don’t need to be too meticulous with picking all of the meat off the bones if you are using it for soup!)

· 4 cloves garlic, smashed

· 3 small white potatoes, peeled and cubed

· 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

· 2 green onions, chopped into 1” pieces

· 2 stalks celery + all of the leaves from the celery stalks in the bunch

· 2 or 3 rainbow carrots (I like using rainbow carrots, because the different colours means that you are getting a different range of nutrients), peeled and chopped

· 1 parsnip, peeled and chopped

· As many shiitake mushrooms as you want! Just cut off the ends of the stems and make sure they are clean

· 3" stalk of fresh rosemary

· 2 tbsp. Vegeta (a spice I get from the European grocer, it’s basically vegetable bouillon)

· 2 tsp. salt

· 1 tsp. oregano leaves

· 1 tsp. chili powder

· 1 chicken bouillon cube

· Small handful of black peppercorns

1) Fill a large stock pot with water and add the meat carcass. Turn the heat on medium-high and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for at least 3 hours. Remove the bones and set aside to cool (you can pick any meat off of it once it is cool and add it to the soup)

2) Add all of the prepared vegetables and spices to the pot and stir

3) At this point, the carcass should be cool enough to pull any remaining meat off of it and add it to the pot

4) Make sure the heat is on medium-low and cover the pot with the lid slightly ajar. Let simmer for another couple of hours

5) Just before you are ready to eat, cook a package of small egg noodles and add to the pot

6) Ladle out a bowl for yourself, inhale that goodness, and enjoy!