Chicken soup with noodles (pastina) recipe – how to boost your immune system

Cold season is one of the most annoying things ever. I deeply hate colds as from a medical point of view they are nothing serious but still they make you feel miserable. And when your kids get a cold, it’s even worse because a lot of medicines are not appropriate for kids and you really would love them to get better as soon as possible. That’s when usually I come out with my “grandma” natural remedies that if will not cure the cold, at least will really ease the symptoms.

One of my favorite cold remedies is the chicken soup with noodles or pastina. All the ingredients that I use in this recipe have natural healing properties against the cold.

Here you are more details:

– The warm soup itself is wonderful for the cold: in a very simple way, the steam helps loosen the congestion while the broth hydrates flushing out viral bugs

– Ginger has anti-inflammatory properties

– Garlic stimulates the production of white blood cells and is antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterical (it’s powerful, isn’t it??)

– Turmeric (also called curcuma) has powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is a very strong antioxidant.

– Chicken and chicken broth have powerful anti-inflammatory properties. Also, soup made from whole chickens is rich in carnosine, which has been shown to inhibit damage from viruses in the body

 

As you can see the mix of all those ingredients is a natural remedy for the cold and moreover is a tasty and comfort food when you feel under the weather.

As I’m cooking for kids I played just a bit with shapes (heart carrots) and I added some noodles/pastina to make the soup even more “comfort food”. If you are cooking for babies or toddlers you can easily puree the final soup to reach the creamy consistency that your baby will like. If your baby is younger than 12 months, do not add any salt to the recipe. You can add some salt to your portion when you plate it.

I like to prepare the chicken soup at dinner time so that it makes the kids feel and sleep more comfortably. It is the best to take with the first sniffle!!

That’s all you will need for the chicken soup with noodles/pastina (6 servings):

Procedure:

– Preheat the oven at 350F./175C. Place some parchment paper on a baking sheet and place the two chicken breasts with skin and bones on it. Gently massage the chicken with few tablespoons of Extra Virgin Oil of olive. Sprinkle some salt on both sides. Bake the chicken in the oven for 45 minutes.

– Prepare the vegetables: wash them and cut them in big pieces. Place the celery, the onions, the leek and the garlic in a food processor and mix everything for 1 minute. It’s more kids friendly. You can place the carrots in the food processor too or you can transform them in cute tiny hearts. It’s not complicated and it will take only 2 minutes. Just cut out a slice of carrot on the long side. Shaving the sides of the carrots you will obtain an heart shape. Slice the carrot in 1/2 inch pieces and you will have tiny little orange hearts!

– When the chicken is ready remove it from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes. Remove the skin and the bones. Slice the meat in small pieces. My kids like tiny tiny pieces, but you might prefer big chunks of chicken. Follow your personal taste.

– In one big pot add one ladle of chicken broth. If you are looking for an easy homemade chicken broth recipe, click here. Otherwise a good quality, organic, low sodium store bought chicken broth will be fine. Turn the heat on at medium and add the mixed vegetables (celery,onion,leek,garlic) and the carrots. Cook for 6/8 minutes adding 2/3 other ladles of broth.

– Add the ginger (I grate it to release more juice and to be more kids friendly) and the turmeric powder to the pot. Stir.

– Add the remaining chicken broth to the pot, the chicken and the noodles/pastina. Cook the noodles/pastina following the cooking time on the box (mine said 9 minutes). The quantity of noodles/pastina that you add is totally up to your taste. If you add more noodles/pastina you will have a thicker soup (kids like it!!), if you add less you will have a more liquid soup.

– The chicken soup with noodles/pastina is ready. If you want, to add an extra immune system natural booster, you can squeeze 1/2 fresh lemon in the soup. It will give a fresh taste to the soup.

If you are reading this post because your kids or yourself have a cold, I wish you to get well very soon! Take care 😉