I know we have been talking about eating for prevention, but sometimes illness just catches up with you. I have cold – a bad one, so I did some research as to what I really should be eating to help a cold and made a soup for the sick out of some of the ingredients. I didn’t use all the foods, of course, because not all them sound good together. But, this soup was really good whether you are sick or not and here are some of the ingredients I used and why:

Chicken – Protein and Zinc to fight infection and reduce symptoms

Garlic – Contains allicin, which fights infections

Mushrooms – Vitamin D and antioxidants that may fight colds

Red Bell Pepper – Vitamin C – Apparently, you need a lot of Vitamin C for it to actually help your cold, and red bell peppers have a lot.

Carrots and Kale- Vitamin A for mucus membrane support

This is a cook it as you make it recipe, meaning as I cut up the vegetables, I added them as I went. This saves a bit of effort, which is especially nice when you are sick!

Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

2 lbs. chicken breasts
8 cups chicken broth
6 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz. button mushrooms, sliced
3.5 oz. shiitake mushrooms, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (Or more or less depending on how hot you like it.)
1/2 lb. kale, chopped
8 oz. wide egg noodles

Instructions

Place chicken breasts in a large pot.
Pour chicken broth over the chicken breasts and bring to a boil.
While the chicken is cooking cut up the vegetables except kale and add to the pot as you go.
By the time you get all the all the vegetables added, the chicken will probably be cooked through.
Remove the chicken from the pot and cut it into bite sized pieces.
Add onion powder and cayenne pepper to the vegetables.
Add kale and cook until wilted.
Return chicken to the pot and stir in noodles.
Continue to cook until noodles are done.