Get Well Soup

First, the cookies.

I felt so good about the last batch of chocolate chip cookies, I decided to expand my repertoire to Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. (Modifications: Butter instead of shortening; 2 tsp vanilla; extra oats.) These went well (the batter was delicious!), but with two full cups of oats and two full cups of chocolate chips, the cookies lacked structural integrity when cooked.

Which was easily fixed when I stopped trying to pry them off the cookie sheet and shove them into my mouth mere seconds after removing them from the oven. When I let the cookies cool on the sheet, they hardened quite well, yet remained num-nummy. (That’s a technical term. Trust me.)

From Food and Drink

Now, the soup.

New Year’s Day, I decided to make some Get Well Soup for Chris (and his sore throat), but I didn’t want to leave the house. After a frantic plea to friends on LJ and some mad recipe searches, I had nothing. I was forced to make something up. (Cue scary music.)

Recipes are like chemistry lab. I understand formulas and procedures, and they give me comfort. (I guess they’re kind of like novel outlines, too.) When something seems intimidating or too large to tackle, a plan gets me through it one step (or chapter) at a time.

This is why I am particularly proud to say: my soup was edible! Chris liked it! I liked it! I won the soup boss fight!

So… the soup wasn’t perfect. Not nearly enough broth for the ingredients, and the broth didn’t have enough flavor. It also needed chunky vegetables like carrots or celery, or even some nice starchy potato chunks. Even so, here it is:

GET WELL SOUP

From Food and Drink

– Veggie stock and water (about equal parts)
– Elbow pasta
– Lentils (pre-cooked from TJ’s)
– Spices: rosemary, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper
– Onions, garlic, ginger, spinach (sauteed first)

Served with freshly baked bread (TJ’s Beer Bread, made with a bottle of hard cider.)

From Food and Drink

I don’t think I did a great job on the bread. The instructions said not to over mix, so I erred too far on the side of caution. But even fresh bread made from a mix is better than store-bought bread. (I may wander down the bread-making hole eventually, partially inspired by an episode of Chef Academy that had me drooling in my seat on the plane last week.)

So… what’s the secret to your special Get Well Soup?