Making Mama's Kitchen: Butler's Homecoming & Chicken Soup with Ginger & Lemon

baby's first tailgate

I have been looking forward to going to Butler's homecoming for months now. For the first time in several years, I was off work and able to attend the homecoming festivities. We bought tickets to tailgate and planned lots of festivities in honor of our beloved alma mater. But, as fate would have it, we all caught a cold. Starting with Michael, then Annalyn, and finally me... stuffy noses, sore throats, the works. Ugh. But, we decided to make the best of it anyway. So we ate soup, relaxed all morning/afternoon, and went up to Butler later in the day to tailgate and watch some of the football game.

we love our Baby Bjorn & this carrier cover

Honestly, we felt pretty good after resting all day and had a great evening at Butler. The football team pulled out a come-from-behind win (Go Dawgs!), we got to take an adorable family picture with Blue II and Trip (Butler's real-life bulldog mascot and mascot-in-training!), we got to see some of our old (and current) friends, and snuggle to keep our little sweetie warm.

Blue II & Blue III "Trip"

J, my college roomie & teammate

mama's snuggle bunny

In honor of our first family cold, here is the chicken soup I made to help us feel better. (Peanut wasn't quite ready for this one, so I made her chicken with carrots, leeks, and baby rice cereal. I added some salt-free chicken stock leftover from cooking this chicken puree to make it more like a soup.)

Chicken Soup with Ginger & Lemon

Ingredients:
- 2 T. olive oil
- 1/2 c. Thai or wild rice
- 2 c. cooked chicken, shredded
- peels from 2 lemons, cut into 1-inch strips
- 2 T. fresh lemon juice
- 1 bunch green onions
- 1 onion, halved lengthwise
- 2 oz. fresh ginger (1-inch piece), thinly sliced
- 1 or 2 fresh Thai or serrano chiles, seeded and halved
- 1 t. whole black peppercorns
- 10 c. chicken stock
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 T. soy sauce
- 2 T. sweet chili sauce
- 1/2 c. shredded carrots
- 1/2 c. mushrooms, thinly sliced
- salt to taste

Directions:

1. In a large pot, heat olive oil. Saute rice for 3-5 minutes, until it begins to brown a little. Remove rice from pot and set aside. (I cooked 1 c. of rice, but reserved half of it for another recipe)

2. In the same pot, place lemon peel, 1/2 the green onions (halved), onion (quartered), sliced ginger, peppercorns, chile, and stock.

thinly slice - yellow part only

peel then thinly slice the ginger

I usually wear gloves when handling peppers

remove seeds to keep it from getting too spicy

3. Cover, and bring to a boil. Uncover partially, and simmer gently for 1 hour.

4. Add small handful of cilantro stems and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain the soup, reserve broth and discard remaining solids.

chop remaining cilantro to add later

after straining, return broth to the pot

5. Add chicken, carrots, mushrooms, chopped cilantro, lemon juice, and rice. Stir in soy and sweet chili sauce. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes until chicken is heated through and rice and vegetables are slightly softened.