flu-fighter chicken lemon soup with ginger {recipe}

On Wednesday both L., and I were feeling off kilter. Maybe it was the consistent days of drizzle and gray days. Maybe we were coming down with the beginning of the flu but when L., called me from work to say he wasn't feeling so hot, I knew what we both needed-- a hearty chicken rice soup that could fight off whatever it was we were feeling.

Typically I turn to my trusty Matzoh Ball Soup Recipe but this time I needed a powerhouse. I decided to make my own version of Avgolemono (Lemon Chicken) Soup, a traditional Greek soup made with lemon, chicken and eggs. I'm not big on eggs in my soup so I decided to skip this part and add in ginger, a GREAT immune booster.

Later that evening L., came home to a pot of Lemon Ginger Chicken Soup simmering on the stove and the funny thing? We both felt great the next morning. Any signs of the flu were gone. Was it the ginger and lemon? Could be. In any case, it was a delicious way to fend off winter's evil side effects. This recipe is super easy to make and tastes even better the next day.

Here's to good health!

{Lemon Ginger Chicken Soup Recipe}

Ingredients

2    32-ounce cartons of organic chicken broth 

2    cooked shredded chicken breasts

1    whole lemon

4    cups of cooked brown rice

1    teaspoon of fresh grated ginger

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Start with the chicken. Bake boneless skinless chicken breasts (I baked them on a bed of sliced lemon for 40 minutes at 350 degrees). When cool, shred the chicken breasts and set aside.

Add 2 cartons (64 ounces) of chicken broth to a large pot. Set on medium-high. 

Add cooked brown rice to broth. 

Grate the lemon peel then juice one lemon (removing all seeds). Add grated lemon peel and lemon juice to broth and rice. 

Peel a one inch section of fresh ginger root. Use a microplane to grate 1 teaspoon of ginger. Add to pot.

Add shredded chicken to soup mixture. Stir. Turn to medium. If you cooked the chicken breasts on a bed of sliced lemon, add the cooked lemon slices to the soup for an extra pop.

Taste before adding salt or pepper then add them to taste. Ginger is an unusual spice. You may find that you need more or less pepper than you would usually use in chicken soup due to the spicy nature of ginger. 

Cover and simmer on low to medium for one hour. Remove lemon slices before serving.

Time Saving tricks

• Instead of baking chicken breasts, pick up a rotisserie chicken at the market and shred the chicken breasts, using the rest of the chicken for lunches throughout the week.
• Instead of cooking brown rice yourself, pick up some frozen cooked brown rice. I used Trader Joe's.
• Instead of grating fresh ginger, use frozen grated ginger cubes (available at Whole Foods and some specialty markets)