Chicken Broth

CHICKEN BROTH

If you are busy, busy, busy just like we are, this recipe is a life saver! This broth can be added to a lot of dishes to enhance the flavor or to prevent proteins from drying out during the cooking process without sacrificing any of the flavor. The best part is, that you can portion this broth in 1 cup Tupperware containers and freeze it so when you need exactly one cup of broth for one dish or another, you always have some on hand!

Chicken Broth

Ingredients:
2.25 lbs Chicken Breast (3 large breasts)
10 Cups of water
1 Spanish Onion pealed
3 Celery Stalks cut in half
1 large Carrot Cleaned and cut in half
2 Parsnips cleaned and cut in half
4 Pepper Corns
4 Bay Leaves
1 tsp Onion Salt
10 Coriander Kernels
Dash of Nut Meg
Dash of Cumin
Fresh Thyme
Fresh Rosemary
Fresh Dill
Salt to taste

Directions:
Clean and trim the chicken breasts, set aside. Clean your carrots, celery, parsnips, and herbs. Peel the onion without cutting it in half, it’ll be easier to fish it out of your broth later. Tie the herbs up with butchers twine and set aside. In a large broth pot, combine water, chicken, and veggies, add the spices, cover and set on medium heat. When the broth starts to boil, about 10-15 minutes, add your herb bunch and cut the heat to low. Allow the broth to simmer at low heat for another 35 minutes or until chicken is done. With a slotted spoon take out all of the veggies and chicken. Reserve the chicken for Chicken Mushroom Soup or other meals.

Notes:
At this point you can save the broth in order to use it in other meals or make Chicken Mushroom Soup. I usually allow the broth to cool and ladle it into 1 cup Tupperware containers and freeze for later use.

Forced Break. Darn it!

As I was afraid of yesterday, I had to cancel my date with Murph this morning. Unfortunately, I feel incredibly sick. I went to the doctor today and received a subsequent cocktail of meds  to make me feel better by tomorrow morning (fingers crossed). Ordinarily, I wouldn’t even think of running a race sick, but I am holding out hope that I will feel better tomorrow morning. Yes, I know, I can see the disapproving looks already, but after the week that I had, a nice, exhausting run is the only thing that will make me feel better.  I guess vodka could also make me feel better, but I hear that abs and vodka don’t go well together.

Since I clearly can’t workout right now, I want to talk about nutrition.  If you are like me and can’t even think of eating food when you get sick, I recommend trying to drink it. I usually have three or four antioxidant and vitamin packed smoothies a day when I am sick since the thought of chewing food makes me even sicker then I already am. Here are my favorites:

RASPBERRY SMOOTHIE

8 oz. Coconut Water or Orange Juice* or both

1 Cup Raspberries

1 Banana

1 tbsp. Flax Seed Meal

1 tbsp. Almond Butter

½ cup Baby Spinach

2 tbsp Lemon Juice

Blend until smooth. If you want your throat soothed, I recommend adding a few ice cubes and  some fresh mint leaves into the mix. Not only will it add an enticing aroma to your smoothie, it is also high in potassium and manganese.

GREEN GODDESS JUICE

4 12″ Stalks of Celery

1 Cup Kale

3 Large Carrots

2 Medium Green Pears 1 Lemon Pealed

1 Large Cucumber Pealed

Juice and enjoy. I add ice cubes and blend the juice in the blender to get more of a slushy consistency.  Be warned this will make roughly 4 glasses of juice. I generally use this juice to swallow my pills and in the morning to get an extra boost of vitamin C, beta keratin, and  antioxidants. Also, if added to the aforementioned Raspberry Smoothie instead of Coconut Water or Orange Juice it makes for a more vitamin enriched breakfast smoothie (also has more calories)

ORANGE EXPLOSION

1/2 Green Apple

2 Oranges Pealed and separated into slices

1 Cup Mango

1 Cup Pineapple

1 tbsp Coconut Oil

I think this one is my favorite of them all. Sometimes I add 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder to make sure that I get enough protein during those “hard to eat moments”.

BLUEBERRY BLISS

1/2 Cup Mango

1 Cup Blueberries

1/2 cup Kale or Spinach (your call)

1-2 Tbsp Lemon

1/2 Avocado

1 Cup Pineapple or Orange Juice*

Blend and enjoy.

Keep in mind that these shakes are calorie reach  on purpose. They are meant as substitutes for entire meals not accompaniments. Each of the shakes are roughly 400 calories depending on how heavy handed you are in cutting up your fruit and vegetables.

*When I refer to Orange Juice in this recipe I mean freshly squeezed juice from real oranges. I don’t recommend buying processed versions of fruit juices as they are packed with sugar and other preservatives that are more harmful then helpful.