The classic that has become my daily dinner
When I first realized it was food making me sick, I felt totally paralyzed; I knew I needed to eliminate foods that were bad, but I couldn't deal with what that would mean for my life. I couldn't yet handle putting in the effort to figure out what was making me sick, or to actually make the foods that were fresh enough to be healthy for me.
One thing was certain -- chicken was a constant during every period of my life in which I'd felt ok. MCAS diets verified that organic chicken should be fine and, on top of all this, I was in desperate need of more salt. So, my sister came up with the wonderful idea of having a "broth party." She got disgusting amounts of chicken and a few huge pots full of water. We found a recipe and spent several hours making enough broth to last me a month.
This was a great start for me. I could dump stupid amounts of salt into the broth without it tasting bad and put whatever I wanted/could eat in the soups. I later found, however, that eating the leftover broth didn't feel too good.
I soon discovered that it's super easy to make just one serving of broth! I simply grab a chicken breast (organic and fresh!!) or 2-3 tenders and throw them into a small pot of water. I bring the water to boil, then turn down the heat to medium-low and let it slowly boil or simmer while I go off and do my PT exercises, get work done, whatever. The longer it boils, the stronger the flavor will be. I've done anywhere between half an hour to a few hours for a slightly larger soup. When the broth is getting close to done, I dump in a ton of salt, use a spoon to chop the chicken into small pieces, and add a couple of diced potatoes. I turn up the heat to medium-high, let it boil hard for a couple of minutes, and then turn it off and let it it sit for a bit. Sometimes I add rice noodles (no added ingredients) at this point.
The end result -- a deliciously fresh and healthy chicken soup! It is super filling, easy on the gut, and great for chilly winter days or sore throats. It allows me to keep up my salt/blood pressure as well. These are just some of the reasons I now eat this soup almost every day.
**Note: I've also tried adding celery, carrots, garlic, etc. Unfortunately, all of these variations made me sick, but they were delicious!