OK, so I woke up with a sore throat the other morning

[OldLeftieLawyer]

Thought I was getting a cold, but it turned out to be pollen-related, because it didn't last.

Poor me.

I needed soup.

So, I grabbed a couple of containers of organic chicken broth from the pantry, heated it up, threw in a handful of chopped garlic, lots of chopped onions, a can of corn, a can of creamed corn (I had no idea it was in there), some white meat chicken leftover and chunked, and let the whole thing simmer for a bit.

Then I threw in rice flakes.


If you ever come across these in an Asian/Thai market, get a bag of them. Get ten bags of them. They are SO wonderful simmered for just a few minutes in a hot soup. And they made my chicken-corn soup SO fine.

A couple of hits sesame oil and some chopped scallion in my bowl, and SWEET JESUS, I WAS CURED!

Amen.

Seriously, get rice flakes. They're great.

http://www.recipetips.com/glossary-term/t--37960/rice-flakes.asp

[mike_c]

1. sounds like instant conjee....

Yum.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

2. Almost,

but the rice flakes are big - like 2 or 3 inches square - and they stay pretty intact until you start mushing up the soup.

It's like Thai/Jewish chicken soup.

[hvn_nbr_2]

8. Make that Thai/Jewish/Pennsylvania Dutch chicken corn soup.

Chicken corn soup is an old Pennsylvania Dutch summer favorite. Churches and Scout troops have big chicken corn soup dinners and festivals as fundraisers. I don't think they'd ever use rice flakes, but they seem like a reasonable substitute for rivels. Many (not all) would add halved hard-boiled eggs. The hard-boiled eggs probably don't have any curative properties.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

9. Add Chinese to the mix

Yes, there's a Chinese version, using chicken and corn and noodles, but eggs are beaten and added to it at the last minute to thicken it. Then the sesame oil and the chopped scallions.

Man, I am loving those rice flakes, but, you know, some nice wide PA Dutch soup noodles wouldn't be bad, either. (I grew up not far from that area.)

[Warpy]

3. That's pretty much what they use it for

so they can sleep a little later in the morning.

My favorite sore throat fix is a pinch of cayenne in a glass of water, just enough for a thin skin on the surface of the water. I take sips when I notice my throat is hurting. After the fourth or fifth sip, all the substance P in the nerves in my throat is depleted and the sore throat is gone for hours.

[The empressof all]

4. Your cure is a lot like mine

For colds and chest congestion I take a garlic capsule followed by a tablespoon of lemon juice with a healthy shake of cayenne. It will clear out any mucus and phlegm.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

6. My naturalist/herbal person

tells me that garlic capsules are so processed, they have no restorative or healing value. She (and I) simply cut up a clove or two of garlic every day and swallow it raw, like a pill. No garlic breath, no stomach anything, it just goes down and that's that.

You can't eat enough hot stuff, that's what I think. But, the pollen around here has been in the "catastrophic" range, so, no matter how protective we've been, with filters on the a/c, closed windows and doors, showering as soon as we walk in, it's still affecting everyone. Contact lens wearing is a joke these days - it's just impossible.

However, there is chicken/corn soup with rice flakes, and that makes everything better.

[jeanarrett]

7. My grandma "took" a raw clove of garlic every day

for health's sake. She was also a firm believer in "real" oatmeal, which she had in some form for breakfast every morning. She died in 2003 at almost 104.

[grasswire]

5. I read in the "People's Pharmacy" column...

...awhile back about the properties of Concord grape juice to halt a sore throat in its tracks. It has been extremely successful throughout the cold and flu season. I also take Airborne, the effervescent tablets developed by an elementary school teacher containing all manner of immune-boosting goodies, when I think I might be catching something. So far, so good! Airborne has a new pink grapefruit flavor that actually is tasty.