You never know when disaster will strike in the kitchen.
I’m finally home for a much needed 2 week break from school. My Mom asked me to make some chicken soup to warm us up. We shopped for ingredients at the health food store. Choate doesn’t offer organic food so this was a treat. So far, so good.

Organic chicken soup
My Mom and I were catching up as I was cooking, which RETROSPECTIVELY was unfortunate.

This jar was full when I started cooking the chicken soup
I was adding spices to the soup and reached for the red chili flakes. I meant to lightly sprinkle some flakes over the chicken, but accidentally flipped up the large opening of the pepper container and dumped about a half cup into the pot. I quickly tried to spoon out as much of it as possible, but it was too late. I tasted the soup to CONFIRM what I already knew: it was INEDIBLE.

Pour chicken broth into ice cube trays and freeze for future use
My Mom’s friend Julie was over and she had a great suggestion: pour half of the broth into ice cube trays, and freeze it into “boullion” cubes for future use. Take the other half of the soup and dilute it with organic vegetable broth. Thanks to Julie’s quick thinking, I pulled a save.

Use leftover chicken to make curried chicken salad
MORAL of the story: Get creative to SALVAGE a cooking “disaster.”
SIMPLE CHICKEN SOUP RECIPE
Ingredients:
- 1 medium chicken, pre-roasted
- 1/4 box of linguini
- 3 celery stalks
- 3 carrots
- 1 large red pepper
- 1 medium onion
- 1/2 turnip
- 1 large bunch parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
- red pepper flakes (Careful!)
- 2 (16 oz) boxes organic vegetable broth
- water
Prep:
- Chop the celery, carrots, pepper, onion and turnip into medium size chunks
- Break up the linguini into 1 1/2″ pieces
- Shred the parsley
- Shred the chicken with your fingers
Cook:
- Fill a large pot with the vegetable broth
- Add water to fill the pot to 3/4 of the way up
- Add all seasonings, linguini and chopped vegetables
- Cook for 40 minutes on high
- Reduce heat to low and add the chicken and parsley
- Cook for 10 minutes + serve
Charis
- RETROSPECTIVELY = looking back
- CONFIRM = support
- INEDIBLE = unfit to eat
- MORAL = lesson
- SALVAGE = rescue
Tip: There are more great recipes and useful vocab in “Cook Your Way Through The S.A.T.”