Chicken Soup in the Spirit of Tiyospaye

I could not think of a more perfect antithesis to the DIY ethos which dominates the blogosphere than the cancer experience. Cancer treatment is a season of not being able to do much of anything yourself. Really tough for the stubbornly independent. Therewith, giant, hard-to-swallow doses of humility have become the mainstay of my treatment regimen here in the last month of the last cycle of chemotherapy. The help I have received is immeasurable—it is the work and ethos of tiyospaye. Ella Cara Deloria, the late Lakota ethnographer, wrote an incredible novel Waterlily in which she describes the life and culture of Dakota native American peoples before their invasion and destruction. Deloria writes of camp circles in which groups of families placed their tipis all together “where they could be in easy reach for cooperative living.”

“In their closeness lay such strength and social importance as no single family, however able, could or wished to achieve entirely by its own efforts…Almost from the beginning [of life] everyone could declare, ‘I am not afraid; I have relatives.’”

I am so grateful to have been surrounded and held for months by a tiyospaye that includes not only my nuclear family and my husband, but neighbors from Midcity, friends from Swamp Solstice, Redbeans krewe, Mondo Kayo, my book club, colleagues from Tulane medicine and psychiatry.

Here in last week of chemo, Mom has come to make me her excellent and healing soups.  

Chicken Soup from my Momma

Ingredients:

2.5 lbs bone in chicken thighs (bones=excellent fond)

2 cups chopped sweet onion

1 cup chopped celery

1-2 cups chopped carrots

6-8 cups of homemade stock, mine is usually with mirepoix

Either cooked noodles or equal amounts chopped potatoes, or cooked rice

Garlic, your preference.

2 Tbsp. Fish sauce or 1 Tbsp. Anchovy paste

1-2 teaspoons honey

Small amount all-purpose flour

Salt and pepper to taste

(You can always add almost ANY veggies, zucchini, yellow squash, other peppers, or chopped chard, etc.)

1. Lay veggies and chicken out on two full-sized sheet pans (18″ x 26″ is great) and salt, stand for 30 minutes.  (This leaches excess water from the veggies and intensifies their fond during the bake)

Then roast at 400 degrees, about 25 minutes for the veggies and 40 minutes for the chicken. Cool for a few minutes.

2. Remove the chicken to rest and deglaze the pan with 1/3 cup dry white wine. When the thighs are cool, chop the meat into bite size pieces.

3. In your large soup pot make a roux in this proportion: 1 TB butter for each cup of stock. Melt the butter over low heat and add in the flour cooking until thick.

4. Now whisk in your stock and bring to a vigorous simmer and add your spices, your choice:

Here are three options I use, depending on the following state of affairs:

“I have the wretched plague and ache all over.”

Add: 1-2 tsps of turmeric and 2 Tbsps of grated fresh ginger

         1/2 cup chopped Cilantro  

          1 teas. Fresh rosemary

          4-6 cloves chopped garlic

          Use rice as the starch

“I feel great, it’s fall; the leaves are turning and I smell Thanksgiving”.

Add: 1 Tbsp fresh thyme,1 Tbsp. Sage and 1 teas. Fresh rosemary

         1/2 cup chopped parsley

          4-6 cloves chopped garlic

         2 Tbsp. Whipping cream before serving.

“It’s Cinco De Mayo and I got a sinus infection to celebrate.”

Add: 2 Teaspoons Cumin

         2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

         1 teaspoon chili powder

         1 cup corn kernels (no pasta or potatoes in this one)

         1/2 jalapeño pepper, no seeds, chopped

          1/2 cup chopped cilantro

          1 cup chopped tomato, squeeze out the juice

          Top with chopped avocados and cultured sour cream, squeeze of lime

5. Simmer for 30 minutes, covered.

6. Then add your chicken, vegetables, (Of course, at this point, a night in the fridge is best for the spices to marry) and cook your pasta, potatoes or rice.

7. Drain and add the pasta serving directly to the serving bowls, not the soup pot. This way the pasta doesn’t bloat up after a few days in the fridge, “like a sad sailor lost at sea,” –here I ask Mom if she means to liken days old pasta noodles to a dead sailor, and she says, Yes.

And with that happy imagery from Mom, Enjoy!

I am getting into the mindspace of resetting. “Detoxing” is such an overused foodie trend word, but in my case I use it literally. I have chemotherapy poisons hiding in all my tissues and probably will for months/years to come—so there is actual detox work to be done. Of course eating whole, clean foods is the best medicine for your body you can provide by way of eating. The time it takes to do this is not insignificant. Detoxelicious by Dena Dodd Perry I’ve covered before, but I want to highlight here a smoothie I truly have enjoyed and which is so simple and kind to do for yourself:

Tango Mango Smoothie

1-2 servings

1 cup chopped frozen mango

½ cup coconut milk

½ cup pineapple

½ avocado, peeled and scooped

Place all ingredients in blender. Add filtered water until liquid level is slightly above frozen solid level measurement in the blender. Blend all ingredients for about 1 minute until smooth. Pour into glass and enjoy!

Bake This Day weekly picks:

Here are a few other products we have recently reviewed and enjoy in the spirit of ongoing detox!

Purifyou Water Bottle. Glass instead of plastic for your eco-friendly daily hydration. I like the rubber casing especially.

Pure Synergy turmeric has been among the supplements I’m using to fight inflammation, but they have so many more—kale, astaxanthin, beet powder. Mom thinks the kale tastes grassy, but she has had four glasses on her visit because of how strongly she believes in the powers of kale.

Goli apple cider vinegar gummies are soothing on the dyspeptic belly. I have enjoyed several of these in the throes of chemo-induced burpiness. I could never really get behind the “take a tsp of apple cider vinegar” thing so this gummy form is a lovely alternative. They also have a nice folic acid and B12 bonus.

Vitafusion makes these lovely gummies, and here is my public service announcement that any woman who is or who may be pregnant should be taking a prenatal vitamin. When in doubt, supplement iodine and folate.

All hyperlinked products have been gifted.

Looking ahead to the bright days of Mardi Gras and a birthday celebration (one week deferred) this weekend. But so happy to have the infusion days in the rear view mirror. Much love to the Tulane infusion center nurses who made my last day feel like a small parade.