H1N1: or, as Inspector Clouseau would say, "Swine Flu!"

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Heck, no, I don't have it! Not yet, not ever, hopefully. But every time I think of the name of the virus that's coming to take us away, I can hear Inspector Clouseau of the Pink Panther movies' voice in my mind, ringing out clear as a bell, "Swine Flu!!!". And it makes me smile.

So for all of us who are dreading the possibility of the flu arriving at OUR house, let me give you a recipe that will see our great Ship of State through the coming storm. I got a sinus infection a couple of weeks ago and got that ooooh-la-la husky, deep voice that my dear husband loves so well, he calls me from the upstairs phone just to hear me talk. And I knew what to do. I took my ailing self to the local grocery store, and bought a cart full of fresh veggies and made the following recipe, given to me by my dear friend Chloe. Hence the name:

Chloe's Virus Killing Soup


Do not be intimidated by the amount of garlic you see. Go for it, if you're brave (I was, and it was fabulous) or adjust it to your family's taste. Leave out whatever you see that you detest, add in whatever veggies you love, and enjoy. We ate half of the batch, and froze the other half, so there it sits in my freezer, just daring the old Swine Flu to try to sicken one of us. One caveat: this WILL require about an hour's worth of chopping and prep work, but you'll be so glad you did. It will be time well invested.

One chicken
Appx 15-30 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 Tbs salt
3-4 Thyme sprigs
Cayenne pepper (to taste. I use about a tsp)
Fresh Rosemary sprigs
Fresh ground pepper

Place chicken and other ingredients n a soup pot (I use my pressure cooker) and cover with water or chicken broth (I really like those boxes of organic chicken broth). Cook on stove top until chicken starts to fall apart. Remove from heat. Strain out chicken and stuff and set aside until cool enough to chop. Reserve broth for next step.

1 large onion (coarsely chopped or sliced)
1 fennel bulb (sliced thin)
1 leek (sliced thin)
4-6 stalks of celery (coarse chopped)
large red pepper (coarse chopped)
1/2 lb. carrots (coarse chopped)
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 C good White Wine
salt and pepper

Place oil in bottom of large pot and heat. Add onion, fennel, celery, pepper and leek and sauté until onion just transparent. Add wine and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Cover the vegetables with chicken broth from chicken--add more broth from can or box if you don't have enough broth from chicken and simmer veggies until just tender.

Frozen green beans
Frozen peas
zucchini
flat leaf parsley (chopped)
1-2 cans chopped tomatoes with juice
salt and pepper to taste

Add these above ingredients and simmer until everything is tender. Add chopped chicken, salt and pepper to taste.

No virus can withstand this soup.

You can also add cabbage with the end ingredients if you like (I do!), or any other veggies your family likes. Sometimes I'll throw in whatever is in my veggie bin in addition to the above.

The next day add egg noodles and turn it into chicken noodle soup.