Soup's on!

When my 2 brothers and I were sick as kids, there was always two things we could look forward to; Staying home from school and mom's Chicken Corn Soup. I grew up in Amish Country, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and the Amish are known for their incredible self-reliance and for their cooking. The area I grew up in was farming country and almost everywhere you went outside of town you passed acres and acres of corn growing. I remember being about 8 years old and walking through the tall rows of corn with my brother Jimmy who was 6. The stalks were so tall and the golden tassels at their tops glowed in the sunlight. The smell of the dirt and the sweet smell of the corn curled together and made the most delicious, warm aroma. Many times my brother and I would remove an ear of green corn, not quite ripe yet, and sit under the shade of an apple tree that grew, oddly enough, in the middle of the field, and munch away. There were times when the corn was ripe and the Farmer's Markets were overflowing with the harvest that my grandfather, affectionately known as "Pop," would bring a huge bag of it home and we'd have nothing but that for dinner, dripping in butter and sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Chicken Corn Soup is an old Amish Recipe. It's actually a very healthy one with few ingredients and incredibly easy to make. Some recipes call for noodles, another thing the Amish are famous for, but my family always makes it without. It's really good both ways so it's up to you whether or not to "noodle." Also, strange as it sounds, a peanut butter sandwich totally rocks as a go along. Why? I have no idea, but that's what they always served with it in school and the slight sweetness of the peanut butter offsets the savoriness of the soup. Mmm, mmmm.

Chicken Corn Soup

One 3 lb Chicken or the skinless/boneless chicken of your choice
3 cans Whole Kernel Corn, with juice
3 cans Cream Style Corn
2 eggs (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Parsley

Put chicken in a stock pot and cover with water. Add salt to the water and bring to a boil. Boil until meat starts falling off the bone, approximately 1 hour. While this is boiling add the eggs and cook for 5 minutes until they are hard boiled. Remove chicken and eggs from the newly made chicken stock and set aside to cool. To the stock add all 6 cans of corn making sure to use the juice and all. Remove the skin and bones from the chicken, adding all the meat to the stock/corn mixture. Peel and chop the eggs into small pieces and add them back to the soup. I usually throw away one of the yolks to eliminate some of the unnecessary fat. Salt and pepper to taste and add parsley for color.

Now....grab a bowl of soup, put on your PJ's and prepare yourself for a little comfort.