(EDITOR’S NOTE: Please enjoy this encore of a previous column)

The fall weather has a sneakiness about it. One moment it’s freezing, the next minute you’re peeling off layers of clothing after feeling like you’re suffocating.

Growing up, we couldn’t wait to throw our backpacks on the sofa after school and peel out of the driveway onto our bicycles. We would ride all over the neighborhood until it was too dark to see the road in front of us. The wind in our hair, dreaming of flying into the wind, it was impossible to not feel the shortness of days and the change in the air, literally. The best part of the adventure would be coming home after a sweaty ride. We would be slightly chilled from the sweat and the temperature change, but mostly starving like we hadn’t eaten in days. My grandmother Nan-Nan greeted us with the fragrance of her hot chicken soup cooking wafting from the kitchen. One sip and everything was better. Our body temperature regulated, the warmth flooded through our veins, and suddenly we felt like we could make it.

It was something so subtle but it felt soothing to the bone. Nan-Nan would sometimes just make a simple chicken broth and add rice, or maybe a few vegetables and some noodles. Honestly, like most of her cooking, it was always a little bit different every time. Nan-Nan would use what she had, always making sure to remind us kids that when she was a child they knew how to use every last bit of the chicken. But when she was a kid, people really knew how to cook real food. That was what always separated her soup from anything else, no matter how the recipe changed.

Nan-Nan never used artificial or store bought chicken broth. When we were fighting a bug, or cold, she would simply take some frozen broth out of the freezer, heat it up, and insist we drank up the nourishment.

That broth is consistently a dish I crave whenever I’m under the weather, or honestly just missing my grandmother. Sometimes that is all the motivation I need to make a good pot of soup. It never seems to taste as good as hers, but just like hers it is different every time.

Today’s recipe is Nan-Nan’s basic chicken soup recipe with a few options for varying the dish.

Good luck and enjoy!

Nan-Nan’s Chicken Soup

Feel free to add anything else you love such as potatoes, tomatoes, noodles, squash, zucchini or additional fresh herbs.

1 whole chicken, 3-4 lbs.

6 large carrots, peeled and sliced

6 celery stalks, peeled and sliced (including leaves)

1 vidalia (yellow) onion, diced

5 garlic cloves, diced

Handful of fresh parsley

Handful of fresh dill

2 tsp black peppercorns

3 whole cloves

2 bay leaves (remove after cooking)

Kosher salt (to taste)

Place chicken in a large stock pot or crock pot, and cover with four quarts of water, or cover completely. Add all other ingredients. Heat on medium, or at a boil, if cooking on the stove. Or put a crock pot on high. Skim the top surface for foam, particles, or too much grease. Additional water may need to be added. Cook for about an hour and a half on the stove-top, or 4 hours in the crockpot. Time may vary.

Remove whole chicken as best you can with tongs or two large slotted spoons. Skim the broth again for fat on top. Allow chicken to cool. Once cooled begin deboning, pulling pieces of meat

off into bite sized pieces and placing back into broth. I usually prefer to leave skin out, but that’s up to you. Taste broth after adding chicken. It may need additional salt and pepper.

At this time if you would like to add rice, noodles, zucchini, or even saffron or even potatoes. Serve hot. Make plenty.

The recipe and photos used in today’s article are from the kitchen of Chef Babz (babzbites@gmail.com) with a little help from her grandmother, Louise Osborne.