Amy Coffman Maxwell

I was traveling on my pre-op, so I had to find a way around the canned stuff. I went to panera and ordered chicken noodle Soup, but I asked for the broth only. I then strained it, and let me tell you, I was in HEAVEN! You could probably run it through a cheese cloth to get the last bit of particles out post op.

My sweet, sweet Mom made chicken broth for me because I don't care for canned chicken broth either. I've been such a ridiculous red meat eater my entire life (I'm a born and bred Texan, I came by it honestly), that I thought I'd prefer some beef broth on my pre-op liquid diet, so got some of the beef broth in paper cartons. Three to be exact. I heated one mug full, and it was just disgusting. I was already feeling a bit ill, and for some reason that beef broth smelled exactly like wet dog to me, and didn't taste much better. As a result, I can't even imagine drinking it post-op, homemade or not, because my sense of smell and taste is just so completely sensitive and out of whack. Those three cartons are still in the fridge. x[
The chicken broth my mom made has been an incredibly nice break from the plain Water, sweet popsicles, and sweet Protein drinks. She just put a whole chicken in the crock pot and covered it with store-bought chicken broth (low sodium). She did salt it some and put a bay leaf and let it cook for hours and hours. After that, she strained it to get all the the meaty bits out. Then she strained it again through cheese cloth to make sure it was perfectly clear for my clear liquid phase. Then she let it chill for a bit and skimmed all the fat off. I know it sounds really plain, but it's not. It's very savory, and I'm glad now it's on the plainer side because my new stomach is so picky a week out from surgery.
The only time I regretted her making it was my second night home when I got really nauseas (I was dehydrated) and a chicken was cooking in the crockpot. The smell was so unbelieveably potent and I would have gladly hurled it out the window if I could have lifted it just to get away from it. Thankfully, a Promethazine, a cool and damp washcloth over my nose, and about 30 minutes saved me, the crockpot, the chicken, and the window from disaster.