In Which I Make "Stroke" For DInner

   Yes, today I am making Stroke for dinner. For those of you who haven't heard of it, let me explain. My mother-in-law, used to make this tomato based chicken soup for my Hubs all his life. It was just the two of them for many years. When we were dating, she made it, and I ate it. It was very good, but no sooner had I eaten it then my fingers started to swell up! There were unimaginable quantities of sodium in there!

   I remarked to my not-yet-Hubs that someone could have a stroke from eating this stuff! And that's what we've called it ever since!  I got her recipe for it, but I don't put any salt in it. In fact, I usually joke that she started the soup with a salt-lick in a pot of water. Over the years, I have modified the recipe. It originally started out with pieces of chicken, complete with bones and skin, being boiled in water. Then you removed the chicken and had to wait for hours while it cooled down. After it cooled, it was shredded. It was lots of work. Today, I start with a combination of chicken stock, in cartons from the store, and water. I purchase raw chicken "fingers" and cut them into tiny pieces.

   When the stock/water is heating up, I add all the herbs and spices, like pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, and basil. You could add whatever you want. Then in goes two cans of tomato paste. Stir the soup until the tomato paste is mostly dissolved.

   Once the soup base is hot, put in the chicken pieces. They need to cook for a while, and the longer the soup cooks, the better.  In another pot, cook some pasta. The original recipe calls for Rigatoni, but I prefer the much smaller Ditalini. When the pasta is done, drain it and put it in a big bowl, spoon some soup broth over it to keep it from sticking. Each person then serves as much pasta as they want into their bowl, then adds the tomato/chicken soup. After dinner, if there's any pasta left over,  you can dump it into the soup pot.

   This is my Hubs' favorite meal, and after he had surgery on his stomach, he craved it badly. I made some for him, using tiny pastina, so he could digest it easily.  Today, he is out hunting, and by the time he gets home, it will be ready. He will be chilled through, and the soup will warm him up. And that's what love is, right? Cooking yor spouses favorite childhood meal for him, but better than mom made!