A few days ago I came down with a cold. I’ve dubbed it Townsville Fever. It’s a rare cold variety elsewhere but I’m fairly sure only Cairns residents can catch it (read: Cairns vs Townsville rivalry alive and well).

I was worried that my weight loss goals might be adversely affected but to my pleasant surprise I lost my appetite, my taste and smell senses and just about all the pleasure cues associated with food. Soup was definitely the order of the day, so I made a chicken and vegetable soup in my pressure cooker and it was fabulous at only 200 kcal per serve.

Further I was super suprrised when laying in bed doing nothing for 4 days has resulted in some fairly decent weight loss. Maybe its muscle mass, not really sure, but it’s nice not to be discouraged by poor performance on the scales on top of the low that comes with a sickness.

Here’s my recipe in case you too need some chicken soup while you’re sick. My family said it tasted amazing. I was just happy for the warmth in a throat of razor blades.

Chicken & Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

• 3 small onions
• 10 cloves garlic
• 3 stalks celery
• 2 carrots
• 2 turnips or swedes
• 1 parsnip
• 150g butternut pumpkin
• 2 chicken breasts
• 2l stock (chicken or vegetable)
• 5 stalks broccoli
• 1 zucchini

Method

1. Add the onion and garlic to pressure cooker on the browning feature to get some colour on them (no oil!)
2. Add celery, carrots, parsnips and turnips, soften them up a little
3. Add stock, pumpkin and whole chicken breasts
4. Turn on pressure cooker to high pressure for 20 minutes
5. Release pressure, take out chicken breasts and shred
6. Add broccoli and zucchini, and the shredded chicken
7. Turn back on pressure cooker to high pressure and cook for a further 5 minutes
8. Eat. Nom nom nom.