All you need to create it are two boxes of tissues and a few rubber bands.

1. Open the side of one box and pull out the entire fold of tissues.  Place the whole fold into a ziploc bag – you’ll use it to refill for your other box later.
2. Re-fold the flaps of the empty tissue box and place the two tissue boxes together.  Be sure to sandwich the side that has the open fold.
3. Snap on two rubber bands to hold the two boxes together.

There you have it.  An instant tissue trash can!  Now you can send your child to bed (or anywhere else) with a box of tissues and a place to put the used ones.  Isn’t that great?  To empty the used tissues just pull off the rubber bands, reopen the side flaps and dump out the old tissues into the trash.  If you run out of clean tissues before the cold breaks just open the side flap of the clean box and refill it with the tissues from the ziploc bag.

It’s a simple fix that costs almost nothing and will save you from picking up loads of germy tissues.  Trust me, I’ve wiped enough little noses to know.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

Ingredients:

10 cups water
10 cubes of chicken boullion (canned chicken stock works too but it’s a little more expensive)
1 tsp or so of McCormicks Herb Chicken Seasoning (garlic & herb flavor)
3/4 cup chopped yellow onion
2 cups peeled carrots, chopped
2 cups chopped celery
1/2 lb. extra wide homestyle noodles (I like Das Dutchman Essenhaus – you can find them in the pasta aisle of WalMart)
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt to taste (I like ground sea salt)
Ground pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Chop onions, carrots and celery (I usually save myself a little time by doing this steps while the kids are at school.  I chop everything, throw it all in a big ziploc bag and then stick it in the fridge until dinnertime).

2.  Pour water into large soup pot and heat on high.  Once it reaches a rolling boil add the bouillon cubes, stir until dissolved.  It should look like this…

3.  Turn the burner down to medium and add in the McCormick’s seasoning (if you can’t find this particular brand, just use any chicken seasoning that has a garlic & herb flavor).  I don’t really measure it, I just shake it into the pot until the top of the broth is lightly covered.

4.  Add in the onions, carrots and celery and let simmer for about 5 minutes.  It should look like this…

5.  Add in the noodles (you’ll need about half the package) and stir.  Allow pot to simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.

5.  Add in the whole chicken breasts and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

6.  Pull out the cooked chicken breasts and seperate them into large chunks with two forks (you could chop them if you’re in a hurry, but I like the texture of the big hunks of torn chicken).

7.  Add the chicken back into the pot and simmer for a few more minutes (or until your noodles are cooked through).  Add salt and pepper to taste.

That’s it.  See?  I told you it was easy.  Personally, I like to serve it in big, fat bowls with a hunk of honey whole wheat bread from the freezer (you can find that recipe here).   It serves about 8 people (or the 6 people in my family who love to go back for seconds).

I can’t guarantee it will cure your family of this year’s nasty viruses, but I can promise that it will leave you warm, cozy, and totally satisfied.  When it comes to helping my family get over this latest round of sickness, that’s just what the doctor ordered.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

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