Chicken Soup for MY Soul!

One of my favorite movies as a girl was Chicken Every Sunday. I giggled and sobbed as Celeste Holm for 20 years coped with her husband's hare-brained financial fumbles by keeping a boarding house. Natalie Wood played the daughter of Holm's character, Emily, and her husband, Jim, portrayed with daffy deftness by Dan Dailey.

I envied Natalie's character, a girl who could depend on chicken for supper every single Sunday. We weren't quite so fortunate. Though Mama and Grandma served up chicken at least once a month, they concocted a lot of casseroles and roasts. Me...give me chicken every time.

Since my late husband died five years ago, it's rare that I prepare a Sunday dinner of any particular note. If it's chicken, likely it's from the Safeway $5 Friday deli. 

But not on Sunday, September 21. That's when I'm throwing a hen party for just us chicks.

This has been a Chicken Soup for the Soul summer for me. For the first time ever, I have stories published in this series three months in a row:

August, The Dog Did What? with "When Natty Rescued Nami."

September, Reboot Your Life with "A Happy Heart."

October, Touched by an Angel with "A Penny from Heaven."

If that's not enough, a week ago I got a note from one of the Chicken Soup editors letting me know I'd won a box of the brand's new line of comfort food products. Last March I'd read this notice in the Inner Circle newsletter, a communique for contributors:

We’re looking for a few volunteers to host Chicken Soup for the Soul comfort food dinner parties. We’ll send you our food products; you cook and invite your friends, and then take lots of photos and write up the results for your blog and/or social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. 

The box is on the way! Needless to say, I can't stop browsing the Chicken Soup for the Soul website, wondering which products it will include. There's soups, broths, meal builders, gravies, soup toppers, trail mix, salsa, barbecue and pasta sauces. My box will include recipes and suggestions, as well.

This weekend I designed my invitation and located some cocktail napkins with a chicken motif. I'm shopping for wine next week, and will look for an array to accompany what I envision a variety of mouthwatering dishes. 

I'm inviting some of my favorite girlfriends to an old school Sunday chicken dinner! Though all of the products look tempting to me, I'm hoping my box contains the sesame ginger sauce! And, of course, Chicken Soup for the Soul chicken soup.

I've selected my centerpiece. Years ago I bought a Chicken Soup for the Soul Commemorative plate that nestles in a wrought iron stand atop my entertainment center, where I display all the books that contain my stories. It features a cozy kitchen with a cat lounging on the window seat and a tureen of soup steaming away on the wood stove. And the words, "Season All Things With Love."

You can win some Chicken Soup for the Soul comfort foods, too...here's a link to the company's weekly sweepstakes: http://www.chickensoup.com/foods/promos/