Spicy Pork and Mustard Green Soup

A Chicago winter is never kind, but this year Mother Nature has been downright unruly. From the record-breaking negative 50-degree (yes, that’s NEGATIVE FIFTY) wind chills, to the foot-or-so of snow that the “Polar Vortex” dropped on us, to the several inches of rain that followed, Chicago’s weather has really been testing everyone’s patience.

And because of this intolerable cold, staying warm has been challenging. I walk to work, and although I’m not going far, when it’s negative 50-degrees, a block can seem like a mile. Bundling up has become a competitive sport — seeing how many layers you can manage to squeeze under your coat before you end up like Randy from A Christmas Story and can no longer put your arms down. The resemblance is striking, no?

(Oh, and another pro tip for the ladies out there: don’t put on mascara until after you’ve gotten to work — it’ll save you the “it’s-so-cold-I’m-crying-and-now-mascara-is-running-down-my-face” problem that happened to me last week I’ve suffered from in the past. )

During a winter like this, you just need an extra boost to push your body into comfortable temperature range. This soup, on the cover of Bon Appetit’s January issue, is the perfect thing. Hot, spicy broth layered with pork, mustard greens, scallions and rice noodles. For extra kick, I recommend stirring in a bit of Sriracha — why not?

Perfectly slurpable and oh-so enjoyable going down — your cold body will thank you.

Click through for Bon Appetit’s recipe for Spicy Pork and Mustard Green Soup

(Psst…if you haven’t noticed, we’ve been making some changes around here at Fresh and Foodie — hope you like ‘em!)