Cooking Alone (and Sick)
October 15, 2007 by Andrea 
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Filed under Musings...
Michael goes through phases in traveling with his job. Some months he’s only gone a day or two here and there, and others he’s gone for a week or more. Those weeks when he’s gone, like this one, I find myself dropping everything, including cooking, just to keep up with the kids. And this week it’s a real challenge since Mommy is sick with a yucky cold.
So what does a Mom who loves to cook do when she is sick and exhausted from keeping up with three little boys but still has to feed them and herself? First, I fix myself a nice hot lemon toddy several times a day! Then for our meals, I clean out the refrigerator, thaw stuff from the freezer, and prepare very simple favorites. The Day 1 plan is always to finish any leftovers in the refrigerator, and then the rest of the week we may have any of the following:
- Homemade soups stored in the freezer. We usually have chicken noodle soup on hand, which is always a favorite for the boys, but we may also have any of the following: beef barley, corn chowder, ajiaco, chicken tortilla, black bean, cream of baked potato, cream of roasted tomato, winter minestrone, and curried lentil and potato stew.
- Thaw out some spaghetti sauce and warm it up, then toss with cooked pasta or make a baked pasta if I’m feeling particularly daring.
- Make breakfast for dinner. It’s always a treat for the kids when we have pancakes, and I never have to worry about whether or not they’ll eat on those nights. Make them even more fun by adding bananas, blueberries, or cinnamon and raisins.
- Make fruit and yogurt smoothies.
- Treat myself to some sushi from the Wegman’s sushi counter.
- Desperate measures may call for pizza delivery from a local parlor that is pretty good. I reserve this for later in the week when I’m more likely to be absolutely worn out from chasing after my boys!
Andrea I have a sure fire remedy that makes me feel better when I have a head or chest cold. I use ordinary Organic Chicken broth any brand and make a tea with it. I add as much fresh garlic in whole cloves as I can to 1 qt of broth (a whole head is great). Then add a big couple of fingers of ginger peeled and julienned. I add a chopped onion, fresh thyme, fresh parsley, and cayenne. I let it steep about 20-30 minutes at a very slow simmer, then strain and drink as a tea. All of those things are mucalytics. You can eat the garlic and ginger if you like!
It will open me up when nothing else will. Hope you feel better!
BZ
I do hope you feel better soon… I like to make chicken rice soup when we are sick. Take care…
Double your allergy medicine (insert warning: please contact your physician first…..). After a hefty allergic reaction recently, I was informed that most people can actually quadruple a standard OTC dose of allergy medicine. This helps dry up the mucus membranes.
And exercise….even just walking can help you cough all the “crap” out. Then the little endorphins help you feel better and you’ll sleep deeper too.
Get Well Soon!
Oh Andrea. Count down the days till daddy gets back, then go to bed for 24hours. Feel better. Inge
BZ, Cris, Keely, and Inge: Thanks for the good wishes and the cold remedies! I’ve now lost my voice…never a good thing with little boys…but things are going to get better soon!
Nice blog, very informative contents. I also got similar to this one, would you mind if I ask you for a link exchange? Regards…
I love soups so I am going to have to try all of your (simple) suggestions. I can’t cook, remember.
I was a Wegman’s for the first time several weeks ago and yes, their sushi looked yummy!