Thanks everyone

I greatly appreciate all the advice on the sinus front. I'm not sure I'm ready to cut out dairy again, but I bet that would help a lot.

Also, I love all the great recipes you are posting. My family thanks you as well. The cauliflower curry soup and asparagus soup were big hits at my house.

Thanks again,

shauna

Immunity-boosting help, please

Okay, so one of my main motivations for starting this blog in the first place was that I get sick a lot. Nothing too terrible, just obnoxious sinus infections and their side effects (it moves to my lungs and gives me a bad sore throat on the way).

Since September (I'm going back to there, since the move created a marker by which to gage time better) I've had to take antibiotics twice (once for sinus infection, once for ear infection), and I've been sick more days than not. Each month has brought its own onset of sinus fun, and each bout takes me about 10-15 days to get over. October and December delivered twice the fun.

So, HELP! What can I do to stay healthy?!?!? I've been taking pro-biotics (though not religiously), and used cranberry pills once I get an infection (plus neti pot, musinex, decongestant, etc.), but does anyone know how I can avoid the problem in the first place? A few years back (pre-kids) I had some extensive allergy testing, plus a visit to the ENT (complete with CAT scan), and all they told me was that I have "non-allergic rhinitis." Yea, thanks for that. In plain English--an infection in the nose that is not produced by a histamine response to a known allergen. I've pretty much given up on traditional medicine helping me prevent the problem (that's not really their specialty), though I'm not opposed to trying meds.

Any suggestions?

Sincerely,

Desperately Congested

Vegetable-Cheese Soup

This is another one of those inventions of necessity. I wanted to make broccoli-cheese or potato-cheese soup, but didn't have all the right ingredients. So I made up my own soup with what I had on hand. Everyone liked it. My 10-month-old loved it so much I froze most of the leftovers in ice cube trays for him.

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped

3 carrots, peeled and chopped

3 potatoes, chopped(what I had on hand--small red variety)

1 head of broccoli, chopped

about 5 C water

4 bullion cubes

1 stick of butter

1/2 C flour

1 1/2 C milk

1-2 C cheese

Directions:

Place chopped veggies in a large pot and cover with water, and add bullion. Boil for about 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

In a small/medium saucepan, melt butter. Add flour and milk and let thicken. Add cheese.

Add cheesey mixture to the veggies in the large pot, and stir.

For baby: puree soup in a small food processor or blender before serving.

Easy Mac-n-Cheese

One thing that is pretty guaranteed that my little boy Sol will eat is mac-n-cheese. I don't do the box stuff, so here's something I do for an easy and fast lunch. It's somewhat adapted from the Deceptively Delicious cookbook.

Boil some whole wheat pasta (rotini, elbow, or farfalle work well) in water following directions on box. Then I make a sauce by stirring in some cream cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, milk, and vegetable puree* (usually of winter squash, cauliflower, or pumpkin). Stir into pasta until well mixed and the cheese sauce is the consistency you like. Sorry I can't be more specific, I just do what looks good.

*I just steam/bake the squash/cauliflower/pumpkin and then puree it in my food processor and then freeze the puree in ice cube trays. Then I can put extra veggies in sauces and foods. Right now Sol is a big fan of veggies, but it never hurts to have extra helpings for him or us!

Wheat Meat

I finally got up my courage to attempt to make wheat meat (can be used as meat substitute or meat extender). I went to a friend's house so we could at least have fun if the product failed miserably. Turns out it was a lot easier than I thought--especially because I used gluten flour, thus skipping many daunting steps.

Here's the recipe:

2 C gluten flour
1/3 C flour (whole wheat, soy, rice, it doesn't matter)
seasoning (you can add whatever you want here, or wait until later)

mix together well, then add:
1 1/4 C water

Stir about 10 times, or until everything magically comes together.

Form into four balls and place in steamer. Steam for 20-30 minutes. Place in blender or food processor (if you want ground beef-like substitute). You can then bake it, fry it, add it to recipes, etc.

I haven't tasted it yet, because I had leftovers to dispose of last night. Thanks, Angie, for being brave and trying this stuff out with me.

Becca's Bean Gunk

Hi Shauna! Thanks for including me in your healthy-bloggy-foody project. Here's a little vegetarian contribution.
Matt and I fell in love in our dingy student apartments over steaming bowls of this stuff. It's fast, easy, made of cheap ingredients, and tasty too!
Bean Gunk

olive oil
sea salt
one onion, chopped
garlic
2 or 3 cups of vegetables: celery, carrots, peppers--even fennel or hard squash would be good, too.
1 can of stewed tomatoes
1 can of black beans, with their juices
fresh herbs-- cilantro is my favorite
other possible additions: chipotle tabasco, cumin, smoked paprika, turmeric

Saute the onion, garlic in the olive oil until they're a little bit carmelized. Add whatever spices and the veg and cook for a few more minutes until everything is really combined and smelling amazing. Then add the tomatoes and the beans and let the stuff simmer for 10 minutes or so, until it thickens a little bit and everything is thoroughly combined. Add the chopped fresh herbs and voila!
I like to serve it on rice, with maybe some cheese or sour cream on top.

Note: You could expand this into a soup easily-- just add broth and/or white wine when you add the tomatoes.
I hope you enjoy it!

Crispy Chickpea Pitas

Here's one we had this past week. I got it from a magazine I love-Real Simple. Here's the recipe:

Crispy Chickpea Pita

hands-on time: 20 minutes, serves 4

Ingredients:

3 TB olive oil
1 15.5 oz can chickpeas
3 TB fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped, plus 1/2 cup whole parsley leaves (if you have on hand, mine had gone bad, so we didn't use it this time)
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 plum tomatoes (I use whatever I have in my fridge)
4 pitas or pieces of flat bread, warmed
1 8-oz container hummus (or you can make your own, look below)
1 small red onion, thinly sliced (again we didn't have this at the time, so we just omitted it, but it's really good)
1 tsp hot sauce (such as Tabasco)
1/2 cup plain yogurt (or sour cream)
1 lemon cut into wedges

Directions:

Heat 2 TB of oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chickpeas and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly browned, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the lemon juice, chopped parsley leaves, tomatoes, and the remaining oil, salt, and pepper, Divide the warm pitas or flat bread among individual plates and spread with the hummus. Top with the chick peas, onion, and hot sauce. Serve with the parsley salad, yogurt, and lemon wedges.

***note*** some yummy things to add may be kalamata olives, or just plain black olives sliced up, or (if you're not worried about keeping it vegetarian) cooked chicken pieces.

Hummus: Using a blender, food processor, or magic bullet (great thing!!) blend 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans) with 4-5 TB chicken broth, 2 cloves garlic, 1 TB lemon juice, and 2 TB tahini (or we added 1 TB sesame seeds). We added some olive oil as well to make it a little smoother. Salt and pepper to taste and serve chilled with sprinkle of paprika on top. It's really that easy!! And it can be a yummy appetizer with pita chips or pieces of pita bread while you get the rest of dinner going.