Get Well Pho

While I was sick, I wasn't doing too much of anything, except sleeping.  I slept 12-14 hours a day. During the times I was awake, I barely had the energy to make it to the couch to watch TV.   When I ate, food was quick and easy.  I lost my taste, and most days nothing sounded good.  If something actually sounded good, I ate it, only to be disappointed because it had no flavor.

A couple years ago, I had a bad winter cold.  My friend insisted I need a big bowl of chicken "fuh" to feel better. 

Ummm, what?  

You know, "fuh" from that place over by that market. 

Oh, that's what that is?  "Pho" is pronounced "fuh"?  Gotcha.

So I went with her and got a big bowl of pho. 

It was steaming hot and smelled amazing and tasted even better.  You could tell the broth was homemade and simmered from bones all day long.  There was an assortment of bits and pieces you could get in your pho like tendons and tripe, but I stuck with something "safe" and got thinly sliced steak. 

After the first bite, I was hooked.  Don't tell anyone, but I like it better than my mom's chicken noodle soup she made when we were kids.

 
Now, since I have been sick, I have been lazy and using lots of shortcuts.  

 Yes, I know it's way better to cut up a chicken and simmer it for hours and make a rich, nourishing stock.  But when you are only out of bed for 2 hours a day (that's a generous number, too), you don't have time to simmer a stock and make a fancy meal.  

So this is the shortcut way to make a big bowl of pho.   

Get Well Chicken Pho

1-2 carton(s) Chicken Pho Soup Base
1lb seasoned ground pork sausage (once again, I cheated used "Potsticker" flavor fresh made sausage from the local market...but use plain, add 2 finely chopped green onions, 2tbl finely diced red bell pepper, and salt, pepper, soy sauce and freshly grated ginger to taste)
1/2 of a 14 oz package rice noodles, prepared according to package directions, drained (I use the Taste of Thai stir fry noodles)
A handful of dried Shiitake mushrooms, prepared according to package directions
1 package fresh bean sprouts, rinsed
1 Lime cut in wedges
1 bunch basil, roughly torn
1 bunch cilantro, roughly torn


Preheat oven to 400*.  Shape pork into walnut sized meatballs.  In a heavy oven safe skillet, melt coconut oil over medium high heat.  Brown meatballs on one side for about 2-3 minutes.Carefully turn meatballs over, turn off stove, and place skillet in the oven for 10-15 minutes until meatballs are cooked completely (165* internal temperature). 

In a pot heat soup base until it starts to come to a boil. Don't let it boil away for too long, you just want to get it to serving temperature. 

In a deep soup bowl, place a portion of the noodles in the bottom, followed by a small handful of bean sprouts, a few meatballs, and a bit of the shiitake mushrooms.  Ladle hot broth over the top.  Top with basil and cilantro and a lime wedge.  Serve immediately. 

Resting and recouping

After 3 weeks of being sick and running a fever most of the weekend, I finally dragged myself to the doctor's office at the suggestion of my family and friends.  The receptionist checking me in handed me a beautiful blue mask and I sat in the waiting room with people looking at me like I had leprosy.  The medical assistant calls my name and upon seeing the blue paper mask, instantly puts one on herself and a pair of latex gloves.  Great, not only do they think that I have leprosy, but they think that I probably have the plague too. 

 I mean what's next?  Are they going to try to throw me on the dead cart going down the street like in Spamalot?  I'm not dead yet.  I feel like it, but I'm far from it.  

Have you seen Spamalot?  It's hysterical, and my husband who says he hates theater and musicals, loved it and has seen it twice!  

After the medical assistant took my temperature (100.2*), tried to squeeze off my arm with a blood pressure cuff, and asked a million questions about if I smoke (no), if I'm pregnant (no), or if I'm in an unsafe home environment (no), I finally got to see the doctor.  

I really like my doctor.  I'm so glad I finally found someone I like at Kaiser, it's pretty difficult.  After talking with her for a few minutes and her listing to me (try to) breath through my crackling lungs, and checking my ears, and tonsils, I got the diagnosis I'd been fearing...pneumonia.  Ugh!  I don't have time to be this sick.  I got sent home with a get well present consisting of a z-pak and some stronger cough syrup and ordered to spend the next two days at home in bed.  If I'm starting to get better by Wednesday morning, I can go back to work, and gradually get back to normal life.  If I'm feeling the same or worse by Wednesday, I get to go back to the doctor for a chest x-ray, and a bunch more exciting get well activities.  

I came home and made a quick chicken soup with leftover rotisserie chicken and a few handfuls of whatever veggies I could find in the fridge.  I spent much of the day napping in bed.  When I got bored with that, I napped on the couch.  I made myself some fresh juice with a big hunk of ginger in it. I've sipped on hot lemon honey water all day.  I've been trying not to hack up a lung or break a rib from all the coughing.

Tonight, I'm not feeling any better, but am hoping that I will be able to get a good night's sleep, as long as this cough can get under control.  Hopefully tomorrow, I will start to feel better and can get back to normal life soon.  I miss cooking and going to the gym.  I miss feeling human and caring.  Today, I almost wore sweat pants out of the house and didn't even feel like brushing the knots out of my hair.  Thankfully, the shame about not wanting to look like a People of Walmart picture brought me back to my senses and I went out of the house with real clothes, a washed face, and brushed hair.  I'm just so tired of being sick.  It's exhausting, physically and emotionally.  I want to cry my eyes out, but if I do, I will end up n an asthmatic coughing fit and will cough myself into a migraine, so I just sit and feel sorry for myself and snuggle with my girls.

I hope to back writing and cooking soon.  I miss hanging out here.    

Have you managed to stay healthy so far this year? 

Superstitions, Folk Remedies, and Other Cures for Colds and Flus

Wintertime sickness is still lingering in our household.  It started right after Christmas and the coughs, sniffles, and tiredness are still hanging on.  I haven't been at work for a week, and I'm almost starting to miss it....but just a teeny tiny bit...

Ever since I was little, every time I got a wintertime cold, the cough seems to hang on for weeks....even months.  I remember missing a couple months of school when I was about 7 due to bronchitis, and got sick every winter and usually on every family vacation.  Although I do have a history of bronchitis and asthma as a child, it's virtually nonexistent since I've become an adult.  But every bad cold I get seems to reignite the past lung problems and I wind up with a cough that could be mistaken for an 80 year old lifelong chain smoker.

Since I've started eating a much cleaner, organic diet, and even more since going gluten free and working on my food allergies and other health issues, I've slowly been getting healthier.  I don't get every single cold that goes around, but this one managed to hit me hard and fast.  

I tried so many different things when I first started feeling like I was getting sick...vitamin c, zinc, juicing, washing my hands, anti-bacterial sanitizers, raw honey, staying at home, not eating out, eating warm foods like soups and bone broth, lots of garlic, lemon juice and coconut oil....anything I could think of to try to keep my immune system up.  But too many long, cold nights....too much indulging in foods I shouldn't....and I got sick.  

For the past week I have rotated my time between the couch and my bed.  Sleeping on and off all day and night.  Trying different folk remedies.  Eventually giving up on strictly the natural approach and living off Nyquil and way too much Netflix as well. Trying to keep the cravings for junk food away.  

(Does anyone else crave disgusting, crappy food when they are sick?  Or is that just me?)

My gym has a eucalyptus oil steam room.  I did manage to make it there on Sunday morning when the gym was empty and let my body try to sweat out the sickness.  I was very concerned that I would cough up a lung while I was in there...and the fact that I can't bring kleenex in there was of great concern.  But I brought a ton of water and a couple small hand towels for any sort of coughing catastrophe that could happen.  I did feel much better after doing that, but was extremely tired and slept most of the day afterwards.  

My sister said that one of her go-to-cure-all remedies is a hot toddy.  On Saturday evening while we were watching the 49ers game, I decided to give it a try.  I searched online and found many different variations, and decided to create my own version. I drank two of them and slept very well that night and woke up not feeling like I had been hit by a fleet of semi-trucks.  So did it cure me?  Who knows.  But I did feel better the next day, so I'm going to add it to my arsenal of natural cold remedies.   

Honey Lemon Hot Toddy

1/2 of one organic lemon

2 shots of Honey Whiskey 

Boiling water

Spoonful of raw, local honey

In a large mug, add juice of a half of a lemon.  Cut the juiced lemon half into 4 pieces (discard seeds) and add to the mug.  Add 2 shots of honey whiskey.  Fill the mug with boiling water.  Stir in a spoonful of honey.  Drink while still very hot, but don't burn yourself.  Drink entire mug before it cools down. 

***Be sure not to mix this with any cold medicines....always read the warning labels about mixing alcohol and medication.****

What do you do to stay healthy during cold and flu season?  Are you strictly a vitamin and chicken soup person?  Nyquil and trashy daytime TV?  Or a mixture of the two?  What are your favorite cold remedies?