Dear John,

I’m writing at the end of the workday, closing out two (work) weeks of sickness. It’s been 50-some odd hours since we’ve had to run to the bathroom, and I really, really, really hope we’re on the other side.

At some point, after a friend had dropped off Gatorade and bananas, I sent you to the store. We came up with a list. To save us the trouble of finding it in the Notes app the next time we need it, I’m putting my updated version here, broken out by category of foods that are usually being used around the kitchen, the food lives on the sick food shelf established early 2020, and food that we don’t eat often enough to keep on hand. I’m including both the food for the clear liquid and BRAT diet phase and making sure there are ingredients for a few meals once we’re truly on the mend.

Later in the week, well after the Zofran script was necessary, when I was tired of gatorade and jello and bananas and applesauce on toast, I made another batch of Instant Pot congee and sent out the call to friends, besides Chicken Noodle Soup, what foods do you make when recovering from sickness?

Barely beyond BRAT

• Yogurt with a spoonful of applesauce
• Yogurt with a sliced banana
• Toast with applesauce, maybe even sprinkled with cinnamon
• Smoothie of yogurt + coconut water + banana. Maybe even sprinkled with nutmeg.

From the vegans, food great for upper respiratory infections, if not for the GI days.

• Lemony Chickpea Soup – Loved in any season
• Lentil soup, salty broth with whatever veg is around

Variations on Chicken Soup

• Start with a chicken stock. (Or start with the congee and then use the bones from that chicken to make a stock.)
• I make chicken/ginger/lemon broth to drink – it’s great for nausea after anesthesia. Juice the lemon at the end so it tastes fresh. I freeze the broth in 8oz mason jars so I can easily thaw single servings.
• The congee I listed above is excellent in it’s flexibility. My first batch was garlic, ginger, rice, salt, water, and chicken. My second I put dried mushrooms through the spice grinder before adding them to the water. If someone is healthy, they can use the fun toppings.
• Perhaps the “Chicken and Wild Rice” soup I get from the store
• Tomato Ginger Chicken and Rice soup
• Creamy chicken noodle soup with potatoes
• Avgolemono Chicken Soup With Gnocchi . Without having tried this, my instinct is to do it as written if we have gnocchi on hand and do traditional rice if we don’t.
• Chicken and dumplings (Recipe found online when I pointed out that dumplings normally have gluten, so not tested. As an aside, this blog has an idea for a dinner party that feels so church lady fun that I want to attend one.)
• Then there’s my standby miso soup with (gluten) dumplings. Frozen potstickers. Covered with boiling water. Cook. When done put a spoonful of miso in a bowl, dissolve into some of the not-quite-boiling-anymore water. Pour into the pot. Then serve.
• Mine is more of a soup my mom made a million times, but is very simple. Most importantly, you cook the orzo (always orzo) separately and top with pecorino cheese
• What about a Sancocho? I’ve never made it but I know my MIL swore by it when she was sick her whole pregnancy with [husband]
• One of our cold weather faves is ebbeh. I just tried to find a recipe and couldn’t find a simple one, but you basically just boil up a lot of cassava and sweet potato, add lots of onion, garlic and pepper and smoked fish. Really hearty and comforting.
• I’m going to link the the NPR healing soups mini–series, even though most of these recipes call for something we don’t have.

Variations on Noodles

• Ramen from Trader Joe’s
• We get white chicken flavored ramen from the Japanese grocery store and eat that, and add eggs and veggies as we feel better.
• Butter noodles
• Mac and cheese

Topping a carb

• Baked potato topped with herb yogurt (I had a yogurt sauce of wild onion + tahini + yogurt in the fridge, when that was done I made one with garden parsley + tahini +yogurt); Later in the week, I made chicken stock. When I filtered the stock, I pulled aside the chopped carrots and little bits of meat. Added them to a potato with some cheddar and the parsley sauce. Honestly, a trick to try again.)
• Pancakes with applesauce (we did this, only I was so done with applesauce that we made the instant pot apple topping)
• French toast (with more of the apple topping)

Eggs

• Egg Hash
• Steamed egg

Tonight I’m making quiche to ease some more fibrous vegetables into the diet. Here’s hoping we get to return to our regularly scheduled menu planning soon!

In sickness and in health,

Sarah