>I was falling asleep on the couch as the Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings headed into overtime. That’s how sick I was; I couldn’t stay awake to watch the end of Monday Night Football! As I dragged myself up to bed, it occurred to me that I hadn’t posted my weekly recipe yet. Well, folks, sometimes illness gets in the way of regular blogging, but here’s a taste of yesterday.

Chicken Soup with Rice
It’s the ultimate comfort food; keep chicken stock and chicken scraps in the freezer for soups or stews, and it’ll be easy to put together a soup when you’re not feeling well. Here are the ingredients that went into mine.

6 cups chicken stock
2 cups chicken scraps (from freezer, labelled “chicken for soup”)
1/4 cup onion, diced
1/4 cup red pepper and yellow pepper, also from the freezer: last summer’s garden yield
1/4 cup frozen corn
1 potato, diced
1 carrot, diced (bunnies enjoyed the leftover peelings)
1 stalk of celery, diced (see above: bunnies handled the ends)

The entire mix simmered in the crockpot most of the day while I struggled to get the new humidifier working, get laundry done, and take naps. About 4:00, I added 1/2 cup wild rice and 1/2 cup barley. We served this with toasted cheese sandwiches made on basic white bread with a little flaxseed, and called it good.

I slept well last night, and I’m breathing a little better this morning. Tonight? Another classic comfort food from Daisy’s repertoire: Baked mac & cheese. Low maintenance, good taste, an all around winner when the chief cook is under the weather.

By the way, it’s still not too late to vote for my sustainable cooking tip on Brighter Planet! Click on “I like this” to give me another credit. Then enjoy yourself browsing the others in this category and all across the Sustainable Cooking contest!