Ok – well, disclaimer – not sure if it will truly kick your cold so don't sue me if it doesn't but it sure does taste good if you're tired of chicken noodle soup when you're sick.
I have been down with a yucky cold this week and I hate how dry decongestants make you. The stuff you need to do, like take a decongestant, to function when down with a cold seem a little counter intuitive to what you are told to do by all the health experts, hydrate. So I started researching to see if there were some natural remedies.
I found several articles named “the 10 foods to eat when you have a cold”. According to these articles, some foods, mostly veggies and spices, have different antioxidant properties and nutrients that help power up your immune system and help fight off that nasty cold. Now this is not an excuse to skip the doc if you're feeling really badly – so don't think I am saying that. I am saying in conjunction with your doctor's orders and conventional medicinal remedies – sometimes eating a super powered meal that tastes great can at the very least help you feel better emotionally if not physically.
So among the list of foods that these articles said were immune boosters were:
- broccoli
- red bell pepper
- turmeric (a key component in curries that give it that yellow color)
- ginger
- garlic
- lean proteins
- pumpkin
- tomatoes
- green tea
- whole grains
Sound familiar? Yes – pretty much what you should eat everyday to be fit, happy & healthy. “East your colors, lean meats & whole grains”. But right now, I am feeling pretty sluggish, cranky & puny! So I thought – how can I get as many of these items into one dinner because the other thing the article said was you need to combine these food s to really get a good result.
So I found a curry paste starter that has both turmeric & ginger – as well as some other energy spices like cinnamon. 2 down.
I had some left over steamed chicken and broccoli from my chinese food the night before – 2 more down
I put garlic in everything so what the heck.
All I had to go out and buy was the can of tomatoes with onions and garlic (but watch and make sure you don't get the Italian one – that would taste weird) & a red bell pepper.
Here is my recipe!
- 1 red bell pepper – seeded and sliced into strips
- 1 cup broccoli – fresh & cut into bite sized trees
- 1 cup cooked boneless skinless chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces
- (or you can order the steamed chicken and broccoli from your local Chinese take out place & skip the work on the above)
- 1 can diced tomato with garlic, onion & parsley (but no other spices)
- 1T curry paste (make sure it has turmeric, ginger, garlic in it)
- 2t minced garlic
- 2T olive oil
- 1 1/2C water
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In a saute or large fry pan – put the olive oil and saute the pepper & garlic until a little tender (if your broccoli is uncooked throw this in now too.). Then add broccoli & chicken & curry paste. Stir around so the paste gets all over everything. Then add the tomatoes & water. Simmer covered on low for 15mins.
You can serve this over your left over rice from the Chinese Take out place or make your own – or eat it by itself. Are you vegetarian? Drop the chicken and throw in some more cut up veggies (maybe some fresh baby bellas, celery, carrots or zucchini). Don't have left over take out and hate cutting up things? Check out your grocer's frozen food section for a Stir Fry veggie blend – make sure there isn't any sauce or rice in it and you are good to go! Use this in place of your veggies listed above.
For my WW friends – this (w/o rice) is 6pts for the whole dang thing!!!! 3pts if don't put chicken in.
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