So I’m on my own again today. And still sick. It’s been over a week at this point and while I don’t feel terrible, I just can’t get the congestion, tiredness and fever to go away.
Well it’s moved on towards lunch time and I need to eat something. I don’t have a car today, which takes care of that pesky lazy thought of “Well, just go to Panera and get some soup.” And while, yes I do live just half a mile from a Panera–and 3/4 a mile from Whole Foods–my tiredness and the 83F took care of any inclination to walk someplace where I can simply hand over a credit card and some kind person will hand me a giant bowl of already prepared food. No, we’re on our own today. And since we’re tired and tired of being sick (and for some reason, speaking in the royal “we”), we want something that’s not just delicious but about as healthy as we can possibly stand it to be.
As luck would have it, I have a freezer full of chicken breasts and a fridge of nutritional goodies, so I can indeed accomplish this weighty task and I will not submit to the tiny voice in my head that says, “You could just order in Chinese.” Even though my favorite Chinese restaurant is simply around the block (near the Panera, y’know) and they not only deliver but deliver quickly and the delivery guy is great. But no. No, we’re cooking ourselves well today.
So this is what I put together: a salad. No, not just a salad. THE salad. An easy, delicious salad full of flavor, vitamins and antioxidants. In fact, there is not a single unhealthy thing on this salad. It is the exact opposite of certain other meals I have made while sick that may or may not have contained over an entire day’s worth of fat.
The great thing is that I made this with ingredients that I normally keep around anyway: chicken, fresh baby spinach, lemon, red onion (okay, I normally don’t but red onion, but I got some from the farm share this week), walnuts, olive oil, part-skim mozzarella, strawberries and basil. Little known fact about me: I bleed strawberries. It really freaks out the phlebotomist, but eventually they get over that when they realize I am made of deliciousness. (Ok I made that last part up.) Continue reading →