sick days

I haven't had a single flu, cold, virus or other sickness this whole winter and I was so proud of my immune system until last week. When you're working with toddlers it is easy to be contaminated with their sneezes, kisses, and little hands covered in saliva baring all sorts of lovely bacteria. The second day of work i woke up with an ominously sore throat. I stuffed myself with all the remedies i had in the house but i still got hit with a flu.

That first Friday i came home ready to throw myself into bed. Hunter had other plans, plans that involved delicious soup. He bought this Old Fashioned Beef Barley soup mix and the ground beef from our local butcher's, and had it slowly simmering on the stove when i walked through the door. I was so happy he found an equally comforting alternative to chicken noodle soup since i've found out i'm allergic to chicken.

The soup mix, Mitchell's, is made on The Island from local and organic ingredients. It's wildly popular in this area and i can see why. It was delicious and exactly what my tired body needed. Thank you Aunty K and family, I'm sure it tasted better because it was cooked in my gorgeous dutch oven!

Since then we've bought three more mixes (the butcher was having a sale): Fully Loaded Potato soup, Ginger Coconut Dahl, and West Coast Seafood Chowder. I'm excited for a rainy day when we can try them!

We drank obscene amounts of ginger, honey, lemon hot water and i was better in three days! Equal parts fresh chopped ginger, honey and freshly squeezed lemon juice in hot water and repeat until you're better. It also helps to have a warm body to snuggle and a good tv show/movies to watch.

I also tried the wet sock treatment on my landlord's recommendation and even though it felt weird the first night it wasn't that bad and i think it helped me speed through my flu. If you're interested, google it and you'll find lots of info! Socks need to be at least 90% cotton and wool, respectively. My cold socks weren't dripping wet and i didn't use any essential oils, but it seemed to help and my bed was completely dry the next morning.

What does your family do when someone's sick? Secret home remedies? Go-to cough syrup brands?
I hope you're all staying healthy.
xoxo, a+h

lately, food edition

Pictured

1. Hunter's baked yam fries with home made chipotle mayo (thank you G for the spices!). Sooo perfect. Crunchy on the outside and sweet and soft on the inside. I love yam fries, more than potato fries i think. Although i'll never really pass up any starch in frie form.

2. This chickpea salad and some framboise (raspberry) lambic. Simple and delicious.

3. Blue potatoes, my favourite kind of 'tater. One day i will finally make blue mashed potatoes and it will look fantastic next to some asparagus and corn on the cob. Eating gorgeous food seems to enhance the whole experience and make me more grateful and present during the meal.

4. Hunter is a master at kale chips. I request them almost every night.

5. The hand-made colander i wanted! So happy with it, it holds my fruit and the odd piece of ginger or avocado so cutely. Thank you Mamma and Georgia!

6. A close up of a classic dinner in this little house: roast veggies (here we had cauliflower, rainbow carrots, shallots, brussels sprouts, garlic, tossed with olive oil + fresh thyme + asian nori salt mix). We ate them over a medley of wild and brown rice but honestly i kind of wished i just had a heaping plate of these veggies.

7. Gluten-free apple rhubarb pie (and fresh strawberries) that Hunter surprised me with after my first week at my new job (a post about that in the future!). It's safe to say pie is my favourite food.

8. Hunter convinced me that we should bring up his vitamix from home and now i don't know why i ever resisted. Or how i enjoyed smoothies before this. I'm a huge texture person (i couldn't eat bananas for many years) and this blender whizzes veggies and frozen fruit into the best texture ever.


Not pictured
Every other meal we eat because it looks too boring to grab the camera or we are too busy and hungry to bother taking a picture.

What's a classic meal in your house??

Brussel sprouts w/ sweet chilli sauce

On Tuesday night, Hunter and I decided to have stir-fry, vermicelli noodles, and roasted brussels sprouts (i looked it up, it's got an extra s on the end. Weird). The wok we were using was very finicky and less of a wok and more of a slow cooker, so we just had rice noodles with brussels sprouts and it was DELICIOUS.
I found a recipe for brussels sprouts with sweet chilli sauce that i wanted to try but realized around 7pm that we didn't have sweet chilli sauce. We do live in a city now and could have gone and bought some, but my bike's front light is dead and it is glacial temperatures outside so i improvised.

I used:

  brussels sprouts

  olive oil

~

  garlic

  fresh ginger

  soy sauce

  fish sauce

  brown sugar

  red wine vinegar

  coconut oil

  chilli flakes

~

  extra firm tofu

  coconut and olive oil

~

  vermicelli noodles

  sesame oil

I did:
Heat the oven to 400, cut the ends off sprouts, cut in half and wash. Spread evenly in baking tray and coat generously with olive oil. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until almost at your desired tenderness. Remove from oven and coat with sauce. Then return to the oven and bake for a few more minutes. I put them back in the oven, turned it off, and left them in there for about 7 more minutes and they were perfectly tender without being mushy.

For the sauce: mixed together garlic, ginger, soy & fish sauce, sugar, vinegar, melted coconut oil and chilli flakes and set aside to "marinate" together while the sprouts baked.

For the tofu: cut into whatever shape you like, cook in hot wok with some oil, Asian Nori Salt, and pepper until desired crispy-ness. Set aside.

For the noodles: boiled water with some salt. Put the noodles in the bowl you will serve them in (i used a ceramic bowl), and then cover them in boiling water. Stirred them with a fork every minute or so, tasting the noodles for texture. Right before they are the perfect tender/crunchy combo for you (about three minutes for me), drained them in the sink, run a little cold water over them, and return to the warm bowl. Added a bit of sesame oil and toss.

Serve the brussel sprouts over the noodles as soon as they are out of the oven, preferably with a nice crisp beer!
My plan was to eat a whole box of Anna's ginger thins with a cup of tea after dinner, but this was so good and i eat so much i didn't even have room for cookies! I had them this morning though...

The next day we reheated the leftovers by sauteing (no microwave!) with a little extra coconut oil and soy sauce and it was as fantastic as i remembered it.

Do you have a favourite brussel sprouts recipe? I can't get enough of the little veggies lately and I'd love to try new recipes!