The past five days I have alternated between been sick, tired or sick AND tired.  I currently have the maternal unit of all sinus congestion and I’m miserable and sick and tired of being sick and tired.  It could be a head cold, it could be the flu – I’m not even sure anymore, because I can’t think straight.  For days, everything that might have been of any kind of worth between my ears has slowly and methodically turned to… eww & goo.  I can’t imagine that I have any space left that is occupied by any semblance of brain, organ or functional tissue.  The only thing that pours out is… goo.  Eww.  A person can’t think with a head filled with… you know.

So, today I offer you a great soup recipe to help us both through what could be a continued wicked winter (it’s all up to that Punxsutawney Phil this weekend) where the temps have been all over the map, all over the map (here in Southern California we’ve ranged from freezing temps to the mid 80’s).  Personally, I’m sick and tired of the Bi-Polar Vortex and now I’m sick and tired, to boot.  This here is a no fuss, no muss, I-cannot-think-with-a-congested-head, easy-peasy recipe – in the event you have your own eww & goo to deal with.

 Southwestern (where the temps aren’t below zero. Yet.) Chicken Soup

Cooking spray

1 cup chopped onion

3 garlic cloves, minced

6 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1/4 cup uncooked white rice

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 (16-ounce) can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained

3 cups chopped skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast cooked from the market

1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro [The most work you’ll do here.]

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup diced peeled avocado

1 cup chopped seeded tomato

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

6 lime wedges [If you’re NOT sick and want to be fancy.]

Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and garlic, and sauté 3 minutes. Add broth, rice, cumin, and beans; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 15 minutes. Stir in chicken, cilantro, pepper, and salt; simmer 5 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly heated.  Remove from heat, and stir in tomato, avocado, and juice. You could, or could not, serve with lime wedges.

Eat by a heat source, covered with a blanket with a good book and hot cup of tea at your side.

Here’s wishing that all of your eww & goo be turned to “Oooh!” before this cold and flu season is over.

xo – t.

“There are three types of friends: those like food, without which you can’t live; those like medicine, which you need occasionally; and those like an illness, which you never want.” – Unknown

“The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.” – Voltaire

“Envy is persistent as memory, as intractable as a head cold.” – Harry Stein