Yuck.
Most of my friends from college know how whiny and awful I get when I get sick - it was especially bad then as I was doing so much singing, even a little cold would ruin a full week. Recently, when I was working with teeny tinies (3 year-olds and younger) I would consistently lose my voice every time I got a cold, as I'd ooh and aah and sing "Old MacDonald" incessantly with the little guys. Now, if I have a cold, it's not the end of the world, but I still do not like it.
I felt a cold coming on this week on Friday morning - my nose was running like crazy on Thursday night, which it frequently does due to allergies, but I woke up in the middle of Thursday night with a little sore spot in my throat. That's the usual sign that I've come to recognize as meaning I'm getting a cold.
Ugh.
So, after making it through work on Friday, I loaded up with some Zicam, Mucinex, Kleenex, and chamomile tea, and decided I'd put this weekend to good use - relaxing and cooking!
After sleeping for 9-10 hours on Friday night, I picked up the staples at the grocery store on Saturday. I decided to make chicken marsala on Saturday night for dinner - a lightened up version made by Emily Bites and which can be found here! (By the way, the beef stew on the Emily Bites home page right now looks amaaazing - I'm not a huge red meat eater, but I definitely will make an exception for this one. Sounds delicious and easy to make!) Jury's still out on how the Chicken Marsala is, as after being sad that I couldn't smell or taste very well last night, I decided to store it in a tupperware and go with frozen leftovers.
The second thing I wanted to accomplish this weekend was to use a second can of pumpkin puree that I had in my cabinet since the holidays. When I went to buy pumpkin to make some pumpkin breads for family for Hanukkah/Christmas, there was a buy-one-get-one-free sale on the puree - I figured I'd use it at some point. I came across one more Emily Bites recipe and one Skinny Ms recipe, both for breakfasts, that included pumpkin and looked excellent. Before I went out to meet A and some friends last night, I threw together this Overnight Slow Cooker Pumpkin Pie Steel Cut Oats. I added some stevia in the raw for sweetener, and used unsweetened vanilla almond milk rather than water. In the morning, I had a delicious-smelling (Yes! I can smell again as of this morning!) oatmeal, which I pre-portioned for the coming week or to freeze as leftovers.
Second, I decided to make this Emily Bites pumpkin french toast! I frequently make french toast out of light wheat bread anyway - a very filling and low-calorie breakfast, using egg beaters and 1 Tbsp of maple syrup, and sometimes a side of turkey bacon or veggie sausage. This pumpkin version of my usual breakfast was amazing!
I made some for breakfast this morning, and it was a fabulous "I can smell again" treat!
Finally, I decided to go to the Farmer's Market after attempting a short run this morning, and got together a great bunch of vegetables: squash, zucchini, carrots, beets, cauliflower, and broccoli. I decided to throw these veggies together and roast them with some balsamic and olive oil, as suggested (again) by Emily Bites. These were so delicious, easy, and colorful!
Aaaaand then I decided to have a breadstick and salad at A's house and a bowl of light ice cream for dinner rather than eat the delicious things I made this weekend... oops. Oh well. I'm an adult and I can have ice cream for dinner if I want every once in awhile, right? :) I'll be excited to eat everything this coming week!
Hope everyone has a great week ahead!
I'm glad you are feeling better!! I know how much you dislike being sick ;) you are a trooper!!
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