When you have a cold...recipes please

Heya folks,

I've got a standard issue shopping list when I feel a cold coming on but it's all shopping and no cooking for me when I'm sick. It includes:
Nyquil
Dayquil
Diet Vernors
Ice
Puffs with Vicks in the hankie (these are WONDERFUL)
Cough drops...lemon with honey

Then I call an order in for some sort of Asian soup. The light hot spicy kind.

So, I have a friend that is under the weather and I'd like to bring the goodies to her.

Which had me wondering what foodies other than me want when they are under the weather.

Hope all is healthy and well.

Best,

Sarita

you are right on track with the asian soup. i haven't tried the spicy kind though. that sounds great! i usually go for wonton soup or miso.

if i'm sick, and actually have an appetite for more than brothy soups, what i want are the things i love any other time, my favorite foods. same as when i'm emotionally under the weather (unhealthy maybe, but it works for me). enjoying the things i love best comforts me, and even if the foods are in no way medicinal, i feel better. i'll take sushi or spaghetti bolognese or some ditto's citrus cod with mashed potatoes, please!

hope your pal gets to feeling better soon

Bourbon and Chili. Doesn't really make me feel any better but if your already in pain ya might as well wallow in it.

When I was a kid my granny used to give me a glass of warm Lemonade with honey and a shot of bourbon it...Which might explain a lot, I dunno.

I love the warm lemonade with a shot idea. The soups I like when I'm sick are brothy too. I love the spicy lemongrass kind with rice noodles.

Pho from VK. Does the trick EVERY time. And a box of swiss cake rolls, with some milk.

When I was a kid my granny used to give me a glass of warm Lemonade with honey and a shot of bourbon it...Which might explain a lot, I dunno.

She wasn't trying to make you feel better .. she was trying to get you to go to sleep and shut up.

There was a great article in a Saveur last year (I think) about the healing powers of Hot and Sour Soup. I couldn't find a link to the article, but here's a link to the recipe. It's become a staple in our house, whether somebody's sick or not. I use bourbon instead of brandy for the pork, and dried mushrooms. I generally leave out the potato.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Food/Suan-La-Tang

She wasn't trying to make you feel better .. she was trying to get you to go to sleep and shut up.

CRACKING UP RIGHT NOW!!! Too funny.
If it were not for the Nyquil my family would have disowned me (or I them) by now.

I, too, always want Hot and Sour soup when I'm sick. Here in Etown, I always want it from Green Bamboo.

Make a pot of strong tea, add juice of a lemon, a whole clove, a cinnamon stick, a few teaspoons of honey and 2 shots of 151 rum. If it doesn't cure you, you forget what you were complaining about!

My mom has made this for me a couple of times...it's an ounce of honey, an ounce of whiskey and an ounce of lemon juice, nuked in the microwave for 45-60 seconds. It's not bad, will clear your sinuses, AND knock you out cold!

i'm just kind of laughing right now at the fact that this thread has suddenly popped back up to the top again. it seems like everyone i know is battling a cold or allergies this week or last, including myself. this week, i've been taking mucinex dm every 12 hours (quite an expensive habit), a claritin once a day, eating lots of chicken soup, and drinking oj and water like there's no tomorrow. i still have a cough that keeps me up all night. it's just part of living in louisville. i don't get it so bad in the spring, but every year in september, i can count on being miserable for a few weeks.

I go the hot toddy route often when I'm feeling bad, but take a little care with what ails you. Alcohol can irritate and dehydrate a scratchy throat, etc., and can make certain coughs worse.

The honey is probably used to coat the throat and make it feel less itchy...I guess the lemon juice is used to help clear the sinuses? I recall thinking that the toddy tasted EXACTLY like a Halls Honey Lemon cough drop. I'm not sure why, but the combination of the ingredients, plus the heat clear the sinuses, help you cough up the junk, AND put you to sleep, but Brad is right...in some instances, a toddy would not be beneficial.