Dec. 27- Flu

The flu has finally struck our household. Luckily we don't have it as badly as most people we know have gotten it, but still badly enough to feel cruddy. We woke feeling achy and lethargic, accompanied by pounding headaches.

DD9 and I still got up and went to church but I changed right back into my PJs when I got home. We've decided to have a movie marathon for the rest of the day. The housework, I am quite certain, will stick around to be done tomorrow.

I'm keeping it clean again today. Here is the food plan:

M1: ww toast w/ natural pb, apple
M2: 1/2 ww pita, hm tzatziki, turkey, veggies, light feta cheese
M3: hm trail mix (I was craving candy)
M4: Turkey soup w/ ww noodles, spinach and carrots

I'm not exceptionally hungry today. If I'm starving I will work in some yogurt and fruit.

I make my soup stock from scratch in the crock pot. Here is the recipe:

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Clean Soup Stock

Turkey or chicken carcass

6 cups of water

whole onion, whole carrot, half red bell pepper, 6 cloves of garlic, smashed

Sea salt and cracked pepper to taste

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp oregano

I cook the combination on high in the crockpot for about 6 hours. Use a colander to strain the broth into another container. Remove remaining turkey from bones to add to soup. This makes a very tasty rich stock which I then use as a base for soups or when cooking rice. After it cools I pour it into Ziploc bags in 1 cup increments and put them in the freezer to use as needed.

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Homemade Tzatziki

1 cup Greek Yogurt or drained natural yogurt

4 cloves of garlic

1/2 large cucumber

sea salt to taste

In a food processor, puree the garlic and cucumber until it is a paste. Stir the paste into the yogurt and salt to taste. Use this as a healthy spread or dip.

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I wanted to share those recipes with you today. I find that if I make things that seem familiar my kids eat them a lot better than if I pop some kind of flax seed and tofu concoction on their plate. To that end I will be constantly experimenting on ways to remake our favorites. Ethnic food is always a big hit in our house. Because ethnic food is so flavorful a lot of it is very easy to clean up.

I'm still hoping to get the fridge and pantry photos up this week. As for now, I'm going to curl up in front of the fireplace and watch some more movies. Enjoy your Sunday, everyone!