If there ever were a perfect place to convalesce from a very bad respiratory virus, Lagoon #4 at Ko'Olina on O'ahu is it. Three days at the lagoons--mind and body are feeling much better. My Mom's cooking definitely helped too.

Back in the land of 50-degree weather, here's to extending that happy relaxed sigh of "aah" in aloha for as long as possible. 

Happy to be healthy and cooking again. Food shopping for the week is done, and here's what we're eating this week.

Monday (Gills)
Teriyaki salmon, rice, salad and Grandma Nancy's Ranch Dip. Didn't have teriyaki when I was back, and am craving it now. Have a bag of carrots, a bunch of broccoli and some haricot vertes for snacking and dinner veggies.

Tuesday (Four Legs)
What Started Out as Tyler Florence's Pork Chops, green beans and rice. We haven't had this in a long time and Granny Smith apples are still in season.

Wednesday (Plants)
Techie Gnocchi. This was one of those meals that didn't happen during the cloud of sickness. Making the most of squash season, and this desperately needs a better picture. 

Thursday (Feathers)
Chicken Marsala with Trader Joe's Lemon Pepper Pappardalle. It also needs a photo and I haven't made this in a long time. Plus, I got a good deal on chicken. 

Friday
Tacos using the rest of the chicken, which I'll toss in the food processor in the hopes of getting some kind of ground chicken. I think it should work, but I'll let you know. One of those easy meals we've not had in quite awhile.

After School Snacks 
These are things I have been routinely stocking to avoid the arsenic hours of the late afternoon when parents and teenagers tend to get food-cranky.
Applewood organic (pork) salami, tortillas, cheddar cheese, tangerines, apples, grapes, grapefruit juice, pita chips, Steve's hummus, salsa, the aforementioned veggies and dip, yogurt, Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal, granola, Girl Scout cookies, and one can of Diet Cherry Coke for maternal caffeine emergencies.

Hope you are all staying healthy. Eat Well. Be Well. 

Apologies for the absence. The entire household was slammed by a nasty respiratory virus. The kitchen was more like a medicine cabinet. The well-planned sick menu from 2/7 did not happen past last Tuesday. 

I'm on the mend, but still not quite genki (元気), already having gone through 2 boxes of tea, 6 lemons, a bottle of honey, at least 4 bottles of Odwalla Strawberry C Monster, grapefruits, tangerines, a package of li-hing mui, and various OTC meds for stuffy, achy, runny, congested and generally feeling-like-you-know-where.

How on earth do you feed your ohana when you're in a sick bed 15 hours a day? Be realistic. Wash your hands. Frozen meals, takeout, and whatever you can manage. And remembering that even 2 sick weeks out of my life is very short, and will pass. So here's how we managed. 

 With thanks to all who gave me your "Feed a Cold" suggestions, especially the ones for the hot toddies.

Bought. 
Citrus products. Grapefruits, lemons, tangerines. It's a little too convenient and just plain weird that these are in peak season at the same time as colds.

Boxed salad greens. There were a few days when salad just did not sound good, but this is one of those "You know it's good for you" foods. 

Made. Minimal cooking. Maybe 10 minutes of standing up at a time.

Breadmaker bread.I ran out of bread and was in no condition to go to the store. Bread is water, butter, flour, salt, sugar and yeast into the bread machine. Then go take a nap.

Teddy Bear Chicken Soup--Chicken soup has been sometimes dubbed "Grandma's Penicillin." Perhaps not my Japanese grandma, but there is something comforting about a hot bowl of soup when breathing through the nose is an impossibility. Made awhile ago, and frozen for just such days as these.

Miso soup with tofu. This is "My Mom's Pencillin." As a child, I had this whenever I was sick. So much so that for awhile, I didn't like tofu because I associated with being sick. Boil about 8 cups of water. Add about 1/4 cup miso and a few teaspoons of dashi. Cut up a block tofu, dump it in and you're done. Mom said it has everything that's good for you and no fat or oil so it's easy to digest.

Simple Spaghetti. Extra heavy on the garlic and red peppers and boiling water for pasta is good for your sinuses.

Takeout. Takeout is a fabulous option when you are sick, as long as you choose carefully. Light soups or stews or anything that's not too heavy or greasy. A little spicy is good when I'm congested.

Pho. Pronounced "Fuh," this is the generic name for all kinds of Vietnamese noodle dishes. Like miso soup, this is light warm broth. I had it with noodles, won ton, lime, bok choy, bean sprouts and jalapeno. Plus a drizzling of sriracha to help clear out my sinuses. Light, spicy and nutritious.

Tandoori chicken. Husband brought a big pan of this the night before he went down for the count. Spit-roasted spicy chicken with lime, roasted tomatoes and basmati rice. After all that soup, it's good to use your teeth.

Even when you fell icky, you can still Eat Well. Soon enough we will all Be Well. Stay healthy everyone!

Barilla no-boil lasagne noodles are the most amazing time-saver. Possibly ever. Feeding My Ohana's preferred lasagne was Stouffer's, but a friend of mine served from-scratch lasagne with these noodles and it was too good and too easy not to try at home.

I'm converted.

I love lasagne, but traditional production made this impossible to do on a weekday, unless you want to eat at 10:00PM.

Here's a quick overview of what I did for vegetarian lasagne. Total time was about 90 minutes. Click here for the complete recipe.

1) Used Spaghetti Sauce II as the base sauce, but ditched the sausage and added an eggplant. 

2) Assembled lasagne in 9 x 13 pan. 4 pieces of no-boil lasagne noodles, ricotta cheese, sauce, mozzarella, sauce. 

3) Repeated 4 times. Top with remaining sauce and mozarella cheese. I didn't have parmesan, but would have sprinkled a bit on top if I did.

4) Cover loosely with aluminum foil and baked at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes. Don't let the foil touch the cheese or it will stick and make a mess. On the subject of messes, best to put the pan on a shallow baking sheet because the noodles do expand and there is a little bit of drip-over.

5) Remove foil. I had to detach hot stringy cheese because I didn't foil properly (See #4). Bake uncovered for another 10 minutes and then let it sit for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Honest to the non-denominational supreme being of your individual religious or emotional leanings, this was last week's carpool Wednesday dinner. Note that I did have a kid at home so I could run the oven while I drove.

And while the husband sniffed, "It would be even better with a little sausage," the kids said, "No more Stouffer's"

Eat Well. Be Well. We sure did.

This post is late because I've come down with a stuffy head cold. I felt it coming on yesterday, and today I took a full-blown sick day. Until now, offline and in bed. There have been plenty of times when we've dragged your contagious selves to the office thinking, "I've just got to get this one project done"  and then wandered rheumy-eyed through the grocery store. For fear of a freak micro-tornado in your cube and your family having a starvation meltdown. It's only taken me at least 2-score and several more to grasp that my imagination far outpaces reality.

So, thanks to conscripting the kids, Costco and a bunch of Superbowl leftovers, we will not starve. Especially since we have a bag of tortillas (unbelievable, huh?), a bag of potato chips, eggrolls, a dozen garlic spare ribs, some blue cheese, leftover Buffalo wings, half a tin of chocolate chip cookies, and three pieces of pineapple upside down cake. Plus frozen soup.

I'm not into starving a cold. So here's what we're eating this week.

Monday
Sushi pie with the leftover crab, cucumbers and avocado. My husband helped a family friend with his home wifi and in trade, we got oyster sauce shrimp for dinner. We also cleaned out the eggrolls and spare ribs.

Tuesday/Sick Day
Costco chicken, broccoli and rice. Love a meal that depends on pressing buttons on the rice cooker, microwave, and cel phone (to text the husband).

Wednesday
Buffalo chicken wraps. I'm shredding the rest of the Buffalo chicken wings, adding some very, very, very finely chopped celery (Kids and Husband, you did not see this), tossing the whole thing with buttermilk dip and shredded lettuce and then wrapping it up with a tortilla. All the dip and lettuce should cut the a-little-too-hot wings down to pleasantly edible.

Thursday
TBD tart with a frozen puff pastry, the leftover blue cheese, pears and maybe some sausage. It's based on a baked stuffed pears recipe I've been meaning to try.

Friday
I'm thinking tofu with black bean sauce and string beans. But if this head cold hangs on, it'll be miso soup with tofu and an egg dropped in.

Eat Well. Be Well. Get Well!

A quick pre-Superbowl post. 

It's all about Madonna and the commercials. It is also what happens our "Superbowl" party includes a family of Calgary Flames fans, a family who knows "football" can also mean soccer but are unsure if they're coming to watch soccer or football, our own fair-weather football family, and a real football-knowledgeable family who are still salty that the 49ers are not playing today but are kind enough to put up with the other laissez-faire football families in attendance.

We went for more 'traditional' football food this year. Here's what's cooking today. Plus whatever our friends bring--and it's always good.

Chili. Made last night. Add your choice of rice, grated sharp cheddar cheese or tortilla chips.
Fresh guacamole and salsa
Buffalo wings with a pickled onion/blue cheese/buttermilk dipping sauce. This is a new item being made as I type. The husband picked it because it looked looked good and could be made in the time between the end of church and the beginning of broadcast. Going into the oven right now.

Whatever your sports or non-sports leanings, enjoy the afternoon. Time for me to clean up my desk and get ready for a little football and a happy dose of ohana time. Eat Well. Be Well.

Arugula has not been a frequent consumable in our house. It's been called weeds when the household is feeling charitable but typically arugula is relegated to cud, as in what cows chew.

OK, so it does look a little weedy. It doesn't have the sweet crunchiness of what my children call 'normal' lettuce (romaine, butter, red leaf or Manoa). Even the then-candidate Barack Obama had an unfortunate arugula moment a few years back.

Arugula needed a makeover. This week, I'm happy to add 2 new recipes for the weedy but crunchy/peppery arugula. While both use happy doses of cheese and cream, they are plants-only dinners.

From last week, my arugula toss-together using Trader Joe's Lemon Pepper pasta, macadamia nuts, mushrooms, parmesan and arugula. Click here for the recipe. The entire household was very happy--tasty, fast and most importantly, no leftovers.

Arugula #2 is from my friend Kat, who made a cream sauce version using a few other veggies and leftover heavy cream from when she made scones. Click here for hers. 

Both recipes are featured in the Greenhouse. Either way, arugula deserves a fresh look. Eat Well. Be Well.