Back on Track

Sorry I have neglected you again. I can make excuses, or show you my filled calendar, or plead for your forgiveness, but I think I won’t. You all know how it is when your household revolves around all your commitments and then at night when I should sit down at the computer and tell you about my latest adventure, I fall asleep! Right there in bed with a kid and a pile of allergy infested dust-mite collectors (Dylan’s loveys Snowy 1, 2, and 3), my only alone time taken by sleep.

Well here we are mid-February and currently no one in our house is sick, but that could change at any moment and by tonight we will all be praying to the porcelain throne. Since we veered into the realm of viruses I will add my tips to surviving a sick household.

• When you are healthy cook some chicken or turkey soup to freeze for the moments when your family has been kidnapped by germs (see recipe below).


• Buy an additional waterproof pad for the bed (not fitted). It looks like a waterproof top sheet that you can throw down on top of the bottom sheet. I find it especially helpful when I have already changed the sheets once and I don’t want to change them again. If you are lucky the vomit will stay right on the waterproof sheet and underneath is a clean, dry sheet.


• Keep a bottle of white vinegar and Borax in the laundry room. I don’t scrub or rinse. I just add a cup of white vinegar and a cup of Borax to the laundry detergent and wash with warm water. It will get out all the smells and stains.


• Stack-up old towels in an easy to access (when kids are vomiting) place, so you are ready for clean-up.


• Store a box of crackers in the pantry for the patients. It saves a trip to the store with sick kids.


• REST because if you don’t you will be the next to be feeling the pain.
  
  Angela’s Chicken Soup Recipe
  
  1 whole chicken
  3 cloves of garlic (chopped)
  6 stalks of celery (chopped)
  5 carrots (sliced)
  3 onions (chopped)
  1 bag frozen corn
  1 pint of mushrooms
  1 teaspoon tarragon
  1 teaspoon celery seed
  1 bay leaf
  Salt and pepper to taste
  1 tablespoon of lemon juice
  1 tablespoon of soy sauce
  
  Directions: Preheat the oven to 450. Place the whole chicken in a roasting pan and massage the chicken with olive oil and salt and pepper. Place the chicken in the oven for 1 hour to 1 ½ hour depending on the size; continue until fully cooked.
  
  Pick all the meat off the chicken and set aside. Place the bones and fat into a large pot and cover with water and ¼ cup of salt. Place on the stove on the highest temperature until it boils. Continue to cook for 2 hours (more if you would like) and add celery ends (leaves too), one carrot, one onion. Cook for another 40 minutes, then strain the broth out into a bowl and set aside. Compost vegetables.
  
  Place the large pot back on the stove on a medium/high temperature add olive oil and sauté 2 onions and 3 garlic cloves until light brown. Then add carrots, celery, mushrooms, and corn and simmer until cooked. Add tarragon, celery seed, bay leaf, salt, and pepper to vegetables and stir. Then add the reserve broth, lemon juice, and soy sauce and simmer until warm. Serve or store in the freezer.