What to Eat When You’re Sick

I came down with a little cold the past few days. Ugh. As soon as I got back to NY it hit me hard. At the end of my FL vacation, I was running around between different families, traveling, and then flying back to a drastically different climate. But, after a few days of rest and home cooked meals, I’m on the ups. I spent the little energy I had yesterday making a big seafood stew and raw kale avocado salad. That’s what I do when I’m sick. I make vegetable-heavy soup, sleep as much as possible, and drinks tons of water and tea with honey.

I adapted this seafood stew recipe from Giada De Laurentiis’ Cioppino recipe on the Food Network. I added carrots (for sweetness), coconut milk (to thicken it up), cut out the clams, doubled the shrimp, and used Old Bay seasoning and vegetable stock in place of fish stock. The outcome? Delicious stew that’s nursing me back to health.

Laurel’s Seafood Stew

3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 fennel bulb

2 large carrots

1 yellow onion

3 shallots

2 tbsp. Old Bay seasoning

1 tsp. salt

4 garlic cloves

? tsp. red pepper flakes

1 can unsweetened coconut milk

? cup tomato paste

1 big can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes

1? cups dry white wine

5 cups vegetable stock

1 bay leaf

1 lb. mussels, scrubbed, debearded

2 lbs. uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined

1? lbs. salmon, skin removed

Dice the carrots, onion, and shallots and finely slice the fennel bulb. Put them in a large soup pot with the olive oil and salt. Saute for about 10 minutes over medium heat. Finely chop the garlic and add it to the pot with the red pepper flakes. Saute for a couple more minutes, stirring frequently. Mix in the tomato paste, then add the diced tomatoes with their juices, white wine, vegetable stock, Old Bay seasoning, and bay leaf. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about a half hour. Add the mussels to the soup, cover and cook for 5 minutes until the mussel shells start to open. Remove the shrimp tails and cut the salmon into bite-sized pieces. Add the shrimp and salmon to the stew and simmer for about 5 more minutes until all the seafood is cooked. Stir gently and serve in big bowls with brown rice or whole grain bread. Tip: Use whatever fresh seafood you can find. Halibut is another great option for fish, and check out the frozen section to save money on shrimp.