Soul-Warming Dishes to Fight the Flu

I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year guys! I’ll be honest, our’s has been overshadowed somewhat by the FLU which seems to be taking the UK by storm right now. Since getting back to Bristol on the 27th, I’ve not left the house. In fact, I’ve barely left my bed. This flu is terrible – a painful chesty cough, earache, body ache, headache, nausea. And it just won’t shift.

It’s safe to say 2018 hasn’t quite gone off with the bang I was hoping for. And actually, I slept straight through it! I’ve dragged myself through the shower and onto the sofa and now, I’m typing this. What I hope will be a round-up of the tastiest, soul-warming dishes from myself and my fellow food blogging community.

Soup:

Everyone know’s a bowl of soup can help soothe a cold and according to this article, it’s been eaten by the unwell since the 12th century! The hot liquid can help with congested chests and noses by acting as an anti-inflammatory. Here are a few tasty suggestions:

• Chicken, Barley & Leek Soup – Gingey Bites
• Romanian Roasted Garlic Soup – Little Sunny Kitchen
• Comforting Sweet & Sour Cabbage and Tomato Soup with Rice – Family Friends Food
• Spicy Butternut Squash Soup – Gingey Bites

Spice:

Garlic, chilli and spice always make me feel better when I’m feeling full of cold and I think fellow blogger Camilla from Fab Food 4 All hit the nail on the head when she said of her spicy spaghetti recipe: “I think chilli is good for the sinuses and garlic has antiseptic properties from memory so perhaps this dish which is both quick and healthy!”.  Here it is, along with a couple of other spicy dishes to try:

• Tenderstem Broccoli, Chilli & Garlic Spaghetti – Fab Food 4 All
• Kimchi Jiigae – Gingey Bites
• Sweet Potato & Ground Nut Stew with Lime Salted Peanuts – Veggie Lad
• Instant Pot Chilli – Recipes from a Pantry

Fruit & Vegetables:

So despite the fact that the common myth about Vitamin C curing colds is just that, a myth, it is well known that eating (or drinking) your 5 fruit and veggies a day are incredibly important for a healthy lifestyle. I’m definitely going to try this smoothie from Sus at Rough Measures – full of anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatories as well a good hit of vitamins too. Now I think about it, I could also really eat some of that chilli pineapple too!

• Cold & Flu Busting Smoothie – Rough Measures
• Mum’s Favourite Chilli Pineapple – Gingey Bites
• Kill a Cold Lentil Curry with Kale & Red Peppers – Tin & Thyme

I always love to hear your comments so why not share your favourite cold and flu remedies below? Is there one comfort dish you can’t live without when you’re under the weather?