Recipes for sick times - kitchen remedies

Eviledna

We've all been there, a nasty tummy bug, a bad cold. With the summer heat comes the inevitable summer bugs - so what are your best home remedies for sick tums and heads?
For tummy bugs I usually live on 7up and marietta bickies, until I can eat a little. Once I'm there I make either plain rice with salt, or a plain crepe with a little golden syrup for energy.

Any home remedies in your house?

ElleEm

Ribena is a favourite when I'm ill, as it has a little sugar in it to perk me up. I'm terrible for only eating homemade soup when I'm sick- then I start on brown bread when I'm feeling a little better.
On day 3 or 4 when I'm almost back on my feet I start getting panicky about making more soup in case I need it, so I always have loads of soup in my freezer.
Think I'll be having it for dinner later, my throat is killing me today

rcdk1

Hot whiskey for a head cold

Eviledna

My brother in law swears by a "melder" for a head cold - a sliced whole orange and lemon boiled in water with honey, cooled with a splash of whiskey or even a lemsip thrown in!

Cargin

pineapple juice to up your vitamin C, and chicken soup (Cully and Sully is my prefered). I never believed chicken soup was actually any good beyond being something to warm you up when you're sick, but DAMN! It works like a charm. I usually feel better immediately after having some.

rcdk1

Eviledna wrote: »

My brother in law swears by a "melder" for a head cold - a sliced whole orange and lemon boiled in water with honey, cooled with a splash of whiskey or even a lemsip thrown in!

I do something similar for a sore throat..... orange juice, hot water and honey... whiskey as an optional extra depending on the time of day!

FTGFOP

Baxters Chicken broth spiked with Tabasco.

The Sweeper

Find someone to make you a chicken soup.

I've posted similar to this recipe before, but will post again in case.

Take a whole, free range, preferably organic chicken. Pick over the carcass and trim any excess fat from the body cavity.

Boil a large pot of water. Immerse the chicken in the boiling water and scald it for up to one minute. Remove and drain. Empty and clean the pot.

Into the clean pot, place your scalded, whole chicken carcass. Add a quartered onion, two bay leaves, chunks of carrot and a tablespoon of whole black peppercorns. If you have any fresh parsley, add some whole stalks.

Bring to the boil and reduce immediately to a simmer. Simmer gently for 45 minutes. Then turn the heat off, put a lid on the pot and leave for another half an hour.

Remove the cooked chicken from the stock and leave in a bowl to drain. Strain the stock, discarding the spent flavourings.

Pick over the chicken, discarding bones and fat and shredding the meat.

Now you've got good stock and cooked chicken.

Finely chop onion, carrot and celery in a mirepoix and soften in a little butter in a pot. Add a half a cup of rice as though you're starting a risotto. Slice two cloves of garlic (or to taste) and add them in. Keep adding more stock until it's quite soupy and the rice is cooking.

Now you can add more veg if you like - chick peas are nice for starch, a little shredded cabbage, (not too much because it's too strong), a few strands of spring onion. Add some more herbs - chopped fresh parsley (full of vitamin C!) and anything else you have fresh (but not too much or it'll be overpowering). Season with salt to taste, preferably sea salt.

When the rice and veg is tender, stir through the cooked chicken and ladel the rice and veg into bowls with lots of the broth. If you don't want to use the rice, use cubed potatoes a similar way - letting them cook in the broth.

This is a very healthy meal - if you're dieting, consider using stock made from skinless chicken carcass and using quickly poached skinless chicken thighs, instead of a whole chicken.

Eviledna

OK I'm over my tummy bug...but I'm making that anyway!!

the beer revolu

Sweeper, that is pretty much identical to how I make chicken soup, right down to the rice and chopped parsley!!

Except I usually use stock made from carcasses and cook a few chicken thighs in that.

pampootie

I tend to come down with a sore throat/cold thing about 3/4 times over the winter but this always nips it in the bud, its fantastic. It's also the complete opposite of what minder has posted-super lazy
the minute i feel i'm coming down with something I make koka chicken noodles LOADED with chilli and garlic. At least three full chillis if i'm using whole, but i quite like those lazy chilli tubes you can get, so min a dessertspoon of that. 5/6 garlic cloves, some ginger, limes and spring onions, loads of liquid to make a massive soup. follow all this by a berocca, a hot whiskey, and the longest sleep i can manage and i normally wake up cured. then loads of fruit and veg for the next few days to make sure i dont come down with it again. never fails.

watna

I make hot toddies for my OH when he's sick (the smell of whiskey makes my stomach turn so I have to not breathe it in!). Lemon, whiskey, honey (or brown sugar works too but honey is much better) and hot water. I use Manuka honey as well as it has antibacterial properties (and luckily is a lot cheaper in NZ as it comes from here).

When I'm sick all I want is pasta with a little bit of melted butter and grated cheese. I find if I've been vomiting it fills my stomach up well without aggravating it.

kylith

When I get a cold I eat about 5/6 cloves of raw garlic mixed into mashed spuds and I drink a dessert spoon of honey and the juice of half a lemon in hot water, never fails to make me feel better.