My Poor Little Sickies

My children are all at various stages of a nasty flu. It is heart breaking to see my babies so miserable. The menu on days like this is. chicken soup, tea and popsicles.

I make my soup from scratch. I save all the bones from the roast chickens and when I have at least 3 carcasses I put them in the crock-pot with 3 washed onions that have their tops and bottoms cut off but the skins left on. Next I add a head of garlic, a bunch of carrots and 6 ribs of celery treated the same way as the onions. I put my bouquet de garni (usually tarragon, savory, sage and parsley) in a tea diffuser and place it on top of the mountain of food goodness. Then I cover the lot with cold water and a splash of vinegar, turn the crock on low and let it go about 24 hours. When it is done I strain it. If the patient is experiencing tummy issue then I will serve as is in mug but if sustenance is require I will add chopped chicken and fresh peeled and chopped veggies and rice or noodles. I will often make a loaf of bread to go with it. I swear you can see the colour return to their little faces!

Comfort Food Made Simply - Cabbage Roll Casserole

Today we got slammed with a bunch of snow. The very wet and heavy kind. It was so cold you could hear the house whistle reminding me that I still have to put plastic on the windows (But this is another blog for another time). I decided we needed something hearty delicious warming -comforting for our supper. I had a beautiful cabbage in the crisper so I decided to make cabbage rolls. Then I gave my head a shake. I had all three kids home and to be honest with you we had things to do that were not going to afford me the time to do all I had to to make those delicious traditional culinary bundles, so I turned it into a casserole! It seriously took 30 minute from the gather of ingredient to the first comforting bite.

The Recipe


1 tbs Olive oil
1 lb of ground pork or beef (I used beef)
1 large onion
1 19 oz can of dice tomatoes, drained
1 2 cups of tomato sauce
1 tbs oregano
2 tbs of brown sugar
2 tbs of white vinegar
1/2 half head of cabbage, shredded
salt and pepper to taste.


lightly oil pan with olive oil, add diced onion and ground meat fry until onions are translucent.
Add tomatoes, sauce, sugar, vinegar, oregano and cabbage. Season and cover.
Simmer while setting the table and washing little hands

Comfort Food

We all have our favourites! Mac and cheese, tomato soup with homemade bread, hamburger casserole, Roast Chicken/beef/pork Dinner, meat loaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, beef stew chocolate pudding (from scratch) are some of mine. With taters and gravy, it is the velvety feel of the food on my tongue and tomato soup and bread has a fragrance that takes me back to lunchtime in my mothers kitchen, Bread and butter pickles do this too.

As the weather is turning cooler I am finding myself craving these things. I am going to be making some of them and posting about them from time to time. Todays recipe is:

Hamburger casserole.

1/2 box of elbow macaroni
salted boiling water
1 pound lean hamburger
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crush
1 green pepper, diced
12 sliced mushrooms, sliced
1 19 oz tin of tomatoes or equivalent fresh romas.
1 4 oz can of tomato paste.
italian spices salt and pepper to taste.
1 cup of shredded cheddar (optional)

put pasta on to boil.

fry hamburger, onion garlic, mushrooms and pepper until beef is well cooked and onion is translucent

add tomatoes, paste and spices. cook until pasta is cooked, drain pasta and add sauce. stir to coat.

toss with cheese if using.

I serve this in bowls with a salad and garlic bread.