Nothing Says the Holidays like the Flu

I love my roommate Amanda. I do not - however - love her germs. I woke up Wednesday morning excited about my four days off (from both jobs) when I noticed that: I couldn't breathe out of my face.

My symptoms increased throughout the course of the day to: sinus headache, sore throat, upset stomach, coughing, sneezing, running nose, and terrible body aches - aka the classic flu. From Amanda to me, with love, right before we went to my dear sweet grandmother's for Christmas eve.

I went down to my grandmother's (with my brother and Amanda) and we were loaded up with food and goodies. Including a new onion chopper (!) and a salad spinner. And Target gift cards - the greatest gift anyone can give me.

So I came home and have spent most the last 48 hours in bed, feeling like death, ingesting large amounts of cold medicine, watching 30 Rock on Netflix, and not wanting to eat.

That's the worst part of this - I'm not hungry! Oatmeal has been my friend, along with some fruit that I've forced down chased by warm tea.

I'm feeling better now, so I'm trying to eat. Luckily I made a Broccoli Chickpea Casserole earlier this week (recipe/photo below) so all I have to do is reheat for some hearty and healthy goodness.

Needless to say, this black plague forced my idea of two grand birthday cakes for the guy I am not-so-secretly in adoration of to a screeching halt. So I improvised. I had a box of brownie mix and a bunch of Snickers fun size bars (which were originally intended for his cake). So he got Snickers brownies for his first birthday treat this week.


I cut the fun sized Snickers up into 6 pieces each and sprinkled them on top of the brownie mix once it was already in the pan.

Pre-baking shot. Post-baking was delicious (apparently) but not terribly visually-appealing as the Snickers sort of melted into pools across the brownies in a strange, but tasty way.

Here is my saving grace of the week (my foresight is superb apparently):

Broccoli Chickpea Casserole

3 cans of chick peas, rinsed/drained

1/2 large onion, sliced

2 large carrots, grated

1 head of broccoli, cut into small florets

1/2 cup of bread crumbs

3 tbls olive oil

1 cup vegetable broth

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Mash the chickpeas in a large bowl using a potato masher. Add the onion, carrots, and broccoli and mix well. Then add the bread crumbs and olive oil. Add the vegetable stock and salt. Mix everything together (by hand seems to work the best).

Transfer the mixture into a glass baking dish and press it down firmly.

Cover the mixture with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Then uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Still delicious, even after a few days in the fridge.

Here's hoping everyone had a healthy holiday and that the worst of this flu is behind us!

Happy Eating!

-Robin-