sick.

Being around a lot of different people at the gallery means getting sick.  J was kind enough to share his new plague with me so I decided to load up on zinc, vitamin C, tea and spicy food.  Growing up in southern California and with one side of my family Spanish/Native American (read: Mexican), my mom is a firm believer in spicy food to cure any ills.  My ultimate comfort food is scrambled eggs topped with hot salsa.  

Last night, I had a craving for soup but didn't feel like going to the store.  I made this 10 minute soup (literally!) that could also keep well for leftovers too:

-1 carrot, chopped

-1/2 onion, chopped

-cannellini beans (garbanzo beans or other types of canned beans would work too, just not dried beans as they would take a lot longer), a handful or 1/2 cup

-small handful fresh (chopped) or frozen spinach (no need to defrost)

-1/3 jar storebought marinara sauce

-vegetable or chicken stock (about 1 cup)

-olive oil

-salt (tiny bit, just to season the onion & carrot)

-pepper

-red pepper flakes to taste

-parmiggiano 

Heat olive oil in a pot and cut up the onion and carrot.  Season with salt and pepper.  Saute until softened (about 2-3 minutes).  Add marinara sauce, stock, beans, flakes.  Bring to a boil (cover to speed it up, remove cover once boiled) and then simmer a couple minutes for the flavors to combine.  Ladle into a bowl, top with parmiggiano.  

Note:  The marinara has sodium in it already so I would use as little salt as possible.  You could toss in any veggies that you have and maybe want to use up.  Celery, mushrooms, zucchini or other squashes would work.

The pictures didn't turn out very pretty but a) I am sick and b) soup is rarely very pretty!  The good news is that the soup plus lots of fluids and sleep has made me feel better today....