Boost Your Flu-Fighting Power

I read this article on myrecipes.com a while ago and just came back to it. It has a lot of good suggestions for foods to add to your diet to boost your immune system. Well...ignore the green tea.

Boost Your Flu-Fighting Power

Flu- and Cold-Fighting Recipes

Anyone have any good recipes for fighting colds and flus? My mother always made homemade chicken noodle soup and made me drink Vernor's Ginger Ale (It's a Midwest thing…). I am trying to get her chicken noodle soup recipe for her as chicken when it is cooked releases chemicals that are released into the broth that help the body naturally fight illness. Please share!

Flu-Fighter Cookies and Pedialyte Recipe

How far away is spring? The flu and cold season has hit our neighborhood hard. We've been housebound for almost a month now as our boys have contracted one illness after another. Anyway I found a recipe courtesy of the Food Network Magazine for Flu-Fighter Cookies, and I also noticed a recipe for homemade Pedialyte. We've gone through a lot of that this fall, and it's not winter yet. Hope your season brings you health, wealth, and happiness.

Flu-Fighter Cookies

Courtesy of Food Network Magazine

Ingredients:

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 ¼ tsps baking powder

¾ tsp baking soda

¾ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Pinch of ground cloves

¼ tsp salt

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

¼ cup molasses

¼ cup low-fat plan Greek yogurt (you can get it at Wal-mart now)

1 tbs freshly grated ginger

2 tsps finely grated lemon zest (about 1 lemon)

½ cup old-fashioned oats

1 ¼ cups golden raisins

1 ¼ cups dried cranberries

1 ¼ cups roughly chopped walnuts, toasted

Directions:

Line 2 large baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in a medium bowl.

Beat the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, full incorporating each before adding the next. Add the molasses, yogurt, ginger and lemon zest and beat until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the flour mixture to make a sticky batter (do not overmix). Fold in the oats and half of the raisins, cranberries and walnuts. Mix the remaining dried fruit and nuts in a small bowl and set aside.

Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of batter onto the prepared baking sheets. Top each with some of the reserved dried-fruit-and-nut mixture and chill for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Bake the cookies until dark golden but still soft, 10 to 12 minutes; cool on a rack. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Per cookie: Calories 174; Fat 7 g (Saturated 2 g);Cholesterol 22 mg; Sodium 84 mg; Carbohydrate 28 g; Fiber 1 g; Protein 3 g;

Pedialyte Clone Recipe #11778

From Recipezaar

Makes 2 quarts

2 quarts water

1 tsp baking soda

7 tsps sugar

1 (1/4 oz) packet unsweetened Kool-Aid (or similar) powdered drink mix (optional)

½ tsp salt substitute (optional)

1. Mix all together well and store in the fridge or no more than 3 days.
   
2. Make ice cubes or popsicles with this.
   

Use up before 3 days