The Goodness of Garlic

I just got back from another 5-day adventure in the Dominican Republic. It wasn't the best trip, but we made many wonderful memories at my cousin's kitchen table, on the beach in Boca Chica, and on our adventures in Santo Domingo. The radiator in my sister's car died, my boyfriend has an asthma attack, and I aquired a low grade fever/body aches/sinus and GI symptoms. Yesterday I spent the day doing laundry, messing with my pictures, and lounging on the couch. At least I can say my low-grade fever from last night broke today.

I am not sure if my gastroenteritis is from getting into soy (I react to soy like it's gluten) or a stomach bug. I have a little rash, but I also have the aches, stuffiness, and the start of a sore throat. Whenever I am sick, no matter what the malady is, I reach for garlic.

Garlic is great for everything. Allicin is the most well-known medicinal part of the garlic. (There are 70 other parts of garlic that are beneficial.) It's helpful for cardiac (blood pressure, cholesterol, clot prevention), immune system function, cancer prevention, and anti-sepsis. According to James A. Duke, PhD and author of The Green Pharmacy Handbook Herbs for Healing, Louis Pasteur found that garlic juice kills many micro-organisms, such as staph, strep, E. coli, salmonella, candida, herpes, and influenza. If I just sold you on the amazing things garlic can do, make sure it doesn't interfere with any perscription drugs you are taking before upping your garlic intake (raw or otherwise).

Dr. Duke writes in his book that the best (and easiest) way to take garlic is to cut or crush the it into food. By cutting or crushing the garlic, the Allicin is released. Apparently the smellier the better. Today I crushed my garlic onto rice pasta. Last night I crushed it onto rice bread. Since rice is the most easily digestable food, it's excellent for the nausea and GI upset accompianing my "stomach flu."

What else is important when you are sick? Staying hydrated and making sure you have adequate fluid and electrolytes. Today I've been super salting my food. To stay hydrated and naturally treat the tummy upset, I've been sipping on room temperature mint tea. Mint helps settle the stomach, and avoiding very hot or cold foods prevents cramping. I placed three tea bags in a saucepan full of boiling water, added some sugar to taste, and transfered it to the pitcher that's sitting on my tv table.

Sick Day Pasta
* 1/2 a bag of rice pasta
* 2 medium-large sized garlic cloves
* Extra Virgen Olive Oil
* Parmesean cheese (if desired)
* Sea salt

1. Prepare the rice pasta. Don't forget to rinse it with cold water when you strain it.
2. Put the strained pasta back in the pot, and drizzle with EVOO. Crush garlic in a press and add with salt (to taste). Sprinkle with the parm if you are feeling it. Eat slowly!


Sick Day Garlic Bread
* 1 piece of rice bread
* Butter
* 1-2 cloves of garlic (2 if they're small, 1 if they're larger)

1. Toast the bread until it's nice and crispy.
2. Slather with butter.
3. Crush garlic onto the toast, and spread evenly. Enjoy, preferably in bed or on the couch.

Sophistication for When You're Just Not Feeling It.

1 package of chicken
cashews, crushed (we used Trader Joe's honey sesame cashews)
Mrs. Dash lemon pepper seasoning
scallions, chopped
EVOO
lime, cut into 4 wedges
serve with rice and a side salad or veggie of choice

1. Heat EVOO in a skillet over medium heat. Meanwhile, season the chicken with a generous amount of Mrs. Dash.

2. Cook the chicken until it's done, about 10 minutes.

3. Serve with your sides. Top with cashews and scallions. Squirt a little lime on top and call it dinner.

Erica's Italian "Slop" aka Pasta-less Italian

I walked into the break room on Monday to the scent of fragrant Italian food. Lasagne? I wondered. The only person in the room was Erica, a nurse I work with who has been on the Atkins diet for months.

"What is that intoxicating smell?" I asked.
"Slop," responds Erica.
I give her a quizzical look. "Slop? What do you mean?"
"Slop," Erica begins in her Rhode Island accent, "is pasta, without the pasta."

I took a few notes and then made it the following night. The extra prepared chicken I threw in the freezer for the next time I need something easy and low-cal Italian.

Erica's Pastaless Italian Slop
about 1 lb of chicken, cut into bite-sized morsels, seasoned with salt and pepper
*1 jar of pasta sauce
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 small pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
1 large crown of broccoli, cut into small bite-sized morsels
1 can of olives (with a few reserved for eating while cooking), cut in halves (optional)
Ricotta cheese
salt & pepper to taste
EVOO

*If you don't have pasta sauce handy, take a can of crushed tomatoes, add 1 big pinch basil, 1 pinch oregano, salt, pepper, and a dash of thyme.

1. Drizzle about 1 tablespoon of EVOO in a frying pan for the chicken.

2. While the pan is warming, dumb sauce, garlic cloves, broccoli, olives, and red pepper flakes into a sauce pot. Turn on medium and cover. Be sure to stir occasionally while cooking the chicken.

3. Cook the chicken stir-fry style. When it's finished, the sauce should also be finished. The broccoli in the sauce is the litmus for "done."

4. Serve the chicken smothered in sauce, and add a dollop of ricotta cheese. Enjoy!

Too bad about Barilla Sauce

I saw Barilla pasta sauce on sale at the grocery store this week and thought I'd see if it was gluten-free, per their customer service site.

"Barilla’s Sauces cannot claim to be gluten free as we do not have certification from our ingredient suppliers that all the raw materials are gluten free."

Guess not. :(

Leftover Salmon Salad

I find myself thinking to myself, "If I just had 10 more minutes, I'd ____________." Today is my last day of clinical, and I'm at a therapy place 5 minutes from my house. We had a patient cancel because she had chest pain, so my lunch break got extended to 1.5 hours. Magic. I am at my house, having cleaned the interior of my car, started a load of laundry, and washed a few dirty dishes. With a few leftovers in my refrigerator, I made a pretty amazing lunch.

Leftover Salmon Salad
* 1/2 a bag of Butter Lettuce mix (salad in a bag)
* 1/2lbs of leftover cooked salmon
* 1 avocado, quite ripe
* tomato remnant OR 1 pinch of sun dried tomatoes
* Parmesan cheese (or whatever cheese you have) sprinkled liberally, any way you have it
* 1 hard boiled egg (you might have to fix one, but your eggs could be near expiring!)
* 1 big pinch of sunflower seeds
* small pinch of leftover dill (or whatever fresh herbs might be lying around)
* EVOO or Italian salad dressing

Patron Saint of Cooking

One of my fellow Catholic friends lives in North Carolina. Weekly, he sends out journal entries to his friends and family far and wide, to keep in touch. Dennis' journal entries can be about anything- about things going on in his life, what he's reading, what he's celebrating. This week he sent one out about St. Lawrence, a 3rd century Deacon in Rome. I thought I'd pass along his story about martyrdom and how he became the patron saint of cooking.

In Dennis' words:
"As deacon in Rome, Lawrence was charged with the responsibility for the material goods of the Church, and the distribution of alms to the poor. When Lawrence knew he would be arrested like the pope, he sought out the poor, widows and orphans of Rome and gave them all the money he had on hand, selling even the sacred vessels to increase the sum. When the prefect of Rome heard of this, he imagined that the Christians must have considerable treasure. He sent for Lawrence and said, 'You Christians say we are cruel to you, but that is not what I have in mind. I am told that your priests offer in gold, that the sacred blood is received in silver cups, that you have golden candlesticks at your evening services. Now, your doctrine says you must render to Caesar what is his. Bring these treasures—the emperor needs them to maintain his forces. God does not cause money to be counted: He brought none of it into the world with him—only words. Give me the money,
therefore, and be rich in words.'

Lawrence replied that the Church was indeed rich. 'I will show you a valuable part. But give me time to set everything in order and make an inventory.' After three days he gathered a great number of blind, lame, maimed, leprous, orphaned and widowed persons and put them in rows. When the prefect arrived, Lawrence simply said, 'These are the treasure of the Church.'

The prefect was so angry he told Lawrence that he would indeed have his wish to die—but it would be by inches. He had a great gridiron prepared, with coals beneath it, and had Lawrence’s body placed on it. After the martyr had suffered the pain for a long time, the legend concludes, he made his famous cheerful remark, 'It is well done. Turn me over!'

Never mind that, because of the way he was martyred, Lawrence is the patron saint of cooks - hee hee! What is most powerful about Lawrence is his courage in the face of Caesar's demands. ..."

Green Company Picnic

On Friday night I was in my boyfriend's kitchen, making 107 hamburger patties for this company picnic. There's something to be said for bonding time over singing poorly to the radio and chatting each other up over patty-making. We had a blast.

Nick served on the picnic committee this year to spur on the N&B (Newcomb & Boyd) crew to have a more fun cost-effective event. Like-minded, the rest of the individuals on the picnic committee pulled together a fun event. The N&B picnic committee chose Blackburn Park (a county park just outside of Atlanta) to host their green event. The table cloths were made from the brown paper wrapping that protects rolls of drafting paper. One associate had her Tech co-ops bring plates and silverware from their fraternity houses so there was not any paper product waste. She also made recycling bins for plastic bottles and soda cans. The food was all home-made: burgers (meat and non-meat, cooked on seperate grills), hotdogs, baked beans (veg-friendly), chips, and watermelon. Untouched food was brought to a homeless shelter.


The picnic was a total success. Nick and two of his coworkers grilled while kids played on the jump-around and had their faces painted. While everyone ate, the guests listened to The Newcombers, a band of N&B employees playing classic covers. If that was not enough, a few competative games of volleyball and kickball started up. Everyone had a smile on their face- the company really came together.

Find this awesome company at http://www.newcomb-boyd.com/