If you are just getting over a respiratory illness, you want to get warm and clean inside and out. You need protein to fire up your immune system, but nothing sticky (like eggs or milk) that will inspire the body to make more mucus. And you don’t want to be standing around the kitchen for hours, fussing at the stove. So, get your Crock Pot from the back shelf, fill it with the following healing ingredients, turn it on, and go back to bed. Five hours later, you can get up and have a bowl or two of this rich-tasting soup, and every part of you will be happy. Of course, you can always share it with your friends and family who aren’t sick. It’s perfect winter food.
One carton of organic vegan butternut squash or carrot-ginger soup
One strip of kombu (dried sea vegetable)
One cup of lentils
One can of organic split pea soup (optional)
Five or six large cloves of garlic, chopped fine
A peeled ginger root the size of your thumb and forefinger, chopped fine
One large yellow onion, chopped coarsely
One large carrot, washed and cut into thin horizontal slices
One eighth of a cabbage (red or white) chopped fairly small
The greens of three or four beets, washed (and any imperfect parts removed), and chopped fine
A tablespoonful of soaked hiziki sea vegetable and the soaking water (optional)
A quart of pure water
Alicia Bay Laurel 