Menus, April 30, 2014

You better pay attention,

 cause this world we love so much

 might just kill you

 Randy Newman

Fans of  Randy Newman or of the defective detective Adrian Monk.will recognize his theme song. and those who are pollen prey will recognize the message. Spring is beautiful, spring is lovely spring is...

Terrubul, Dus Terrubul

Or, as a well beloved allergy victim explained to me today-

In the past, I considered myself exempt from this sort of suffering. I wandered blithely along, the last Texan standing at the end of an allergy apocalypse, breathing through my nose, without a tear in my eye. Well, not counting the sort of tears prompted by genuine emotion. I mean, even if she doesn't have allergies, 

a girl still has her feelings.
A girl has ALL the feelings.

But seasonal allergies may be responsible for more woes than we imagine. Those two or three of you who thought yourself allergy-free simply because you don't spend  April and most of May accessorizing your look with crumpled tissues may not have escaped as cleanly as you had supposed.
Did you know, for instance, that migraines can be triggered by seasonal allergies?

That  ice pick in your eye?
it might have been thrown in there by a cedar tree.

Here's a funny thing about headaches. Have you ever noticed that sometimes just thinking about a headache can start that sort of tightness behind the eyeball, and if you start talking about them, that little throb in the temple can...

Ok.  Time to change the subject.
And find the Excedrin.

Instead of talking about allergies, let's talk about what may make them if not better, then maybe not-so-bad.  Let's talk about dinner. Because there are foods that can actually help you block the histamines that send you into a full-body revolt against invading allergens.  One of those may or may not be local honey (Web M.D. lands on the not side) but it's hard to make a meal of honey, isn't it?  It's no big surprise that the foods that help you fight allergies are foods that keep you healthy in other ways too- foods full of vitamins and antioxidants, like tomatoes, citrus and leafy greens.

That's what we'll be eating this week, unless we have an allergy-induced week of takeout. Here's how I hope it will work:

Wednesday: Slow cooker Lasagna

Tomatoes are weapons against all kinds of sniffles- the kind cause by germs, and the kind caused by allergens. That's because they're packed with all sorts of goodness, including vitamin C. Really! And what's extra nice is that when you smash them and combine them with cheese and pasta, you get lasagna.
I love the inclusion of dark leafy greens in this recipe, and I'll be experimenting with using wonton skins as the pasta. Lasagna and experimentation in one slow cooker meal! 

Thursday: Grilled Chicken and Broccoli and Brown rice

Not a big surprise to find broccoli on the list of allergy-fighters, is it? I'll be firing up our new grill to do both the chicken and the broccoli, and cooking up a batch of brown rice. Any leftover chicken can go into Saturday's main dish salad, and leftover broccoli and rice may make it into this chickpea, broccoli and brown rice salad next Monday.

Friday: Lemon Salmon and Greek Summer Pizza

Onions, lemon, spinach, salmon- I dare any feelings of unwellness to stick around for seconds of this meal. Both the pizza (which you can easily make on pita bread rounds if you don't want to bother with pizza crust) and the salmon bake at about the same temperature, for about the same time. 

Saturday: Chicken and apple salad

Combine allergy-fighting apples and onions with the first warm days of early summer, and what do you get? Main dish salads like these. The leftover chicken from Thursday will be great in here, but so would the meat from a rotisserie chicken or roasted turkey breast. To boost the nutrition power, we may  have this over shredded kale or baby spinach instead of leaf lettuce.

Sunday: Tomato Pie and Kale Salad

Notice that the first tomato pie of the summer comes at the end of the week. That gives me lots and lots of time to get to a farmer's market for some real tomatoes. If you can't find fresh, about-to-pop-their-tender-skins-with-flavor tomatoes, try something else with this great kale salad. Because a tomato pie is not fast food; it's only the huge fresh tomato flavor payoff that makes it worth the work (and the cheese and pastry calories). If you don't like the tough chew of a raw kale salad, try giving it a little salt massage first. This link  will give you the how and why. It will also give you an irritating and unasked for ad and video, you can mute the ad, and click to stop the video.


Wherever you are and whatever you're doing,
I hope this week gives you some breathing space
between the blues of winter
and the sneezes of spring.
And I hope you know it matters-
the things you do to stay strong.
I hope you know that everything you do
to put more life in
 your life matters.
And I hope this week those efforts are met
and rewarded with  strengths
that let you embrace every day

exactly the way you want to.