Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Oh yum... pumpkin creme brulee! I am totally making that in lieu of the usual pumpkin pie this year! Yippee! No pie crusts to make and roll!

It is not a cure, but it is liquid and it is delicious, and gives you a nice warm feeling inside when you are sick.

One can of chicken broth
4 Bay Leaves
1 whole head of Garlic
Little Olive Oil

In a sauce pan put the oil and garlic in and cook until the garlic gets a little browned. Add in the broth and bay leaves and let it simmer of low to medium heat for about 20 minutes or until the garlic is the consistency of boiled potatoes.

Take out the Bay Leaves and sip the broth and eat those garlic cloves up :)

Also...
As mentioned... Tea Toddies are just awesome.
Really the best thing you can do once you feel symptoms is get REST and drink ALOT of fluids (juice, non-caffeinated tea and water).

Taking loads of Vitamin C and Vitamin C rich foods really does not "heal" you or cure your cold. Excess doses of Vitamin C just get flushed from your system when you go to the bathroom. Vitamin C is one of those things that if you want it to do any good you should take it daily via diet (or supplement if you don't get it in your diet) in order for it to work. You can't just start slamming the Vitamin C when you get sick... it's already too late for it to do you any good.

Before dosing up on Vitamins check with your Doctor first.

What LoCo has said about getting rest and eating good foods is the best and truest advice here. We all have our ole Wive's Tales Remedies, but if you are really sick your best bet is to seek professional medical attention.

Here's some more info on Vitamin C and colds:
http://www.everybody.co.nz/page-5423d158-0c56-4877-95ad-91363c330795.aspx

Sweet Yellow Corn from Yakima, Peaches from Wenatchee, Strawberries from Orting and Sweet 100 Tomatoes from my Mother's climbers.

You can also serve Falafel Balls, make some accompanying dip like Tzatziki to go with it.

Toast some Pita Bread with some Sea Salt and Pepper in the oven until they are crispy and lightly browned and serve it with some Hummus. Top the Hummus with some chopped Sun Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil.

You could also do up a batch of Sweet Potato Fries, peel them up and slice them up in fry shapes, toss them in a large mixing bowl and drizzle a little Olive Oil, salt, pepper and a pinch of cumin. Toss them in the oven (this can be done at your friends house too as the raw oiled potatoes will keep well) and serve it with a dipping sauce made of peach or apricot preserves (about 1 cup) mixed with a touch of maple syrup, some stone ground mustard to taste, a pinch of thyme and a touch of white pepper. You'll want to cook the fries UNCROWDED on the pan at 425 for about 30 minutes until they get crispy.
You could cook the fries the day ahead and take them over cold and warm them up for 10-15 minutes at 350.

I like to slice them up so they look like mini orange rounds and toss them in a salad with sweet dried cranberries and pecans. It really perks up an average salad.

The other thing I like to do is take about 1/2 a cup worth of them and puree them... peels and all. And throw them into a pound cake. So you end up with Kumquat Pound Cake. Simple and such an elegant flavor.

The other way... just snack on them whole :)

As an aside...
Bluesky Soda Company has a ton of awesome drinks and many with cane sugar. They have good flavors too.
drinkbluesky.com
Not sure how to add a link to a post, so I hope that works.

1. Broccolini with two slices of Turkey Bacon cut up into chunks and saute the Broccolini with the Turkey Bacon until bright green but still crisp. Top off with a little Shredded Parm-Reg and you are golden.

2. Sliced Melon with a pinch of Cypress Flake Sea Salt.

3. Watercress, Shaved Almonds, orange segments tossed together for a refreshing little salad.

4. Fage 2% with Honey.

5. Propel Fitness Water... it is just yummy and very low calorie

6. Whole fresh pear sliced and fanned out, light sprinkle of crumbled blue cheese (I like Treasure Cave for this), a pinch of chopped pecans and stick it on an oven safe plate or piece of foil under the boiler just until the cheese gets melty. So sweet and savory and really satisfying because it feels so decadent.

7. Homemade Hummus and Red Pepper Strips for dipping.

Oh I should also add...
this is going to sound totally disgusting too.

It's a sandwich my Dad absolutely loved, and it is not too bad. Occasionally, I get the craving for the taste of it, but I can rarely finish a whole sandwich so I'd suggest making a half. I think the logical side of my brain starts giving the munchy side of my brain too bad a time and that is what stops me from eating the whole darned thing.

Soft White Bread
Peanut Butter
Miracle Whip
Iceberg Lettuce

See doesn't that sound gross?
It is surprising. The soft white bread as a platform for creamy peanut butter that has a sweet tang from the Miracle Whip and then the crunch of the Lettuce. I have this sinking feeling that you guys and gals will never trust another recipe of flavor suggestion I have to offer after this, but it did say weird tastes ;)

Crisp with a snap and still with a little yield.

Le Marechal!

Hickory Farms Gift packages... but not for the sausage or nasty little brick cheeses.... it was for those little Strawberry Candies!!

Also... Life Saver Story Books.

And for the Homemade end of things.... my mother's peanut butter fudge (I have asked her to bring a triple order this year so I don't have to share hahahaha) and my Aunt Lenna's Butterscotchies... just melted butterscotch chips and some Special K mixed in and dropped by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper. Although... I have not outgrown either of these Homemade items I just REALLY love them :)

I get the tiny bottles at the craft store ( you can buy the corks and wax there as well). In a pinch you could use small pint or 1/2 pint canning jars... come to think of it that would probably look pretty cute and down-homey :)

No boiling needed. Cut all of your beans in half and scrape the content of the pods out with a knife. You can put the scrapings in the extract (which will make little floating beads everywhere that will settle on the bottom) or you can save the scrapings for use later... it freezes really well. So beans and scraping into the bottle, then free pour the vodka and rum to your liking. I like to give it to my friends and family "freshly made" and just instruct them to shake it every week and keep it in the cupboard.

You can get away with a single bean per bottle, I just like the look of a bottle packed with gorgeous vanilla beans releasing their essence.

Typically with two beans, you will have amazing vanilla extract in about 60 days. One bean about 90 days. Although the longer it sits the stronger it gets. PLUS it is the gift that keeps on giving.... if they refill it with vodka or rum when it is half gone they can replenish their vanilla extract :)
Vodka makes for a lighter extract with more pure vanilla essence.
Rum makes for an intensely carmel-ey extract with a vanilla essense.
I like a small splash of rum added to the vodka as it really brings a layer of depth to the extract that is just so amazing.

For the sugar, I get one of those huge glad snap top containers (like large enough to fit a big square cake) and fill it with casting sugar (extra fine sugar). Casting sugar is a little more sparkly too. ;)
Just dump the sugar in, then add in either split and scraped beans or two beans that you have cut into chunks (unscraped). Cover it and shake it everyday to move the beans around. Within a couple days the vanilla with already start imparting it's fragrance to the sugar. When you go to gift it, just make sure you have a bean chunk in each container and leave a little room for them to shake it.

Vanilla sugar is another gift that keeps on giving. Your lucky recipient just needs to replenish the sugar when it gets half way finished and wait a couple days. Lo and behold more vanilla sugar!

Vanilla sugar is an amazing addition to dust sugar cookies or to have with a nice chamomile tea :) Or hey... make vanilla sugar cookies AND tea :) Even better!