Take 2 and call me in the morning.

When I’m getting sick, I go through several phases. The first is denial. I cannot POSSIBLY be sick. I have so much to do. I have a race coming. This is not happening.

The next phase is panic. OMG I AM GETTING SICK AND I AM FREAKING OUT. Quick, let’s throw everything we have at it. So I took: EmergenC, oil of oregano, Advil, my vitamins, a metric ton of tea, then hot water with lemon, then hot water with lemon and honey. Also, drank enough water to fill a child’s swimming pool. Yes, I might just float away.

The final phase is acceptance and pity party. So I slept 9 hours (?!), ran 8 miles (can I sweat it out?), bought Tylenol Cold & Sinus, and made some food. I washed my hands about 231 times and wrecked my manicure in the process. There are worse things.

I decided to use up lots of things in my fridge. Starting with the pumpkin. I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. They are really good and fluffy, and I had 2 while they were still hot. With tea. What else is new?

And I made this huge giambotta, which will give me a few lunches for the week. I had it for dinner tonight, too.

Recipes are listed below. 🙂

I saw this recipe on The Wannabe Chef. I got 20 cookies out of mine though, and not 14. No matter.

• 1.5 cups gluten free flour (I’m still using Pamela’s)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 5 tbsp canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350*. Mix dry ingredient in one bowl. In a second bowl, combine wet ingredients. Then, mix the two together. Very fancy, I know. Stir in the chocolate chips. Plunk down the cookies, bake for 12 minutes.

Giambotta is a southern Italian stew that my family made a lot, when I was growing up. We pronounced it like all good immigrants do: “jahm-BOT”. It’s the thing you make when you have a bunch of vegetables and you don’t know what to do with them. If you have tomatoes, eggplant and potatoes (yay, nightshades!), you are on your way to a giambotta. But really, there are no rules. So if you like it, throw it in. It all goes down easy.

Good Italians will tell you that this is a dish that will keep you skinny. It’s just vegetables, I heard an older man tell me recently. “You have to make it all the time”. Good idea, buddy.

This version has cabbage. It’s a CSA bonanza.

Into the pot:

• a small onion
• 4 scallions
• 1 small eggplant
• 1 summer squash
• 1 zucchini
• a bunch of green and yellow beans (2 cups?)
• 3 small red potatoes
• 1/2 a head of cabbage, cut into thin strips
• about 2 cups of spinach
• 1 large can of diced tomatoes
• salt, pepper, oregano, parsley

Chop all your veggies into pieces that are what you’d want to eat (I like them kind of the same size). After sautéing, add tomatoes. Add your spices, bring it to a simmer and cover. Let it cook about 30 minutes, until the potatoes are soft. You can add cheese (pecorino romano gets my vote, if you want to) or not. I opted to skip cheese this time. I simply adore cabbage with potatoes. I am really loving this combination of veggies.