Oh, Dairy’s Bad for Illness?

This morning’s wake-up call was más banging and más música.

Construction song of the day: Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”.

Again, this lulled any animosity I’d usually feel toward an unsolicited early morning alarm because (1) that song innately sends out feel-good vibes and (2) it now reminds me of the Glee version.

And, Glee. Oh, Glee. How I adore thee.

This incited 2 hours of Glee ~~sing-a-long~~ listening.

Which is fine because Fridays simply aren’t productivity friendly.

But let’s pick up where we left off yesterday.

After Thursday’s Miley wake-up call, I decided that—despite being sick—I couldn’t listen to a day’s worth of deafening demolition. I needed to get out of la casa.

And I knew exactly where I wanted to be.

All I wanted to do was curl up on a comfy cafe couch.

And sip a vanilla chai latte.

And blog amid the serene sounds of coffee machines and hippie chatter.

And get lost in this.

My favorite birthday present.

Or maybe this.

My favorite graduation present.

And possibly venture down the street for some of this.

(I still haven’t tried the pumpkin cupcake!)

However, I could not have my way

with this envisioned comfy cafe day.

Due to torrential downpour,

the 10-block walk lost its allure.

And my pleasant getaway seemed like more

of an illness-worsening chore.

And so I settled on a day of noisy house arrest.

And a lot of cafe con leche.

This gets to my title. I do know (or at least I’ve frequently heard) that you’re supposed to avoid dairy when you’re sick. However, I’m not a normal sick person. As I’ve explained, I don’t ever lose my appetite when I’m ill. And I convince myself that really hot and really cold foods make me feel better.

And I often crave dairy. Similar to my hot and cold theory, I hypothesize that smooth dairy products like yogurt and milk make me better. I’m pretty sure this all stems from the fact that I just really like how my throat feels when I consume these hot/cold/dairy items.

Oh well, I ran with it.

Mostly because I’d prepared my breakfast the night before—and it packed a whole lot of smooth dairy. Mmmmm.

Overnight Oats! This is one of those blogland breakfasts that always makes me drool but, for some reason, I’ve never tried.

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Overnight Oats

Soaked overnight: 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats, 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk and 1/2 cup greek yogurt. Added in la mañana: bottle of cinnamon, handful of raisins and drizzle of maple syrup.

(I also can’t hear the word drizzle anymore without thinking of the best baby name ever.)

SO HEAD OVER HEELS FOR THIS BREAKFAST.

It was so thick, creamy, chewy, vanilla-y and perfectly microwave-less!

Lunch was a series of snacks—the first of which continued to feed my sickly dairy craving.

And also helped make a dent in my never-ending VitaTops stash.

I let a BlueBran VitaTop thaw for 45 minutes.

And then I combined it with a big bowl of vanilla yogurt.

Made a delightful mess of it all.

And enjoyed with an almond butter spoon.

One thing I found I don’t enjoy when I’m sick is nut butter because it sort of stuck to my throat. No bueno.

This was remedied by stirring the AB into the mix because it just added some always-welcome flavor to the creamy medley.

The BlueBran Vita was good—again, not great. It was certainly less dry than the Corn Vita—but I think this may have been due to the fact that I didn’t microwave it.

Word on the blog streets is that the chocolate ones are ze best so, even though I’m not a chocolate gal, I’m excited to try those out.

The next segment of lunch was finally normal sick food.

Instant Miso Soup.

Again, another food discovery that is going to be my salvation from starvation during Microwave Madness Month.

You simply mix a couple packets of miso paste, seaweed and tofu (looks gross, I know) with hot water…

And voila! Miso soup!

I need to stock up.

The miso love got me out of dairy land and triggered a hot craving.

I put all the usual suspect into heavy rotation.

As in I have no idea how many cups of tea I consumed yesterday. I think one day I’ll take pictures of every cup of tea I drink just to get a ballpark figure. Should be comical.

Hot craving subsided, and carb craving arose.

As was the case on Tuesday, I was quarantined to my room. So again, chip hoarding commenced.

And concluded…

I need to find the little bags of FSTG chips that Kaytee reviewed because I know no self-control with these things.

My lack of self-control apparently applies to vitamins, too… Gummy vitamins, anyway. Yesterday’s bedroom snacking also involved finishing my stash of calcium gummies. I need to remind myself that these are not candy!!!

Guess I’m going to have super strong bones…

Before I present dinner, I have to apologize for being a dinner repeater! I know I promised I’d do my best not to bore you all with my kitchen-less meals—which I suppose entails switching things up—but all I wanted was that habanero lime salsa I discovered Wednesday night. So, I created my dinner around it!

The staple of my dinner does not look appetizing, but I assure you it was.

In the mix: 4 oz. diced chicken, 2 tbsp. plain Greek yogurt, 2 tbsp. roasted red pepper hummus, 2 tbsp. Wild Oats Habanero Lime salsa, finely chopped celery, finally chopped onion, sprinkle of taco seasoning and red pepper flakes.

Caliente! Pero delicioso!

Ensalada Mexicana

In the bigger mix: lots of baby spinach and mixed greens; roasted red peppers; celery; red onion; corn; hard-boiled egg-whites (filled with más habanero lime salsa); topped with the spicy chicken salad.

Inspired by Meg’s tabasco pools. I loved this!

But not more than this!

I enthusiastically urge you to try the yogurt-hummus-spicy salsa mix. I can’t even explain how incredible the flavor was. With a roasted red pepper cherry on top ;).