Mind over matter, right?  I’ve been willing my body not to get sick.  From a healing shoulder and holidays to work travel and workload, I’ve been giving myself pep talks and vitamin C because “it wasn’t a good time to get sick.”  Even when Chris, a middle school teacher swimming in germs everyday, came home ill I managed to escape.  Ha–take that viruses.  I win and you lose.  In fact, I was just bragging about my tougher-than-nails immune system last week as I was in contact with a few colleagues at work that had minor colds.

You know where this is going.  Wham!  The viruses won and I think they’ve invaded every square inch of my body.  It is the kind of cold that makes you curl up like a baby and whine.  Thankfully, Chris humored me and bought me lozenges to reduce the length of my cold and he even made fresh squeezed orange juice for me.  You read that right–fresh squeezed.  Like from real oranges.

When he asked what he could make me for dinner, there was only one thing that would suffice.  Soup.  Hot, wholesome soup.  I came up with this recipe about a year ago when I was trying to make dinner with the remnants of my pantry between grocery shopping excursions.  I didn’t think it would actually be delicious.  If you are like me, waging war against an army of viruses that bring mucus  and other toxic waste with them, make a batch of this soup and it will make you feel better.

Vegetable couscous soup with quinoa
1 onion diced
6 cloves of garlic chopped finely
1 can of organic diced tomatoes
2 carrots chopped
2 stalks of celery chopped
1/4 cup quinoa
1 cup couscous
1/4 cup parsley
2 tablespoons of fresh thyme
1 tablespoon celery salt
Black or white pepper to taste
1 tablespoon old bay seasoning
4 Rapunzel veggie bouillon cubes
1 /2 cup red wine
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 1/2 quarts of Imagine Vegetable Broth
3 tablespoons of Earth Balance spread

Soften the onion and garlic in the Earth Balance. Be careful not to let the garlic burn. Add the bouillon and stir until it is dissolved.  Add the red wine and cook for a few minutes until it is slightly reduced.  Next add the spices, herbs, quinoa, and broth.  Simmer together for 10 minutes on low heat.  Add the couscous and follow the cooking time on the package (approximately 15 minutes).  Turn heat off and add the fresh, chopped parsley last.  This can all be altered based on what you have in your pantry.  No couscous?  Add whatever small pasta you have.  No fresh thyme?  I am a big fan of fresh herbs but dried will be OK too.  No quinoa?  How about some garbanzo beans or lentils?

Serve with a piece of bread with Earth Balance spread.