Granola, Parfaits, and RSV

My son and I were sick the past week or two, he with combined strep and RSV (thank you relatives who won't take their kid to the doctor! Not only was he sick because of it, but my nephew was too, he isn't even 6 months and has enough problems, he was in the NICU for the first three months of life, and has to rely on a colostomy bag to relieve himself, and he eats through a feeding tube, he did not need RSV. Then again neither did the little boy who had it for THREE months who gave it to everybody), and I had an attack of my bronchitis that was so bad it was a step away from full-blown bacterial pneumonia. Thankfully, we are both better, although both still congested and wheezy, I am at least back down to regular old bronchitis, and on strict orders to drink more and daily use of an inhaler or nebulizer. But while we were sick and on antibiotics, we needed something besides applesauce and jello to eat. Enter yogurt, packed with calcium and protein as well as being nice and cool on a sore throat. The only problem, our hometown has had a large outbreak of RSV and there was no vanilla yogurt, only plain. My solution, however was to add honey as a sweetener, and to eat it with this amazing recipe  found on allrecipes.com, thank you to Pam Anderson for posting it on the site. http://allrecipes.com/howto/great-granola/detail.aspx?e11=granola+clusters&e8=Quick+Search&event10=1&event8=1&prop24=SR_Showcase&e7=Home+Page  the only changes I made was in the flavoring, I used a teaspoon and a half of vanilla and a teaspoon of cinnamon for a doubled recipe and put in chopped pecans, sliced almonds and chocolate chips.

I used this amazing granola, which smelled like cinnamon french toast, to make a delicious parfait with yogurt and honey. and I have now decided that my parfait glass will become my new breakfast bowl for cereal,  because it holds roughly 1 cup of cereal and a half cup of milk, which is a standard serving.

Our Lunch: Ham "Noodles" and Tri-Color Rotini

My son and I were recently looking for something to eat for lunch, but there wasn't that much in the house to eat (it was before a shopping day). So I took some of the things i had on hand and made something off the top of my head that actually turned out pretty good.

 I took some tri-color rotini that happened to be in the cabinets, and cooked it on the stove, adding a whole chopped carrot, cut into very small pieces, to the mix right after the noodles came back up to a boil.

Then, when the noodles and carrots were almost done, I took two pieces of ham and rolled them up and used kitchen shears to cut them into long, thin, noodle-like strips.

I added them to the noodle mix and continued to cook until the noodles were done and the carrots were soft.

I drained out the water, added margarine, and Aunt Jane's Mixed-Up Salt and stirred until the margarine melted.

I then took out a small portion for my son, and added a few handfuls of baby spinach to the mix.

I tried covering the pot with a lid to let it steam the spinach, but when that didn't work I put it in a bowl and microwaved it, covered, for 30 seconds.

Then I added chopped olives and gave it a good stir. It turned out really good and my son loved it, although I had to tell him that the ham was noodles before he would eat it, lol.