As many of you who read me know, I’ve been sick since Wednesday night and since then whining, whinging, sharing my woes with you.  You have all been remarkably kind and patient and your get-well wishes have been more than well-received.  I promise I’m on the upswing and will no longer bore you with my sickies!

I have missed my last two days of work at the club because of it. Yay! I mean, I’m so sad…  Yes, I am very sad about it. I believe the worst is over but I took no chances and decided to NOT go to a comedy show I had tickets for tonight and that way ensure I not share my germs with anyone else.  Besides, even if I were to sit isolated in a corner, every time I would laugh, it would be guaranteed to be followed up with a coughing fit and no one wants to be THAT person! So here I am.

I am completely chicken-souped out.  Seriously. Don’t show me another bowl. First I made (coz, yanno, I’m the mom so no one makes it for me, right?) the chicken broth, most of which was frozen but some kept to make Chicken with ginger and rice.  It was pretty darn good, I kid you not – enough for one of my kids to sneak a bowl or two…

Then yesterday, that first batch finally done, I remembered seeing a Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup box in my cupboard! YES!!! THAT’s exactly what I wanted. I was gonna make a batch, and stracciatella it by adding a beaten egg or two. Woot!  Open the cupboard. Damn. Gone. Sigh.

So, I made my own, of course.  I had the broth, I had the noodles. I had the eggs.  But of course, I decided to add a few itty-bitty veggies to it, coz, I just can’t help myself.

Now that is all fine and good. And between the lemon-honey-ginger teas and chicken-variation-soups, I needed me something else tonight. Plus my throat could take something with more texture by now.  I could have heated some leftover pork tenderloin but meh.

I’m still on an empty-the-fridge mission.  However, on Thursday, despite my feeling like crap, I had a hair appointment I did not want to miss so on my way home, I did a mini-get-only-the-necessities purchase spree.   This has given me a few more options.

I was in the mood for my take on Pol Martin’s “New York Style Croque-Monsieur”, which, to be honest, is a grilled cheese plus extras.

It should start off with decent bread, ok, I had some multi-grain sliced bread that was gonna be just fine. It needs cheese, preferably a gruyère or Swiss – I had Jarlesberg, black forest ham, bell peppers (both purchased with this sandwich in mind) and fresh cracked black pepper.

So, the first step is, one must cook the bell peppers in butter (I prefer the yellow, orange or red as they are sweeter) till they are soft but not mushy.

You then build the sandwich very specifically:  bread, cheese, ham, peppers. lots of cracked pepper, cheese bread. Don’t forget to butter the outside of each bread slice!

You then fry up this delicious sammy like you would any grilled cheese.

Once perfectly toasted, cut in half and try not to eat too fast…

Why the black pepper, you ask? Adds spice to the sweet of the peppers and ham. The cheese needs to have some personality to come in and give a slightly tangy bit to hang with both the sweet and spicy.  All I can tell you is the flavours play with your tastebuds in a most delicious manner!

Enjoy!