I could tell the coughing and sniffling was sliding downhill into truly cruddy this morning, so I put together a crockpot of soup in case I proved incapable of further efforts by dinner time. Soup is one of those welcome comfort foods when not feeling well. It’s easy to swallow, easy on uncertain stomachs, and full of nutrients.

I’d been planning to make navy bean and ham soup anyway, thanks to the remaining Easter ham in the freezer. I hadn’t made it before, but the recipes I found were basic enough: salt, pepper, ham, onion, carrots, celery, navy beans.

My ham and navy bean soup:
2 cans navy beans, about a cup of chopped ham (like I measure), 1/3 of a red onion, diced, 2 celery stalks and 1 lg. carrot, sliced. I used salt and pepper to taste, then added enough water to easily cover everything. (Since we have small kids, I usually make soups thick so they’re easier to eat. More water would make more broth.) Then I added somewhere around a half teaspoon of Jamaican Jerk seasoning, since I thought it’d be dull without a little additional flavor.

6 hours later, I had a crockpot full of soup that tasted delicious and didn’t bother my scratchy throat. Bliss.

To go along with it, honey whole wheat bread went into the bread machine. You can just about live on soup and bread with fresh fruit to snack on. Much better for recovering bodies than fast food, without much effort.