Make soup. And cornbread.

The soup because you feel like crap, it’s cold out, and you need something warm and spicy with vegetables and soothing broth. The cornbread because it’s so easy, you’ll barely expend any of your dwindling energy, and oven-fresh bread is probably one of the world’s ultimate comfort foods. Besides soup.

If you don’t believe me: I made the cornbread after I’d already started the soup, and by the time I was finished with the dishes, everything was ready. Here’s the verbal re-creation of the Mark Bittman recipe I used (verbal because I feel so yucky, I don’t feel like getting up):

Heat some fat in an 8″ square pan. (I used bacon drippings! Don’t ask.) While you’re doing that, mix together 1 1/2 cups of cornmeal, 1/2 cup of flour, a teaspoon of salt, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, a tablespoon of sugar, and maybe some smoked paprika. Mix together 1 1/4 cups of buttermilk or yogurt and an egg, then stir that into the dry stuff. Pour it in the pan, cook half an hour, done.

So to the soup: I’m a big fan (well, maybe just an enthusiast) of “whatever’s in the house” soup. (I’m sick, ok? Maybe I really want pho, but I do not feel like going to the store.) My strategy is to think about what I do have that’s fresh, evaluate the freezer, then pick a genre. Tonight I had some leftover shredded pork shoulder (I know, good, huh?) and little in the way of fresh veg, so Mexican seemed like the right direction.

Pantry tip: Always, always keep some beans in your freezer. Once a month, while you’re watching TV or something, just simmer a pound of dried beans in water to cover, maybe with a few cloves of garlic, until done. Divide into pint containers or Ziplocs and freeze. You can dump the frozen beans right into your cooking soup! And if you’re really stuck, cook up some rice, defrost some beans, pull out the hot sauce, and you have easiest dinner ever.

In any case, I’ll spare you a recipe, since I didn’t really have one, but here’s what went in, in order of appearance:

• onions, carrots, garlic (some chopped chile in adobo would have been nice, but I was out…too lazy for dried chiles)
• a couple of fresh kaffir lime leaves I got from Michael’s tree (some lime zest would be fine)
• a few spoonfuls of tomato sauce, a half pint of still-frozen black beans
• some really good chili powder, salt, oregano
• 4 cups of stock (water would be fine, with all this other stuff)
• chopped-up leftover pork
• a can of hominy, some frozen spinach, cilantro

When it was good and hot, I ladled myself a huge bowlful, topped with a bit of crumbled feta (watch the salt) and some of the cornbread.

I still feel crappy, but I bet I’ll be better tomorrow.