I woke up today hoping that my cold wouldn’t have gotten any worse overnight. Instead, it felt like someone punched me in the face and ear, repeatedly. Joy.

I went back to bed for a while, but lying there just made the pain worse so I got up and tried to start my day. Soon I discovered that were out of juice, cold medicine, Nyquil, tissues, and canned soup. I bundled myself up (in spite of the warm temps) and actually drove down to the store.  I never drive to the store when I’m getting just a few things. Never. But today I felt sh*tty enough to do just that.

The good thing about the grocery store on a weekday morning is that there’s usually no one there; a few SAHMs, a few blue hairs, and me. The bad thing about the grocery store on a weekday morning is that the cashiers are really slow and it takes forever to get out of there. I’m not usually in a hurry, but today I was sick and just wanted to purchase my tissues and soup fixin’s and be on my way, you know? Sigh and woe.

I watched some bad morning TV and blew my nose 800 times, and then decided to make my soup. Now, this soup is, hands down, my favorite thing to have when I’m sick. Maybe because it’s spicy. Maybe it’s the garlic. Maybe it’s all the vitamin C. Maybe because it has goat cheese in it, which is maybe the perfect garnish of all time.  Heidi’s Vegetarian Tortilla Soup recipe is the one I use, with the following changes:

• Roast four, whole Italian peppers along with the tomatoes. Peel when cool, remove the seeds, and chop them up.
• Use a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, and only 4 cups of broth.
• More garlic. Double it.
• Add half of the roasted peppers before blending the soup.
• Add the rest of the peppers and half a bag of spinach (chopped) after the soup is blended.
• If you feel like it, add some beans, too. Cannellini or red kidney beans are a good choice.

That’s it! And you don’t even really need the tortillas (even though they’re delicious). Guaranteed to clear sinuses and make you feel a little better, which is all you really want when you’re sick. Well, except for a hot toddy. We all want that, right?