Simply Delicious Immune Boosters

Let these easy immune boosting recipes bolster your reserves, helping you stay resilient and energized through cold/flu season and beyond!

Have your households been battling bugs, or anticipating such? You’ve got plenty of company. Despite our association of "seasonal sniffles" with wintry weather, frigid temps aren’t the only drivers of germs! We spent our Colorado Christmas nestled in a balmy 70 degrees, which felt both truly pleasant and achingly wrong. Nevertheless, we were one of five states identified by the CDC as experiencing high risk levels of flu activity. According to CDPHE, 800 people in Colorado were hospitalized with severe flu in the last week of December alone. What can we do? Hit the kitchen!

The immune system is a complex web of cells, tissues, and organs working together to defend the body from outside threats. Let’s give our bodies a fighting chance with vibrant, nutrient-dense meals to do some heavy lifting for us. Good news is, providing nutrient-dense support can be delicious, simple, playful, creative, and therapeutic, all at once. We can call on go-to remedies without even needing to think about it, or we can challenge ourselves to get to know and incorporate new ingredients, focusing on potent allies like anti-inflammatory spices, vitamin C powerhouses, gut health warriors, and zinc-rich additions.

The beauty is, immune-boosting possibilities are endless. Here are a few of our favorites right now. Please send me yours! And if you like them, check back again—I’ll update this post as we soldier through the year.

Quick and Simple Turmeric Ginger Shots

As quick and simple as it gets—you don’t need a juicer for this bright, zingy, citrusy lift!

Tom Yum Noodle Soup

One of my all-time favorite soups ever, this soothing meal offers layers of flavor from citrus to spice.

Protective Tonic with Kick: Fire Cider

This one takes some time and is not for the faint of heart…but give it a chance. You might find, like me (and many), that you actually enjoy the taste! And if not, it’s only taken a tablespoon at a time, if that! A popular folk remedy with countless variations, fire cider was popularized in the late 1970s by California herbalist Rosemary Gladstar. This fiery concoction is best regarded as a protective measure for warding off colds and flu; it’s also credited for helping to relieve congestion, aid digestion, and even increase circulation.

Lovely Lemongrass Soup with Vegetables

Light, bright, and tangy, this fragrant, veggie-packed soup awakens the senses and soothes the soul. Kick up the heat, or make it mellow. Serve over noodles, over rice, or go with neither, even pulling back on the veggies if you wish to enjoy the citrus-ginger broth more like a comforting consommé.

Cozy Carrot Ginger Soup

This bright, creamy, betacarotene-rich beauty adds fellow anti-inflammatories ginger and garlic, each lending powerful notes that blend beautifully with carrot, onion, and sweet potato. The result is a cozy carrot ginger soup that boosts your defenses and lifts your mood with the sheer cheerfulness of color alone, let along the piquant, soothing, earthy, and bright flavors all melded together.

Kimchi Noodle Soup

Kimchi makes for an easy, tranformative ingredient in this soothing soup bursting with gut-healthy benefits and a superbly satisfying kick of spice!