For this week’s Tuesday review, I wanted to try something a little different: Easy Recipes for Hard Days by Shannon E. Gale. You might recognize that name, because in the past I’ve reviewed her book Hypermobile and Happy. Gale also has Dysautonomia, and she offers so many great tips and tactics for symptom management and flare-day hacks.

Many of you already know that I live in Maryland, and we got absolutely slammed with snow this weekend. I’m currently snowed in with my in-laws after Jakob’s grandma’s funeral on Saturday, so some low-effort comfort food was definitely called for over the past few days.

The first thing I tried was the Healing Spice Cocoa, and reading through the ingredients, I was pretty skeptical. Spices don’t usually come to mind when I think of hot chocolate. But after a quick run down the street in the freezing cold to see if the river had frozen over, I knew I needed something warm to bring me back to a place of comfort anyway, so I decided to treat it as a fun experiment.

Honestly, it really paid off. I was not expecting it to be so much better than normal hot cocoa – the flavors blend together perfectly in the most unexpected way. As an added bonus, the spices really helped clear my nasal passages, which was definitely needed with my bad winter cold. I feel like I’ve been hacking up my lungs lately, and the extra heat was incredibly soothing. I’ve already had three mugs of this, and I’ll be making hot cocoa this way whenever I have a sick day from now on.

I always love getting into the kitchen to try new things – it’s fun to make something good to share with the family – so I also offered to make dinner Sunday night. I took a look in the pantry and the fridge and saw that we had everything needed to make Gale’s Healing Chicken Noodle Casserole. It’s easily made with ingredients most standard pantries are already stocked with.

Like many of the other recipes in this book, this one was quick to throw together: just add the ingredients to a baking dish and let it cook for a while, and that’s literally all you have to do. I would maybe add a bit of extra seasoning for flavor, but even on its own it’s hearty, filling, and perfect for making dinner for the family on a sick day when your energy is completely depleted. Super easy flare-day comfort food – it really doesn’t get better than that!

There are also sections in the book that focus on helpful information, such as ingredient substitutions, using food to fuel your nervous system, and prepping food in advance. My personal favorite, as a Catholic, was the section on blessings before meals. There’s a subsection featuring meal blessings from around the world, and it’s fascinating to see not only my own Catholic faith represented, but also how many different religions and cultures share similar sentiments around mealtime.

This has just been a quick glimpse into what Easy Recipes for Hard Days has to offer, and I can’t wait to dive in and try more. From full meals to snacks, sweet treats, and drinks, there’s so much packed into this book. For anyone who regularly asks themselves, “What should I eat today?” and wants an answer that’s both low-effort and genuinely comforting, this book is a must-have!