I had plans this morning to come here and share more ideas of what you can do with the cornmeal you undoubtedly ran out and bought so you could make cornbread. Instead, I am typing this from bed where I am also bidding goodbye to the last notions I had that I am not actually sick.

Another day, then, for the empanadas, cornmeal waffles, polenta, and spoonbread. Today my food concerns are a bit more pedestrian - what to feed the kids when thinking of food at all leads to unwelcome lurching in the mid-section?

There's always eggs and toast, of course, although I find that cooking eggs while I'm under the weather does nothing at all for improving my physical state. Buttered noodles work well, particularly rotini, the shape of which seems to distract the kids from noticing that I have neglected to add veggies or meat to the bowl (if I'm up to it, a generous sprinkling of grated Parmesan and some cracked black pepper in my bowl are wonderfully self-nurturing).

If soup is called for, I break out one of my boxes of pre-made broth. I do try to keep homemade on hand, but it's usually frozen so doesn't work well for last-minute needs. You can buy excellent organic veggie and chicken broths at many groceries these days, making them great pantry staples, so don't feel shy about keeping and using them. Heated broth with maybe some diced onion, frozen peas, a bit of kale and some of those teeny-tiny dried ravioli or tortellini make a great, last minute soup that's quick and delicious. You can also use celery, drained and rinsed beans, rice or anything at all that you have lying around and looks good and before you know it soup's on and you're off the hook for another few hours.

I've also been known to make beer bread, serve it warm and buttered along with applesauce or a clementine or something and call it a day (this approach has the added benefit of resulting in leftover bread, so you can serve it again the next day if events regrettably come to that). Because the bread has all of three ingredients it's crazy fast to make, the only requirement being that you need to remember to get it started a little more than an hour before you want it (maybe an hour and a half before, to include mixing and cooling time).

No matter what is served and no matter how it is made or procured, don't forget to include the kids in what you are doing and why. As impatient as you may feel and as intolerant of spills and dropsies as you might be (believe me, I have bitten my own tongue so often that it may well be perforated), tolerating kitchen mayhem now could lead to you one day hearing, as I did today, "Mommy, if you need to lie down it's o.k. I will pour Entropy Girl's juice and grind the coffee beans for you. Would you like some cinnamon toast?"

And with that, I feel better already.