Tortilla soup non-recipe

Suddenly I had to come up with a supper plan and I hadn't bought anything for tonight.

I improvised.

Tonight's supper, made from leftovers, went like this...

Tortilla soup:

Hey, I'll use up this cooked chicken and this homemade tomato soup from the other night. Add a small can of black olives that I happened to have, and 1 can of black beans, chop an onion into it, good spoonful of garlic, plenty of fresh cilantro which I happen to have on hand (just bought it -- I thought I was going to try drying it!)... warm and taste...add cumin, little jalapen-yo, black pepper, barest touch of cayenne and a shake or two of hot sauce. This is getting mighty yumful!

Let set to blend flavors and ole!

I will now serve it with cheese and sour cream which I happen to have on hand, and the family will be warmed and filled. I love when a plan comes together, even at the last minute!

So glad I was able to use up some leftovers and that I happened to have on hand so many of just the right things to fill in! Clearly I must be getting some heavenly help on the cooking tonight! (thanks Father!)

Sunday dinner

~

Hot, steaming gravy runs all over the mound of potatoes, over and around the tender chicken... And I'm thinking this is just the thing on this damp, cold day that scowls sharp with ragged clouds and can't decide whether to actually rain or just make threats.

Crock pots are a gift to cold people with not enough energy to make a meal after sitting in a chilly classroom half the morning. The hot food warms me from inside and feels like comfort. It's the perfect meal for before a nap. And a nap is just the thing for a cold Sunday afternoon.

( so today, right this minute, I am thankful for...)

521. crock pots making meals while I'm away
522. easy gravy = mushroom soup poured over the meat and thickened as needed later
523. Hot food when I'm cold, warming me up from the inside
524. Restful Sundays
525. worship time
526. family time
527. nap time

~

hot tea and apple butter

I'm sitting here this morning with a cup of hot, sweet tea...

I love a good cup of tea.

And toast.

With apple butter.

Oh, my!

The water came to a screaming boil, and was promptly moved by offspring who can't stand screaming.

This is very hot water.

Tazo. Awake. Good tea.

A good healthy dash of agave nectar....

A touch of milk...

And two ice cubes. While I make the toast.

Gluten free, rice flour, never tried this before, but it's good! It's delicious!

With apple butter. Oh, I love apple butter!

Apple butter makes me think of my grandfather, PeePop.

PeePop, because the oldest cousin couldn't pronounce PopPop when she was a tiny girl.

PeePop knew how to enjoy apple butter, and he taught us:

A half inch thick on the bread.

Half inch, got it?

Well, who are we to argue with the grandpa?

And so this morning, I savour tea, like my British aunt (on my mother's side) used to enjoy, and with it I eat toast and apple butter, like my father's father used to enjoy.

And my solitary moment is a reflection of my heritage.

Mmmmmm....

Good stuff.




(linked to LL Barkat's "On, In, and Around Mondays" )

Veggier and Veggier

I have been learning to cook with more veggies, less meat. At first, it was hard, because I had to rethink so many things... I expected every meal to have a meat main dish and then a vegetable or two as sides. But with finances being what they are, and with health issues that came up in the family, I started doing things differently, and I learned that I do feel better when I eat less meat.

I learned that you don't HAVE to have one main dish as the star of the meal. You can have a bunch of different vegetable dishes, with some bread. A meal like this is nutritious and fills people up. It may look like all "side dishes", but it makes a good meal.

Also I learned that eating three different colors of plant foods (veggies, fruits, and grains) will give your body everything it needs to build a good quality protein. So I don't have to include a meat or meat substitute with every meal.

And I have learned about alternate sources of protein. I'm learning about tofu, which has very little flavor of its own and tastes like whatever you put with it. There are a ton of recipes for tofu online. I really like tofu with a curry sauce, but since I am the only curry fan in the house, I don't fix tofu that way very often. Sometimes I fry it up or brown it in the oven. Husband is not fond of tofu, so I limit my experimentation with it. I do like it, though. The other night I wanted something easy. I bought a can of Chinese Vegetables. Then I heated oil in the big black frying pan and browned some tofu with a little S&P, and some seasoning sauce (Bragg Liquid Amino). Added a few chopped veggies - whatever I had in the house: a little cauliflower, little broccoli, some green onion. And when those were cooked, I added the can of drained Chinese veggies. We served that over brown rice. It turned out very yummy. Well, most of us thought so, anyway.

I have learned about tvp, which works well in a lot of recipes where you might otherwise use ground meat, like in spaggetti sauce. Or you can use it along with ground beef to stretch the meat in things like sloppy joes.

But most of my meatless foods are just veggie dishes, with no "meat substitutes". We love home made soups, for example. Tomato soup is delicious, or bean, potato or lentil soup. Lentil soup is fast, delicious, and fills you up.

Hummus Recipe

I figured out a recipe that makes really good hummus! I had made hummus before with a list of ingredients but no amounts, which required me to call in my taste-testers every time to help me determine the needed adjustments. But I think I got it figured out. I took some to a friend's house last night and they loved it as much as I did. So I think I'll share the recipe in case you all want to measure ingredients, too. It makes it so much easier!

Take one can 'banzo beans (chickpeas), mostly drained, and puree them in a food processor till smooth (according to your preference). Add one quarter cup EACH: olive oil, lemon juice (or juice of one lemon), and tahini (sesame paste). Puree 'til blended, scraping sides as needed. Mince three good sized cloves garlic into the hummus, and add salt and pepper to taste. Mix again. If it's too thick, you can add up to a quarter cup of water to make it the way you like it.


When you put this in a container, you can sprinkle a little oil and/or herbs on top to make it look good. I use dried parsley.

You can also vary this recipe by adding something delicious. Pesto hummus is good (add pesto to taste). Roasted red pepper hummus...



only takes a few pieces of canned red pepper to give it a good color and flavor, and I have also had hummus made of black beans in place of the garbanzo beans. It was good and had yet another different look.

Serve with pita chips, crackers, or fresh veggies for dipping.

Seriously... Yum!

Deliciously Hot Day

Spring has been cool. The plants know it and we have been waiting

for "real" summer to get here.

It got here.

The temps since yesterday are around 90, and will be for most of the week.

We are all melting. I am glad for the sun, but still, it is hot. Last night, the heat had drained my energy and I felt exhausted by suppertime, but still had to fix a meal for everyone. By bedtime, I was feeling like a worn out rag. Pretty droopy.

So today, I got up and cooked in the cool of the morning. I boiled potatoes, eggs, and pasta so we could have cool salads for supper tonight. Yeah, I am going to fix potato salad, pasta salad, and tossed salad. I love cool, salad-based meals on hot days. I'm making big salads so they'll last a few days. Yum. I think this will work. (-: It's going to be nice the next few days to have food prepared ahead for meals. It will save me a lot of work on these hot days.

Cold!

Today we planned to go ice skating again, after the great fun we had last week. But when we got downtown, the rink was covered in snow and a sign told us we weren't allowed to skate! I guess those who decide such things felt the the record-breaking cold temperatures warranted the closing of the ice rink! Too cold to ice skate? I guess so. Well, I had been warned. When I told friends I planned to go today they informed me of the weather forecast and suggested I might want to go next week instead. Wise friends.

But we did have a good time. Something about getting out in the fresh air, in different surroundings... just feels good. And we did see some ice sculptures that sparkled in the cold air. Pretty!



I told the children who were with me (One son, one daughter this time) that even though we didn't do any skating today, I thought we needed hot chocolate anyway. We did, after all, walk out in the cold. Besides, I hadn't eaten lunch yet and I was hungry. So we got a hot dog for me across the street from the rink, in a place so warm and moist that my camera (and our glasses) fogged up and took forever to clear. Once we warmed up, we went to my friend's coffee place a block down, and got some of his made from scratch hot chocolate with a dash of cayenne. That warmed us up. Another friend stopped in while we were there who I hadn't seen in months! It was great to see her and do some catching up! And I met a photographer there who gave me some helpful tips about my little camera. Very nice!




So we had a good time, us three. When we got home, I needed to fix a supper that warmed and filled us without taking too much of my time or energy to prepare. Lentils! Oh, we had the best supper! Hot lentil soup - simple, quick, hot, economical, and deliciously filling - with slices of whole grain bread spread with real butter! We ate this while watching a movie in front of the fire. What a good evening together!





I sent some of the lentil soup to work with Husband this evening. I hope it fills him there again, and I hope he stays safe on the slippery roads. The strong cold makes the roads much slipperier than they appear. (Is "slipperier" a word? "much more slippery"? You know what I mean.) There were a lot of cars sliding into the median on the expressways today, and even the roads around town were slicker than you'd expect.


Tonight the temperatures are predicted to be below zero, with "dangerous" wind chills. The furnace in the house here is having a hard time keeping up with the need for heat, and the temperature in the house right now is 66 degrees. (Outside is minus 7.) This morning the indoor temperature was 60 degrees. I have been wishing all day for more firewood. We have only enough to last tonight and maybe to start a fire tomorrow, but not enough to last several days through this cold snap, let alone through the rest of the winter. We're using the auxiliary heat strip on the heat pump to keep the house warm. It uses a lot of electricity and we don't like to use it except on the coldest days. It's kind of expensive. But we have it when we do need it, and that's good. I just love the feel of a wood fire heating up the house and am wishing, that's all.

So anyway, we had a really nice day, not ice skating, drinking cocoa with pepper, meeting old and new friends, and being together as a family with warm, wholesome food.

Sigh... good day. Now it's time to close it and rest under warm blankets.

Hope your day is good as well.

(pics: ice sculptures downtown with flowers frozen in them; Son and Daughter sipping their hot chocolate; friend Josh at his coffee house; lentil soup with onions; bread; snow-covered turnaround on one of our slippery roads today)