Chicken Soup for the Soul

As I was preparing for a big meeting a couple weeks ago...consumed with details (day and night) my son had an unfortunate incident. Someone broke into his house, turned it upside down and stole his car. To make matters worse, he did not have comprehensive insurance...a total loss. The police were zero help. We dealt with matters over the phone but I never got to see him face-to-face before I left town. By the time I returned from a week-long trip, he was laid up in bed with a fever and bronchitis. As parents, we want to protect our kids from this world (no matter how old they are). But in reality, no adversity...no growth. I know that's true but I don't like it. My lame offering upon returning home was a pot of chicken soup. Comfort food for the hurting soul.

In my small world of family and friends, I'm known affectionately as the "Soup Nazi". No soup for you! (Well, maybe if you're in need.) Here's my recipe so you can spread the love.

Chicken Noodle Soup
Put a whole chicken in your biggest pot and fill it with water. (Don't forget to take the guts out of the chicken first!) Boil the chicken for about 1 1/2 hours, until it is falling off the bones. Add 2-3 chicken bullions while the water is boiling (I like to use Knorr brand). While your chicken is boiling, cut up your veggies. You can use what ever you have in your frig that might taste good but this is what I used in my last pot of soup: lots of celery, chopped up including the leafy part; 1 med. onion; yellow squash; zucchini; shreaded carrots; green onions; fresh garlic. Saute the veggies and garlic in a separate pan in olive oil and set aside. When your chicken is done, scoop out all the chicken pieces and let them cool enough to handle them. Skim most of the chicken fat off of the broth. Bring the broth to a boil again and add the veggies. Also add salt, lemon pepper, lots of fresh herbs (parsley, cilantro, oregano and thyme), and some dried herbs. Debone the chicken and add it to the soup. Throw away the skin and bones. (If you use a large chicken, you can save most of the chicken breast to make chicken salad.) Cook a small pot of flat egg noodles in a separate pot. When they are done, drain and add to the soup. Chicken soup is good the first day you make it but it's even better after sitting in the frig over night. Mmmm, I think I'll go heat some up!

Garlic's Ready!

Hey Ya'll, garlic's ready...come and get it! We only harvested half of the crop we have plenty more to dig up. It's drying out right now but you're welcome to it.

I've had some requests for recipes so I'm going to start posting your requests...

Pasta Salad

I like to use two different kinds of macaroni - Penne, Corkscrews and Mini Bowties are some good ones. Also, the tri-color pastas are nice for pasta salad.
1/2 small onion
3-4 plum tomatoes, chopped
6 stalks of asparagus, lightly steamed, cut in 2" pieces
1 can whole artichoke hearts (packed in water - Virgo), cut in quarters
1 can black olives or calamata olives
2 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
1 big handful of fresh spinach, chopped
6 sprigs of fresh herbs, chopped (I always use cilantro but parsley, basil and oregano are good too...you can use all four if you want!)
Salt
Lemon pepper
Italian dressing (olive oil and balsalmic vinegar based)
1 small pkg Feta cheese (The basil and sun dried tomato feta is also good to use.)

Cook the different pastas separately because they all have different cook-times. Drain, cool and transfer to a large bowl. Chop all your veggies and add to pasta. Salt and pepper to taste. Add enough Italian dressing to coat but don't drench it. Add entire package of feta cheese. Mix and put in the frig for at least 3 hours before serving. If the pasta dries out, you can add more dressing.

Black Bean Salsa

Does anyone need garlic? This is a picture of my garlic plants, taken yesterday. When the flower dies back, the garlic will be ready to pull but will need to dry out for a while. The flower actually smells like garlic. As you can see, we have a ton of it so "come and get it"!

I made my black bean salsa tonight so I thought I would post my recipe. People always ask for this recipe when I make it...it's a real crowd pleaser! We usually just eat this salsa with the "scoop" tortilla chips but you could also put it on chicken or fish. It's addictive when eaten with chips!

Mix these ingredients in a medium bowl and refrigerate for a few hours before eating. It will keep in the frig for about a week.

2 cans black beans, drained
1 can white shoepeg corn (11 oz can), drained
1/2 small onion chopped fine
1/4 red bell pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped fine
1 plum tomato, chopped
1 can Rotel (original), well drained
You can substitute 1/2 jalapino pepper (chopped very fine) and two additional plum tomatoes for the can of Rotel if you want.
5 sprigs of fresh cilantro (it's easiest to cut up your herbs with scissors instead of a knife)
Salt to taste
Lemon pepper
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. chili powder
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsalmic vinegar
Squeeze juice of 1/2 lime

If I happen to have a ripe avacado, I like to chop one up and put in here also. It's good, but optional.

Shop Smart, Eat Well

This is the Easter cake my sister Pati made...I just ate the last piece! It's amazing how well cake freezes! Mmmm, it was another good Pati-cake!

I've barely had time to cook lately, let alone write about it! But I'm glad to be blogging again. I want to talk about grocery shopping because if you don't have the right stuff in the house to cook with, you'll get discouraged. I've become an expert at keeping the "right stuff" in my house because I live 25 minutes from the nearest grocery store so I can't just run out to buy an ingredient. I have to make due with what I have...it makes you creative!

I'm going to give you a list of things that I keep in my house at all times. These are items that I cook with often. One thing that I learned from reading the South Beach Diet and have stuck with, is that you should shop the perimeter of the grocery store. That's where all the fresh items are...produce, meat and dairy. When you go up and down the aisles, think twice about what you put in your basket. That's where all the processed foods are. Also, I try to buy everything "lite" but never fat-free. It's good to cut down on the fat content but fat-free items lack taste and aren't even good for you.

Before I start, let me tell you that I shop at Publix, where shopping is a pleasure! I would even pay more money if I had to. Publix is clean, has wide aisles, good customer service and best of all, I know where everything is. I even go out of my way to go to "my" Publix because I know where everything is! Heaven forbid they should move something. I also like the "buy one - get one free" sales and stock up on lots of my canned goods that way.

I do shop at the Fresh Market occasionally even though they're expensive. I've found that they sell a handful of items that are actually cheaper than the grocery store so I'll share that secret with you: spices (sold in baggies), the mixed greens (salad) that are sold by the pound, ground breakfast sausage sold in the meat case, "Anything Goes" sauce...it's a great barbaque sauce, and they have a really nice selection of cheap wines. I stock up on these items when I shop there but buy other items sparingly.

Here are some items I like to keep on-hand (I'm sure I've missed some!)

Olive oil, extra virgin (take advantage of the buy one, get one free) I even cook eggs in olive oil!
Fresh garlic
Fresh mushrooms
Sweet onions
Red and/or yellow peppers
Avacados
Fresh ginger root
Olives (black, green, calamata)
Artichoke hearts (I buy Virgo, whole in water)
Balsalmic vinegar
Fresh spinach
Real butter (never margarin! but use this sparingly)
Lemons and limes
Cheese (all kinds, whatever you like best...mozerella, provalone, feta, goat)
Tomato paste
Rotel (Original)...these are canned tomatoes with a kick...I use these a lot!
I try to can enough of my own garden tomatoes so I don't have to buy regular canned tomatoes in the grocery store but if I need to buy them, I buy "crushed tomatoes"
Light sour cream
Cheap wine (red and white) I never pay over $8 or $9 for a bottle of wine since there are lots of good cheap wines...that's another blog subject!
Chicken & beef broth
Soy sauce

Spices you should have: (assuming you are growing your own herbs such as basil, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, etc.)
Cumin
Garlic (always good to have garlic powder on hand in addition to fresh)
Lemon pepper (I use this on everything!)
Pepper corns (for grinder)
Goya Adobo Seasoning (good for latin food)
Parsley
Oregano
Thyme
Basil (I keep dried herbs on hand even though I grow fresh)
Chili powder
Paprika
Cayenne pepper
Cinnamon
Ginger

I'll leave you with one recipe. Here is Emeril's Essence...

2 1/2 Tbs paprika
2 Tbs salt
2 Tbs garlic powder
1 Tbs freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs onion powder
1 Tbs cayenne pepper
1 Tbs dried oregano
1 Tbs dried thyme

BAM!

Let's Talk About Quiche

This picture brings a new meaning to "Kathleen the Bean", a childhood nick-name given to me by brother David, the family name-caller. Yep, I was skinny as a bean pole and thus earned that title, coveted by the plumper family members who got the Italian genes. Like most nick-names, it had derivatives. Kathleen the Bean...Lean...Leno, a name my dad still calls me to this day (affectionately). I was also known as the "Goodie Queen" (thus my blog url) because I loved to eat sweets which spawned my cooking career. I baked so I could eat. I don't bake much these days because I'm not so lean anymore. But...I do bake quiche, so let's talk about quiche!

These are the wonderful things I love about quiche...

1. You can make it for breakfast, lunch or dinner, doesn't matter.
2. Just use whatever is in your frig...leftovers, veggies that are about to go bad, etc. (This is the perfect opportunity to practice "hmmm, what would taste good with this?")
3. It's easy to make, no two taste alike, but they all taste good.
4. Quiche tastes even better heated up the next day so you have good leftovers.
5. It makes a beautiful presentation. Combine with soup or salad and it looks like you slaved over something special.

Here are some suggested ingredients: Use what ever combinations sound good to you. Onions, peppers, fresh mushrooms, fresh spinach, steamed asparagus, broccoli, ham, sausage, shrimp, scallops (any grilled meat, left over is good).

Here's my recipe:

I use the roll-out Pillsbury pie crust because it's easy, tastes good and turns out nicely. If you can make good home-made pie crust, more power to you but it takes longer! Roll it out, stick it in a glass pie plate and set it aside. Preheat your oven to 350. The main thing you have to remember is to use 6 eggs to 1 1/2 cups of 2 percent milk. This is enough to fill the pie shell. If you remember that, and dig through your own frig, you won't have to look at the recipe. Hand-whisk your eggs and milk until fluffy.

Next, saute your veggies in olive oil. Add some salt and lemon pepper (I use lemon pepper on everything). Pour your egg mixture in the pie crust first. Then sprinkle your ingredients in there evenly. The ingredients kind of float so you can see them good. Sprinke some fresh herbs...parsley is good in quiche. Then sprinkle grated cheese (about 1 cup). You can use any kind of cheese. That's part of "hmmm, what sounds good?" The cheese kind of floats and stays on top. Bake in the oven on 350 for about 45 minutes...until the crust and cheese brown and the eggs rise in the middle. If you have to make two in order to have left-overs, then do it...you'll be glad you did.

If you discover any new combinations of meat, veggies and cheese that I should know about, let me know!

Grow Herbs!

People blog about something that they're passionate about so I chose food! I love to grow (veggies & herbs), cook, and feed people who like good food. Cooking should be a social event for the whole family, not something you dread to do at the end of the day. So hopefully my blog will help you look forward to your next meal.

Cooking is all about knowing what goes good together...veggies, meat, herbs, spices. I will share shopping tips, cooking ideas and recipies. So put on your apron and pour a glass of wine...let's cook!

Oh, here's one way Tom and I like to spend our time...

We're almost finished planting this year's garden (this picture is from last year). So ya'll come...we'll share but you have to do your own picking. Our asparagus bed is now in it's 3rd year which means we finally get to pick all that it produces and it's already coming in. We planted tomatoes, beans, lettuce, onions, potatoes, cucumbers, sugar snaps, zuccini, squash, eggplant, strawberries and peppers. We also grow herbs and garlic. The garden is a labor of love!

My first tip to you is to grow your own herbs. It makes a huge difference in everything I cook. You can grow them anywhere. Most of mine are grown in pots. I have cilantro, basil, parsley, rosemary, oregano, thyme and tarragon. All the herbs like full sunlight. Rosemary and oregano grow year round and my plants are several years old. My cilantro crop grows best throughout the winter. It doesn't freeze and it flourished all winter without going to seed. As soon as the weather warms up, the cilantro goes to seed and I have to keep replanting it throughout the summer. It's worth it though...cilantro is my favorite herb! I use it in just about anything it would taste good in.

So there you go...GROW HERBS!