Chicken Soup for the...body

Hi all,

I have been so. sick.  lately.  It sucks!  I can't even enjoy being out of work, I'm going stir crazy!

Anyway,  I thought I'd take this opportunity to write about a theory many share.  Food can heal.  I started off taking lots of OTC medicines to mask my varying symptoms.  But nothing really worked.

Finally, I took some time off to rest (the best medicine) and had some of nature's own medicine: Chicken soup.  Made with love from my hubby (as I laid on the couch and watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, again.)  

I find the power of food to heal and comfort compelling.  After all, herbs and spices were the first medicines we used, and many are still used today.  Here are some of the food remedies I've employed this week (or were recommended to me:)

1. Chicken Noodle soup

2. Ginger Ale

3. Gatorade (OK so not exactly new-agey, but my doctor DID recommend it)

4. Hot tea

5.  Peppermint tea or peppermint oil rubbed on the gums

6. A mixture of hot water, tea, and vinegar (I couldn't bring myself to try this but I'm told it's a miracle cure)

Clearly we all have comforting remedies that make us feel better in times of need.  

What are some of yours?

I promise, my posts will involve some actual recipes soon...once I'm feeling better and I can find my camera!

<3

Punjab Paddy

Anyone know that song by Gaelic Storm?  Google it, it's hilarious.

Saturday Eric and I had some dear friends over for an adventuresome little meal.  We decided to make Indian food.  I have a real love of Indian food (my few months as a vegetarian introduced me to this amazing cuisine) but I know it's not for everyone, so we were a little nervous.

El and Mark jumped in with both feet, supplying a great chickpea salad (Recipe, El?)

Eric did not disappoint, making an amazing fried fish with curried red lentils.  YUM.  I declared it my favorite dish he has ever made (and that is saying something.)

We served it with basmati rice and Naan.  I wanted to make the naan but didn't have time.  The store bought was delicious anyway.

If you want to get all crazy and make your own Naan, here's a great recipe: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/naan/Detail.aspx

The curried lentils were another AllRecipes recipe, found here: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/red-lentil-curry/Detail.aspx

Next time we'll make the lentils in the Crock Pot to save on time.

Since I don't know where the camera is, here's a stock image of our dish:

Ours looked just that good, I promise.

Now for a fun extra, the lyrics to Punjab Paddy.  The story of an Irishman who makes his way to India.  Seriously google this song, it's so cute!
I said farewell to Erin, only seven years ago,
When asked where I was headed, I said: “Jaysus, I dunno!?”
I stepped ashore near Bangalore, not a tosser in me hand,
By the time I hit Darjeeling, I was feeling mighty grand!

Refrão:
You can keep your forty shades of green, they only make me blue,
You can stick your eggs and bacon, boys, I’ll have a Vindaloo,
I found a place in India, so far across the foam,
You can call me Punjab Paddy, boys, I’m never comin’ home.
I dreamed I got a letter from me darling Josephine,
She asked me would I marry her, back home in Skibbereen,
But the girls out here have almond eyes and jasmine-scented hair,
And there’s things in the Kama Sutra that they never do in Clare!
So I’ll spend me days relaxing in me Punjab paradise,
No more I’ll dig the praties, I’ll stick to tea and rice.
I’ll be sippin’ mango lassi with the lassies in the shade,
While yer man called Ravi Shankar plays “The Boys of the Oul’ Brigade!”

Refrão:
You can keep your Miltown Malbay, you can chuck yer Galway Bay,
You’ll never see the sun go down on Delhi or Bombay,
I found a place in India, so far across the foam,
You can call me Punjab Paddy, boys, I’m never comin’ home.
From Bohola to Benares, Inchigeela to Lahore
Kamakura, Siliguri, Peshawar, Sahrunapore
Amritsar to Sanawar, Simla, and Pinjore
I got trolleyed on Dewali, and I'm going back for more!
Someday I’ll be a holy man with saffron on me nose,
I’ll shave my head like Gandhi and I’ll never wear no clothes,
To see the Irish Guru, they’ll come from near and far,
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Whiskey in the Jar!

Refrão:
You can keep your Michael Flatley with his tattoos on his chest,
Fare thee well, Sweet Anna Liffey, it’s the Ganges I love best, 
I found a place in India so far across the foam,
You can call me Punjab Paddy, boys, I’m never comin’ home, 
I’m never comin’ home!
I’m never comin’ home!

What we've been eating

Oh, hi there.  I've missed you!

Tonight we had the most delicious, simple meal that inspired me to jump back on the blogging bandwagon.  It was just a simple, wholesome, delish meal:

Homemade bread (from my bread maker- bday gift!)
B, L, and T (and a little mayo)

Plus a bonus Caesar salad to boot with legit Caesar dressing from the hub.  I'm always amazed at his ability to make a recipe the first time, and really make it his own.  Very lucky girl.

Eric's Caesar Dressing
3-4 roasted garlic cloves
2 egg yolks
1/3 c olive oil
dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste


The only weird thing is, the bread maker bread is huge.  Like, huge.  Almost too big for a sandwich.  Almost.  Luckily, this girl has a healthy appetite, especially when it comes to a BLT.

Hopefully pics to come- can't find my camera AND my phone is broken.

See ya!

Hello again!

Well, I've learned that you can burn out on blogging!  From now on, I'll be posting on a variety of food-related topics as I fnd the time.  I hope I'll find some readers out there to stick with me!

I've been exploring a lot on where my food comes from lately.  It is something I often have thought about, and I go through phases of focusing on it a lot.  The last time I chose to live on a vegetarian diet for about 5 months.  This time, I'm focusing on finding locally grown meat, and dairy that I feel is raised in the best way possible. 

Eric and I are not big meat eaters anyway, but I'm consciously looking at reducing the amount of meat I eat in order to buy better quality meat on our budget.

First attempt: Milk and eggs.
Went to a local ice cream store that is known for raising their own dairy.  My mom grew up near there, and I had been before.  They have a small dairy store on site so I figured I could get milk there.  To my surprise I also was able to eggs from a farm down the street.  The prices were about 20% more than the grocery store, so again, I was pleasantly surprised. 

I went home, fried up an egg, enjoyed a glass of milk. and generally patted myself on the back for being so socially conscious.

Then Monday came.  I called the farm that the eggs were raised on, just to get some info.  The eggs weren't organic or anything but they were very local, from a neighboring town.  I'm not a big subscriber to the labels that regulate food- certified humane, certified organic, etc. Overall I'd rather make the judgement myself on how the food and animals were treated. 

So anyway, I got the farm phone number, and called.  The very nice woman who answered the phone informed me that this was a "contract farm" (I have not been able to figure out what that means) and the eggs were raised in Amish Country.  Pennsylvania. 

So... I thought about driving to the farm, but realized that it wouldn't make sense to bother, and chalked it up to experience.

But now my "local, farm fresh eggs" mock me whenever I look in the fridge. 
 (from http://www.etsy.com/shop/asherjasper)

Have I ever mentioned that eggs are just about my favorite food?  I never get sick of the incredible, edible egg. 

So anyway, I'm still working on sourcing local, farm fresh eggs from happy chickens. 


Coming up:
Sourcing local ingredients
My foray into the CSA (yes that rhymed)
New recipes we've been working on
Books, blogs and podcasts that inspire my food journey

Best. Cookies. Of. All. Time.

OK, I found it!

The BEST COOKIES EVER!  (If you like peanut butter)

I love this recipe for a few reasons.
1. It's gluten free, which is great for some of my friends
2. It's ridiculously easy
3. It tastes amazing!
4. Freezes beautifully ;)

The cookies this recipe makes are golden brown on the bottom, uniform, crispy on the edge and soft in the middle.  So pretty much the greatest thing ever.

Here it is:

2 c peanut butter
1 1/2 c white sugar

Combine these until smooth (I stirred for about 5 minutes)

Beat in 2 eggs (one at a time)

Add 1 tsp of vanilla extract, 1 tsp of baking soda, a pinch of salt

Mix well

Form into 1 inch diameter balls.  Do that cute crisscross thing with the fork.

Bake 10 or so min in a 350 degree oven.

Seriously, try this one.  I froze the batter for Christmas baking, and I plan on doing plenty as gifts because they are definitely impressive!

More adventures with the slow cooker

Well, we had an excellent two meals in one from our faithful slow cooker last week.

First, "roast" chicken.   I love a good roast chicken, but unless it's the weekend, it's not possible to cook it up during the week.

I did a little research and found that some people will throw a roaster right into their CP and it cooks up deliciously.

Here was our variation:

1 5 lb roaster
3 white potatoes, cubed
1 yellow onion, chopped
a bit of rosemary
salt and pepper

We literally threw all this in the CP, put it on, and 12 hours later, the miracle happened again!  We pulled out the chicken, it fell off the bone, and we served it (the potatoes were yucky so we tossed them) with broccoli and brown rice.

Then, we had so much meat left that I pulled it aside and made 2 different soups- Tortilla soup (see earlier post) and good old fashioned chicken noodle.

Now my freezer is totally stocked with soups, and they are DELISH!

This week I'll be performing my CP roast chicken trick again...but I think I'll make up a chicken pot pie with the leftovers.

Have a great day!

How we avoided polygamy, or, our discovery of the Crock Pot!

Hi all!

I will have to push blogging higher up on the task list- sorry for the delay!

I have been busy getting ready for the holidays, and experimenting in the kitchen.

Eric and I have discovered that we need a wife.  Not in a 'Big Love' kind of a way.  We need someone to cook, clean, manage the household, make martinis, etc.

We came one step closer these past weeks in discovering an unused indentured servant.  The CROCK POT!

We have had a slow cooker since we bought our first apartment.  Other than a failed soup attempt on my part, it had never been used.  

I guess we both felt about the CP like we felt about the microwave- so seventies, lazy...the kind of thing we didn't want in OUR kitchen.   (We do have a microwave but we never use it.)

Well.

The first experiment was on a pork sirloin roast I bought at a local butcher (love Hilltop in Weymouth!)

Into the CP it went.  We looked doubtfully into the pot numerous times on that Saturday.  Could it really work?  Could it really taste that good?

Sunday morning I awoke to a smell.  It wasn't exactly the kind of smell Yankee Candle would emulate, but it smelled...good.   I checked on my little piggy, and there she was,  cooked to perfection, falling off the bone, and simmering in it's own juices.

I drained the pot, took the meat off the bones with 2 sets of tongs, and put it back in the CP with a bottle of hickory smoke BBQ sauce.

That was it!  It cooked for about 8 more hours on low, and Sunday night, we had pulled pork.  Real live pulled pork (Not actually live, that would be gross.)  I bought some Portuguese rolls, toasted them up, and we had pulled pork sandwiches.

AND, I brought some into work and got rave reviews, even from my friend Mark who is a BBQ aficionado!  Easiest thing ever.

So we were converted into Crockpot lovers.  We even upgraded to the larger model that has clips for travel.   What an awesome tool for those of us that work and want a wife at home to cook dinner!

Here's some cool info on the slow cooker:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_cooker

More slow cooker recipes coming up: "roast" chicken, and pot roast.