Almond Chicken Soup

I made this soup for dinner tonight, which was nice because it's fast if you have the chicken pre-cooked and some rice in your fridge...

Almond Chicken Soup

• 4 c. chicken stock (1 box)
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1 small onion - chopped
• 2 small sweet potatoes (or 1 medium), peeled and chopped
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp. grated ginger
• 1 large cooked chicken breast, chopped into pieces
• 1 c. collared greens (or assorted "Southern Greens" from Trader Joe's)
• 1/2 c. smooth almond butter
• cooked brown rice (if desired)
• salt and pepper

1.   Heat the olive oil in the pot and add the onion and sweet potatoes.  Over medium heat, cook the onions and sweet potatoes for 5-7 min, stirring occasionally.  When you see a bunch of good brown fond (baked on stuff) on the bottom of the pan, add the garlic and ginger and cook for 1 min.

2.  Add the chicken stock to the pot and bring to a boil.  Use a whisk to scrape up all of the good browned bits off the bottom of the pan.  Boil for 5min.  Add chicken and collared greens and boil for 3min.  

3.  Ladle out 1 c. of the chicken stock into a bowl and add the almond butter.  Stir to a smooth paste.  Add the paste to the pot and stir.  Throw rice in the pot, if using.  Boil for 1-2min to thicken slightly.

4.  Ladle soup into bowls and add salt and pepper to taste.

Pretty hearty and really good!
 

Second Breakfast

Since January 1st, I have eaten second breakfast every day.  I eat at least five (usually six) meals a day now, which I find has really helped to curb my crankiness throughout the day.  I have breakfast around 7:30a, second breakfast around 10:30a, lunch at 12:30 (or 1ish, depending), mid-afternoon snack/meal at 3:00p, post-work food (nuts or something else small) around 5:30p and dinner somewhere between 8-11p.

I think my favorite meal of the day is definitely second breakfast.  I'm not sure why.  It might be because it's the first substantial food I eat all day (breakfast is generally a fruit smoothie).  It might be because I like to include eggs.  Who knows.

Today, second breakfast was a mini-pita served open-faced with goat cheese, avocado, roasted tomatoes and two poached eggs.  Here's how I made it:

• 1 whole grain mini-pita (I buy them in bulk at CostCo and keep them in my freezer)
• 1 mini package of goat cheese (from Trader Joe's - I think it's a 1oz portion) - softened
• 1 small, ripe avocado
• 1 c. assorted mini tomatoes (I had red and yellow)
• 2 eggs
• 1 lemon
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. table salt
• Salt, pepper and parsley to taste

1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a small pan with foil, throw in the tomatoes.  Toss tomatoes with 1tsp olive oil, salt and pepper.  Roast tomatoes for 20min in the oven.

2.  15min after you put your tomatoes in, fill a small saucepan with water (2in-ish or whatever will cover the eggs).  Add the juice of the whole lemon and the teaspoon of table salt to the water.  Cover the pan and bring to a boil.  (The salt helps to season your eggs and the lemon juice keeps the whites together.  Don't skip the lemon juice!)

3.  Take your pita and spread 1/2 of the goat cheese on each half.  Halve the avocado and remove the pit.  Scoop out each half and divide amongst the pitas.  Squish a little and smear to create a good layer.

4.  Take your tomatoes out of the oven and place 1/2 on each pita.

5.  Crack your eggs into two separate, small dishes.  Turn off the heat under your boiling water, tilt the eggs into the pan, and cover.  Set a timer for 4min for medium eggs.

6.  Remove your eggs with a spoon (try to drain off a little of the water) and place one on each pita half.  Top with salt, pepper, and parsley to taste.

Really tasty and worth the effort. 

This Morning's Smoothie

Oh man, this was a good one:

• 1 small pear 
• 1 kiwi
• 1 banana
• 1 c. sugar free vanilla almond milk (I like the Trader Joe's brand)
• 2 ice cubes
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. honey

Blend everything together.  So delicious.  Also, I thought it tasted sortof "delicate," but that seems like an odd descriptive term for a smoothie.  

Planning for post-Diverticulitis Surgery

Not that I think anyone is going to read this now, but perhaps some day this portion of my blog will help someone else who is looking for recipes to take care of someone recovering from intestinal surgery in the future...

I'm going home from Baltimore to Chicago in three weeks to take care of my mother who is having surgery to remove a portion of her colon that is plagued by diverticulitis.  (In case you don't know what that is, WebMD says: Diverticulosis happens when pouches (diverticula ) form in the wall of the colon . If these pouches get inflamed or infected, it is called diverticulitis. http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/tc/diverticulitis-topic-overview)  She has a pretty bad case of it and has for a while.  SO, she'll have the nasty bits removed and go back to living a nice digestive life filled with nuts, seeds, and other previously aggitation/aggrivation/inflammation-causing foods.

My job, as it has been assigned to me, is to come up with a battery of culinary delights that fit into her post-op diet, make them, and keep her from going insane as a result of not being allowed to eat solid foods for at least a week or two.  I have accepted this challenge! 

I have already started researching recipes and will definitely post them here.  I'm hoping (since I won't have a whole lot else to do while I'm home and caring for her) that I'll be able to catalog the foods as I make them as well.  I'm thinking daily menus and such...

At any rate, that's a project that's in the works too.  I'm also actually going to get in the habit of posting new recipes that I am eating as a part of my revamped way of eating, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.  Until next time...

My new favorite smoothie

I tried this smoothie the other day and was a bit skeptical because I haven't had tremendous success with "green" smoothies before.  I only have a mini-food processor to blend my smoothies, and chunky things like kale and collards were just not getting smooth enough for me to want to "drink."  When the recipe I found for this one involved baby spinach, I was intrigued.  The recipe also suggested adding chocolate syrup "in case it turns out a little too green," but I think that defeats the point of my trying to make a healthy smoothie...  Here's my recipe:

• 1 large bunch of baby spinach leaves (enough to fill the mini-food processor bowl pretty well)
• 1 large-ish banana
• 1 c. unsweetened almond milk
• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder - unsweetened
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 ice cubes
• 1 tsp honey (or some Splenda)

Put everything together and blend.  Definitely try and serve this one in an opaque glass if possible because it is not a pretty color at the end.  It tasted pretty awesome though, and you really don't feel like you're drinking greens.  You can also throw some peanut butter in to make a peanut butter-banana-chocolate smoothie.

I'm considering that whole "posting pictures" thing on this blog, but you really don't want to see a picture of this one anyway.  It's tasty, I promise.