Time to end the blog hiatus and 'thyme' to make some soup

I have been neglecting my blog. I sort of have a halfway real excuse, but not really. I hurt one of my knees in March, and the other in  August. I've been doing lots of physical therapy and then I had surgery and now I'm doing physical therapy again. I am making huge progress but I still have a ways to go.

I've just been so tired.

And I've been struggling with the idea of not actually being invincible.

And did I mention I've been tired? This healing business is tough work. My energy is sapped some days. Not exactly ideal conditions for the creative juices to be flowing, but I think I am over feeling sorry for myself. It's time to reset and regroup. Sometimes things happen that knock you off your course for a bit, and it can be tough to get it back on track. I guess what I am trying to say in a really long roundabout way is that I may have been off my game but I am ready to get off the bench.

So today we are making chicken and rice soup. I feel a cold coming on and it is frigid outside and rainy. Soup is just the thing today. My trusty sous chef John jumped right in to help, and he chopped the celery and carrots. I chopped the onion and chicken. I cooked the chicken a little in a skillet first, because I really wanted it to have good flavor. I used a little olive oil and salt and pepper. Just before I took it off the heat, I added dried rosemary, mostly because we were out of thyme. But rosemary goes great with poultry too. We sweated the veggies in some butter and seasoned with salt and pepper. We added low-sodium chicken stock (you won't miss the salt, trust me) and it is happily bubbling away on low heat. We're going to let it cook for a little while before we check for seasoning. We're not going to eat until I get home from cantata practice and Jeff is home from the theatre, so we're going to cook the rice but add it to the soup later. We also got some Pillsbury crescent rolls just because they're good.

We don't have a recipe for this one, but here's what we used: one bag of baby carrots (cut into halves or thirds) one bunch of celery diced to match the carrots in size, half a large onion (diced), three chicken breasts and three boxes of stock. I won't know until later if this turns out ok, but I can say that it smells amazing in out kitchen right now.

I'm glad I am writing again and I hope you are too.

Stir-fry: a working parent's best friend

Sometimes we just don't have a lot of time to cook. We had one of those days recently. Jeff was working a bit later than usual and John had to be at the school by 6:30 to help out in the concession stand.

I knew we were having stir-fry, so I wasn't worried. Stir-fry is so versatile -- you can use chicken, beef, pork or seafood. You could even make an all-veggie version (but why would you?).

I used "a working parent's best friend" in the title instead of "a working Mom's best friend" because in this house, Jeffrey is always the stir-fry cook. Except for the other night. I had bought beef already cut into strips, an absolute time saver, thank you very much grocery store butcher. I got the rice going and turned my attention to the veggies.

It was very simple. I had a red bell pepper, an orange bell pepper and half an onion. I cut the peppers into strips and the onion into chunks. Just some salt and pepper for the beef, a little canola oil in a pre-heated electric wok and I was ready to cook. John wanted to help, so he took some of the pictures and then he added the soy sauce when everything was almost finished. All told, it took 26 minutes from start to finish.

I am trying to eat better, to use more fresh and fewer processed ingredients. I am trying to replace not-so-good-for-you foods with healthier choices. Instead of chips with sandwiches, we might have fruit or baked crackers and hummus, for example. This week I've been having yogurt with homemade granola (yep - I'll be writing about that soon too) for breakfast. So this meal is a no brainer.

It's fast, it's tasty and it is so easy to fill it with vegetables. I would have put broccoli or snow peas or something green in it too, but I didn't have time to stop at the store. I love pineapples in stir-fry too, but sadly, we didn't have any of those either. It's been a pretty busy week, so a full trip to the grocery store has just not happened. Instead, it's been one of those weeks when I stop and get a few things here and there.

So working parents and everyone who is busy -- if stir-fry is not already one of you go-to meals, I highly recommend making it. John loved it, and we made up a plate for Jeffrey to have when he got home. A few minutes to relax, and then we were out the door.

Pink....not just for princesses anymore

I mentioned in an earlier post that having a Whole Foods store in Wilmington means new ingredients never before available in this part of North Carolina are now mine for the trying. I am probably not the typical customer for this store though, because I want to shop there for the variety of ingredients offered, not because something is organic or fits into a vegan diet. 

One part of the store that fascinates me is the wall o' grains. When I was in college, the cafeterias had large plastic dispensers of cereal so we could help ourselves a bowl at a time. The wall o' grains uses the same mechanism. Grab a bag and fill it up with whatever rice or nut you want to try. They also have bins and scoops, but those aren't as fun. So the last time I was there, I decided to get some pink rice. I had no idea what it was, but c'mon. It was pink. I could figure out what to do with it later.

When I got home I asked Google about it and from the store's website, I learned that that this rice was nearly extinct. One farmer in Madagascar brought it back from just one seed, or so the story goes. The site also said the rice was pink because of the way it is milled, leaving some of the bran layer on the grains. And it said the rice was "elusively aromatic of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg." Ever the skeptic, I wasn't sure what to think of that fairly pompous description. But when I cooked it the other night, that's exactly what it smelled like.

This rice is amazing and I am so glad I tried it. Cooking it is simple. Just boil a cup and a half of liquid for every cup of rice, bring it down to a simmer, cover, and cook 20 minutes or so until it is done. I added salt and a little butter, just as I would for white rice. I used water, but chicken stock would work too. It's a bit stickier than plain white rice, which I liked. I made too much, but used the leftovers for lunch the next day. I roasted a few baby heirloom tomatoes and red bell pepper strips with olive oil, salt and pepper in the morning and added it to the rice.

My next plan for it is rice cakes. I use this recipe from Barefoot Contessa for risotto cakes, and I think this rice, maybe with some dried cranberries, would be seriously yummy as a rice cake. I'll let you know how they come out. 

A Few of My Favorite Things

I am all for using a generic brand when it's as good as the name brand (this is especially true for over-the-counter medicines - the generics often have the same exact ingredients for half the price). For some products it doesn't really matter which brand I get. But for others, I am pretty particular.

Two of those I discovered in the past year or so. I had been buying another brand of these things forever, or at least since I've been an adult doing my own grocery shopping. I guess it's easy to fall into the shopping patterns of your family and use the same brands they used. To this I say -- branch out people! Forge your own path through the grocery store. Ok, it may not be exactly revolutionary behavior, but you might find some new favorites.

Let's talk pancake mix. I do not make my own pancake mix. Sure, I could, but why would I when there is Hungry Jack Buttermilk mix? I used to buy the other popular brand, but one day I was in a store and they were out of it. I bought Hungry Jack that time and have stuck with it ever since. You really can taste a difference and the Hungry Jack mix makes a lighter, fluffier pancake. Sometimes for dinner I make pancakes with cooked crumbled sausage and shredded cheese mixed into the batter. You don't need a recipe for this, Just add what you think looks like a good amount of each and be sure to use whatever cheese you like. We serve these with a fruit syrup. We use pancake mix to make cheeseburger pie and for a quick pot pie too.

My other good find was Comet rice. It takes longer than five minutes, but it is so worth it. You can spare 15-20 minutes to make this rice. It's a bit stickier than the minute rices, which I like. We also like to add extras to our rice to boost the flavor, such as lime zest and a bit of cilantro. When you are cooking rice longer than five minutes, it really gives the extra flavors a chance to take hold.

Besides getting me to write, one reason I do this blog is to keep myself from staying in a cooking rut. Hopefully I'll be able to add some new found favorite things along the way.