1-20-2019 Reality

Thoughts and Quotes: When you argue with reality, you lose - but only 100% of the time.  Byron Katie

Back in September, I posted some links at the end of my blogpost, but the post was long, and I've discovered that many of you missed them. Here they are again. Everyone needs to know this. It's reality; not exactly what we've been told.

Click HERE, and HERE, and HERE.  You'll think it's the same video over and over, but look again. This is also very interesting. Click HERE.

Tasting: I have two new soup recipes for you. The first is an almond soup my friend Steg used to order at The French-Mediterranean Cafe before it closed. He asked if I could use a sketchy recipe his brother obtained from the chef and figure out how to make it so he could make it at home. We spent an afternoon testing and testing and came up with a reasonable duplication. I don't think he's made it yet. He knows how to work me and gets me to make it.

The other is a soup I found somewhere in the past which conforms to the Zone diet. If you make it as written, it's very quick, but rather expensive. Instead of using canned chicken, I buy a whole chicken or some chicken pieces and make my own broth and shred the chicken. And sometimes parsnips are difficult to find, so I use 1 cup of cooked rice instead. Many people don't care for dill weed, so you can use the herbs you prefer. If you choose thyme or rosemary, cut down the amount. A little goes a long way.

STEG’S ALMOND SOUP

(With a little help from a friend)

5 Tbs butter, divided

1-1/2 cups chopped onion

1 bay leaf

1 qt. (32 oz) chicken broth

1 cup slivered almonds, plus some to toast as garnish, if desired

1/2 oz cream sherry

1/2 tsp white pepper

1 Tbs chicken soup/stock base

3 cups whipping cream

4 Tbs flour

Melt 2 Tbs butter over medium-low heat in a large pot.

Add chopped onions and bay leaf.

Sauté until golden, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.

Add chicken broth and almonds.

Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer 30 minutes.

Turn off heat and let steep 1 hour with the cover on.

Remove bay leaf.  Add sherry, pepper, and soup base. 

Puree with either a stand or immersion blender.

Add whipping cream and heat to boiling.

In the meantime, melt the remaining 3 Tbs butter in the microwave in a medium-sized bowl.  Add flour to make a paste.  Add a ladle of soup to the paste and blend well; keep adding soup until almost liquid and add to soup pot.

Bring to a boil.  Turn down heat and stir and cook for a few minutes until desired thickness.

ZONE SOUP

2 Tbs oil

4 parsnips (about 1 lb) cut into 1/2” pieces OR 1 cup cooked rice

4 ribs celery, sliced

1 turnip, (about 3/4 lb) cut into 1/2” pieces

1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped

1 Tbs finely chopped garlic

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (omit if you can’t stand mildly spicy)

16 cups chicken broth

7 5-oz cans chicken OR 5 cups cubed cooked chicken

1 16-oz pkg frozen carrots

1 10-oz pkg frozen broccoli

1 10-oz pkg frozen chopped collards OR spinach

1-1/2 cups frozen chopped onions

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup chopped dill or 1 Tbs dried dill weed (Not dill seeds)

In a very large soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat.

Add the parsnips, celery, turnip, jalapeno, garlic, salt, and cayenne.

Cook until vegetables are crisp tender, about 15 minutes.

Add the broth, chicken, carrots, broccoli, collards or spinach, onions, lemon juice, dill (or other herbs), and rice if using in place of parsnips.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.

This makes 26 cups - 1 block per cup if you’re doing the Zone.

Tuesday's Tea Tray: Strawberries in snow. Mix equal parts small curd cottage cheese and plain yogurt and some sweetener or sugar. Add chopped strawberries. Somehow healthful food just doesn't seem right with tea. 

I wonder if I brought on the snow, because this is what happened on Saturday. Our first snow of the year. Pretty wimpy. If you want to see beautiful photos of snow, go to Carrie's blogpost HERE. She has some fun recipes on this post as well.

By midday Sunday, it already looked like this.

Tasting: Brother Bill and I went to a restaurant in Springfield we've been meaning to try, and we were thrilled with the menu. This is the band from my napkin.

The restaurant is called First Watch and only open for breakfast, brunch, and lunch. They close at 2:30. 

We both had breakfast tacos and black beans, described on the menu as: 

Farm Stand Breakfast Tacos: Three wholewheat-corn tortillas with scrambled eggs, Cajun chicken, chorizo, Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses. Topped with fresh avocado and housemade pico de gallo. Served with seasoned black beans. The black beans were really scrumptious.

Forgot the photo, as usual, so thank you to Bill for his photo.

At home, I eat this really boring substitute: Corn tortillas, eggs, cheese, mushrooms, and tomatoes.

Tales: I just finished reading Who, Me? by Betty MacDonald. If you're old enough, you've seen a movie called The Egg and I which is based on one of her books. This book is Betty's autobiography, with tales from her chicken farm days, her time in the tuberculosis sanitarium, and her life on one of the islands off the coast of Washington. Very entertaining. See if you can get it through your library consortium, because I just checked Amazon and the least expensive used copy is $30+.

Tidbits: If you can find Snapdragon apples, be sure to try them. They're grown in New York, and I'd never heard of them until I ran across them in a Lucky's Market last week. They're the best apples I've ever tasted. Also the prettiest.

The Pepper and Pals Report: Two new cats are trying to take over my feral cats' territory. I have to keep chasing them away. I call them Ruffian, Sr. and Ruffian, Jr. They look alike, but one is bigger and has white paws. I'm not ready to take on two more. I have no idea where they came from, but it did solve one problem - the neighbor's cat, Hercules, isn't coming around anymore. Guess the Ruffians scared him away.

Stormy has found something new to destroy. What fun!

Tidbits: From the almanac:

Things People Actually Said During Job Interviews: "When you do background checks on candidates, do things like public drunkenness arrests come up?"

Things We Can Learn From the Movies: You're likely to survive any battle in any war unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.

Weather Lore: Tuesday is St. Vincent's Day. If the sun shines, there shall be much wind.

And we already know that fog in January brings a wet spring.  Guess I'd better get my umbrellas ready.

CELEBRATE MARTIN LUTHER KING JR'S BIRTHDAY TOMORROW

(MAYBE COME UP WITH A DREAM OF YOUR OWN)

MAKE A WISH ON THE FULL SNOW MOON TOMORROW NIGHT

EAT YOUR SNAPDRAGON APPLES

TAKE SOMEONE TO LUNCH

EAT YOUR SALADS - LOTS OF SALADS

THANK YOU FOR SHARING MY LIFE

Had abortions been legal when I was conceived, I might not be here, so I'm grateful I have a life to share.