Christmas Soup

This evening I threw together a soup that had the colors red and green in it. Thus the name Christmas soup. The soup was similar to the classic chicken and rice soup. My ingredients were: turkey, rice, a can of diced tomatos, water, celery, salt, and black pepper. It was delicious.

Mexican Fiesta Stew

I asked Anthony what he wanted for lunch. He said Baozi. I have to thaw some meat for those though so we are going to have them for dinner instead. I looked through the cupboards and pulled a can of black beans with jalapenos, a can of diced tomatoes, and some pasta shells. I dumped the can of tomatoes with the juice in a pot, added pasta, water, oil, and salt, put it on the stove, and turned the front burner on high. After it came to a boil I added the beans, leftover garlic & onion tomato sauce from pizza making last night, and cumin. I cooked my stew until the shells were done, emptying the dishwasher, and loading it all the while. I added yogurt and black pepper to my personal bowl of soup, yum yum, while Anthony added yogurt and tortilla chips to his.

 

Autumn Chicken Chili

We sat down to a pretty little lunch and Anthony tried his soup. "What is it?" he asked. "Mmm, tastes like chili," he said. I replied,"It can be anything you want it to be!" We laughed. It did taste like autumn chicken chili.

Autumn Chicken Chili:

Leftover Vegetable Rice Pilaf (Brown Rice, Carrots, Potato)

Leftover Brown Gravy (Chicken Gravy + Sliced Onion)

Leftover Four Cheese Hunt's Tomato Sauce w/ Red Pepper Flakes & Oregano

Tasty Garnish:

Nonfat Plain Yogurt

Stale Tortilla Chips

Healthy Spaghetti O's and Dinner Trivia

Tonight after perusing the food supply I pulled a large can of whole tomatoes and a packet of ramen noodles. I opened the can and drained the tomato juice into a medium saucepan. I broke up the ramen noodles into the juice, emptied the beef seasonings packet on top of them, and filled half a tomato can with water before pouring the water too into the pot. I quartered the whole tomatoes on a cutting board then put them in the pot and let it all boil five minutes. We loved the outcome! Over dinner my husband popped a trivia question which he said he and his siblings did often around the dinner table growing up. He asked what type of gas the bubbles were at the bottom of the tomato soup. I asked him to list off for me what the possible answers were for his multiple choice question. He laughed, us both knowing that I was presuming it to be multiple choice. He said the answer was simple, and would not tell me what it was. Finally, he succumbed to my repeated interrogations and said that the gas bubbles at the bottom of the pot are water vapor/steam.

Garland Family Tradition

So today I made something that Anthony has been wanting me to make for a long time- corn chowder and sweet potato biscuits, a Garland family tradition. Of course I changed things up a bit.

I started cooking a bag of frozen yellow sweet corn on the stove. Then I got started on my biscuits. I dumped 3 cups of Bisquick in a glass bowl with a can of pumpkin. Back to the soup, next I dumped leftover rustic spicy New England clam chowder from yesterday in with the frozen corn. I softened 1/2 a stick of cream cheese in the microwave and added it to the pot. Returning to the biscuits, I mixed Bisquick and pumpkin together with a spatula, dropped dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet, and baked the biscuits at 450 degrees for 8 minutes while stirring the soup occasionally. We loved the cream cheese in the soup! Anthony and I could not have been more pleased with my rendition of the Garland tradition of corn chowder and sweet potato biscuits.

Rustic Spicy New England Clam Chowder

Today's lunch plan- use up the spicy potatoes left over from a few nights ago. I decided to combine them with a can of New England clam chowder I had gotten for sixty-two cents at Rite Aid. I thought I'd add some fresh onion as well. The green olives that were with the spicy potatoes would be a nice asset to the soup as well. I just needed to chop up the huge potato chunks, dice the olives and onions, and get things cooking. I thought about adding some celery but didn't want to overkill. Somehow chopping a couple random leftover ingredients and combing them with a couple other miscellaneous ingredients reminded me of one of Anthony's and my favorite TV shows on the Food Network- Chopped. On the show, each chef is given a basket with four ingredients in it. The chefs must prepare something for the judges to eat using each of the basket ingredients plus whatever they want from the pantry.

In the end, Anthony and I loved the rustic spicy New England clam chowder that I came up with. It reminded Anthony of his childhood. He said his family would make corn chowder and sweet potato biscuits sometimes. He always enjoyed that meal.

 

Soup & Salad

Today I have a sore throat so we had soup again for lunch. Yes, it was another glorified can of chicken noodle soup. This time I added leftover veggies from a meal I made the other day- sausage and vegetables. In the pan I also put the rest of a can of corn which was leftover from making bbq chicken pizza. I cut the large veggies in half to make them soup size and brought the mix to a boil. Then I let the soup simmer while I prepared half sandwiches for Anthony and I. We had chicken lettuce sandwiches which I customized. My sandwich had spicy mustard and pickles to aid my breathing. Anthony's had yummy dairy which I chose to avoid today because of my cough. He enjoyed his habanero cheese and his ranch salad dressing for a condiment.

Glorified Canned Chicken Noodle Soup

• 1 can of chicken noodle soup
• 1 handful of colorful bell mini peppers
• a few dashes of cayenne
• leftover chicken bruschetta
• 1 head of tender green tango lettuce