Chicken vegetable soup

Sadly my divine cuisine has been kind of... stunted since we joined weight watchers on January 23rd 2012. We are both eating healthier and feeling SO much better, but no fancy cream sauces or anything lately for us. I've been examining some of our favorite recipes and seeing if I could make them Weight Watchers friendly.

This is one of our favorite soup recipes and the conversion wasn't to hard. It started out as "El Torito Chicken Tortilla Soup". I would call it "El Torito Chicken Vegetable Soup" now :-) It's a bit spicy the way I did it. If you want it less spicy leave out the jalapeno. The Chipotle Chili in Adobo is important to give it a smoky flavor though so I would try to leave that in if you can. I used a tablespoon of it not a teaspoon! SPICY!!

El Torito Chicken Vegetable Soup

Makes 4 servings

Serving size: approximately 2 cups

WW Points Per Serving: 5

Ingredients:

9 1/2 oz Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breast

6 cups O Organics brand Chicken Broth (I used it because it's 0 points, you can use what you would like)

1/2 Medium Red Onion, diced

1 Large Carrot, diced

1/2 Medium Red Potato, diced

1/4 cup Canned Tomato paste (I used Safeway's O Organics brand)

1 Bay Leaf

1 Tbsp Minced Garlic

1/2 tsp Canned Chipotle Pepper in Adobo Sauce, Pureed (I just chopped it with a knife until it turned to mush)

 1 Tbsp Fresh Jalapeno Pepper, minced

1/2 tsp Dried Mexican Oregano

1/4 tsp Ground Cumin

1/2 Medium Zucchini, diced

1/2 Medium Yellow Squash, diced  (I used Chayote Squash because I didn't like the look of the yellow)

1/2 Medium Red Bell Pepper, diced

1 Tbsp Lime Juice

1 Tbsp Sweet Sherry

1/2 Tbsp Cilantro, chopped

1/2 Tbsp Mint, chopped

Garnish:

1/2 Medium Avocado, sliced into 4 pieces

4 tsp Cilantro

Method:

1. Poach chicken breast in simmering chicken broth until done through, about 10 minutes.
2. Set aside until cool enough to handle and shred.
3. Combine chicken broth, chicken, red onion, carrots, potato, tomato paste, bay leaf, garlic, chipotle and jalapeno chilies, oregano, cumin and salt and pepper in large saucepan.
4. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.
5. Correct seasoning, if necessary.
6. Add zucchini, squash, pepper, lime juice and Sherry.
7. Bring again to boil.
8. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.
9. Add cilantro and mint.
10. Stir, then remove from heat.
11. Ladle soup into each bowl.
12. Garnish each bowl with avocado slice and a teaspoon of cilantro. Serve at once.

Seedlings

I'm having a little trouble with white mold, but the indoor seed sproutings are coming along:

Round one of the sproutings have been "potted up"

Mucho Nacho Jalapeno

Lemon Balm

(I hear it attracts bees so I'm going to try to plant it

between veggies it's also used in herbal teas.)

Cinnamon Basil.

I plant sweet basil every year I wanted something different

Martian Giant Tomato

Round 2 of sprouting

(this is where round 1 started out)

(Zucchini, Cantaloupe, 3 varieties

of tomato, and Thai basil)

New Variety of Zucchini is taking over already.

I heard Costata Romanesco was a tasty variety. Home Depot only has Black Beauty every year so I bought some seeds and I'm giving it a try.

The rescued Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato got so big I trained it to rest on the windowsill. I hope I don't regret that later.

Pre-Spring Garden Check

I went out to check on the garden this morning. Almost everyone seems to be very happy with our warmer weather. The veggies I've had under the hoop house all winter are taking off and so is the asparagus:

A few stalks of asparagus are popping up to say hi:

The Cabbage, Broccoli, and Cauliflower look pleased:

Collard Greens, Spinach, and a couple of other items:

Beets.. yeah.. I need to fertilize them or something I think:

Prostrate Rosemary in Bloom:

The artichokes that never noticed it was winter

(I hear they typically die back in the winter)

Our one and only lemon is starting to ripen!!

(hey it's an accomplishment the tree almost died)

Bobby, helping out.

Lamb steaks

We found some ultra tasty looking lamb steaks at Trader Joe's on Sunday, having never cooked lamb I wasn't sure what to do. Then I found this delicious looking recipe.

Lamb Chops with Cracked Pepper & Rosemary

So I cooked it, and we enjoyed it greatly :-) yes.. there is more to it than that but I'm tired :-P

I also steamed some broccoli and put lemon juice and salt and pepper on it. And made our favorite Greek Potatoes:

Oven Roasted Greek Potatoes

Garden Cat Bobby

I think one of the most important additions to our garden is our garden cat Bobby. I didn't CHOOSE to add him, he showed up in desperate need of medical attention and love. I can't refuse anyone who would otherwise die if I didn't help sooo..

I cut the collar off that was choking him, and cutting into his right shoulder so bad it would eventually have probably taken his right leg off, as well as causing him to be unable to eat adequately. Gave him first aid, and lots of yummy wet food to distract him while I was causing him great discomfort.

He found me while I was gardening and has taken care of my pest problems for me as repayment for saving him. It's a equitable arrangement we both enjoy. He's put on approximately 9 lbs and is a healthy happy member of our family.

He's an AMAZING hunter. I'm sure he's caught much more but I know he's killed 3 mice, a gopher and.. :-( the lizard that was eating bugs in my garden. He also leaves the heads of the mice in the vegetable beds to warn other mice they might not want to bother our garden. I might have to find a way to train him to leave the lizards alone.

Before Bobby came into our lives we had mice eating the strawberries, and squirrels eating pretty much anything else. Now Bobby attacks anything that moves including the leaves blowing around in the wind :-) No more furry pest problems!

Seed starting

For those wondering when to start their seeds indoors, and when to plant the seedlings outside. This is a fairly useful chart for San Joaquin County.

http://ucanr.org/sites/gardenweb/files/29042.pdf

I'm trying to start EVERYTHING from seed this year. All previous years I've purchased plants from Home Depot and Lowe's with a couple of seeds here and there. I may end up hungry this season, or I might discover new delicious varieties of veggies I can't buy from the big box stores.

I was very sad to find that most places only carry one type of zucchini plant (black beauty) when there are so many out there. So I tried to seed my own. I didn't get a picture of it but the only one that sprouted sent roots into the air, and leaves into the ground, then died. I must have planted him on his head :-) The other one I planted didn't sprout at all.... I have many more seeds and am going to try again soon.

I got a little to excited about spring and started sprouting seeds way to early. They outgrew my nifty seed starting tray so I had to transplant them into window boxes. I'm still working on moving them all into window boxes but here are a few of them.

Roma Tomatoes

Romaine Lettuce 

We use a lot of cilantro around the house. I've been successfully growing a little bit in a window box all winter! I need to plant more seeds though, I would like to fill up the whole box.

Cilantro

Gardening & Cooking Thoughts

How did I become "domestic" as my friend Aubrey likes to call it? One day I'm snuggling up to my combat boots, blue wigs, school girl skirts, listening to Pink, and the next I'm thinking about the quality of the food I buy from the grocery store, and how to make better food than I can buy going out.

1. I found that  most food you can buy out unless you pay a LOT of money is, in essence.. CRAP! It made me angry. At first I started just trying to make things I liked out at home like *gasp* the Taco Bell Enchirito(hey they stopped making them for a while there and I WANTED ONE!) I discovered I could make one BETTER than Taco Bell that didn't make me ill afterwards (not hard). This got me to thinking I could probably make everything better at home than buying it out if I put some effort into learning how. So I moved on to trying to make truly excellent meals with cuisines from all over the world.
2. I'm greatly disturbed about how many people I know who have been struck by cancer. I started thinking about all the nasty chemicals we consume every day. In our drinking water, in the "healthy veggies" we buy fresh at the grocery store, in the canned goods I was using to make things. At first I started growing veggies at home because honestly, have you ever compared a home grown tomato to one you get in the store? The store bought one is likely gas ripened and started out green. It still tastes green when you buy it. and because it's awesome to be able to go outside, pick your veggies, cook a meal, and say "I made that" and mean it from beginning to end. Not only did I cook the meal I created what went into it in an organic garden!
3. My grandfather was a very smart man, I wish he had lived long enough for me to be his "apprentice". He grew an avocado tree in the cold winters and hot summers in Fresno, CA, he grew corsage orchids, he had bee hives, he turned part of his front lawn into a garden and grew the most amazing things! He also enjoyed cooking, and made some fantastic meals. I believe I was only 10 when he passed, but he made his mark on me. He gave me my very first cookbook (which while it's battered I still have) and gave me a love for fresh fruits and vegetables. I hate to think about him, he was a not so nice person but my first boyfriend also inspired me. I was with him when he went to culinary school, I helped him with his homework, read his textbooks, helped him cook, and realized with a little work I could cook amazing things. I doubt he's cooking anymore, last I heard he took computer science classes from my friend Erik at ITT.
4. I believe we should ALL know how to produce food, if times get really tough we will all need to step up and help out ourselves and our neighbors. What if one day we wake up and the grocery store is empty? It could happen, you never know. Wouldn't it be nice to say to your neighbor "I'll trade you some of my tomatoes for your collard greens" or something of the like?
5. When I was little I would steal spices from my mother's kitchen and take them in the backyard, turn the little red bench my grandfather made me upside down, pour water into it (it was wood but it was watertight!! he should have built boats!), then pour the stolen spices into it. I always told anyone who asked, and myself I was a chemist trying to create something special. Now that I know how much spices cost... I'm thankful my mother didn't kill me. But, today I look at cooking as a kind of chemistry. If you get all the right things together in the right way, they do make something special.

I'm babbling...  Enough of this domestic crap for one day, time to snuggle up to my faux fur mink throw and sniff my leather jacket to relax :-) maybe I'll even listen to some Pink!

(the cookbook my grandfather gave me over 30 years ago)

Drip Irrigation

When I discovered drip irrigation suddenly my plants were healthier and grew SO much faster. I'm sure it had something to do with the fact that I was so busy playing World of Warcraft and other games I forgot to water them regularly :-)

Now I  have a timer and a fully set up system. Sure I have to modify it a little each year depending on what I planted but there is no more forgetting to water for weeks, or leaving the hose on and flooding the back yard. Although... my timer did malfunction once and flooded the back yard because it never turned the water off.

Here is a little link that might help explain the bits of a drip irrigation system a little. I'll try to find other references. What I did when I first started was grab a free manual in the drip irrigation section of Home Depot.

http://www.rainbird.com/documents/diy/bro_landscapedriplinesystem.pdf

Photo Frustration

Well here I am banging my head on the desk trying to figure out how to feed my gardening pictures and cooking pictures into a slide show. I've always had them on Webshots but that didn't work so I put some on photobucket, that didn't work so I put some on flickr, that didn't work either. *pout*. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually, hopefully before I break the desk or pass out from hitting my head to much