Despite the troubling chaos mid-week, or maybe because of it, I tried to focus back on what I can control. I kept walking, started reading a childhood favorite to escape, tried a new recipe, and kept my fingers busy knitting a new baby hat. It didn’t stop me from asking “what the holy hell is going on???!” repeatedly but it helped some.
Fifty for 50 Tally
Books completed – 0 (3 started)
Recipes tried – 1
Blog posts published– 2
Miles walked in January –16.5
Miles
walked year-to-date –16.5
Scrap book pages completed –0
Hats donated – 0 (3 ready)
Hours volunteered – 0
Recipe One -
It is the soup time of the year and
I LOVE soups. This recipe came from a
grocery store magazine called Real Food that I picked up, apparently, in Fall
2009. I have been meaning to try it ever
since. I’ll enter it here as published, my comments or changes in
parentheses. Capital T = tablespoon,
small t = teaspoon. We liked this soup
and would make it again – it was easy, very flavorful, and a nice winter dinner
served with breadsticks or biscuits. All the main
ingredients are usually stocked at my house.
Smoky Chicken, Tomato, Brown
Rice, and Corn Soup (gotta love a title that tells you almost every single
ingredient)
Use cooked chicken leftover from a
rotisserie chicken for this quick, easy and substantial soup.
2 T extra-virgin olive oil (I used
garlic olive oil when I discovered I was out of garlic)
1 C chopped onion
1 garlic clove, finely chopped (see
above)
2 t smoked paprika (Penzey’s for
me, naturally)
1 t ground cumin
1 can – 28 oz – peeled plum
tomatoes, with juices (used petite diced because that was what I had)
1 ½ C cubed leftover cooked chicken
(used rotisserie chicken I had in the freezer)
3 to 4 C reduced sodium chicken
broth (used 3 C water with Penzey’s soup base)
½ to 1 C leftover cooked brown
rice, bulgur, quinoa, or other grain (used one bag of Trader Joe’s organic
brown rice from frozen section – microwave 3 min and it is cooked, used all of
it because I didn’t want a cup of cooked rice hanging around in the fridge)
1 C fresh, frozen or canned corn
kernels (Trader Joe’s frozen corn because we always have it on hand)
½ C chopped cilantro leaves and
tender stems, divided (I used Boathouse instant fresh herbs cilantro, about 2
T. They are freeze dried and are as good
as fresh once rehydrated, plus do not get slimy in the fridge when you forget
about them)
¼ C pitted Kalamata olives,
coarsely chopped (we did not add these)
1 T minced jalapeno, or to taste
(did not have and I don’t love jalapeno.
I did add a couple shakes of red pepper flakes though, for a touch of
heat)
2 T fresh lime juice (I used some
from concentrate squeeze bottle stuff. I
almost skipped it entirely but after tasting it before and after addition of
lime, would definitely recommend it. It
makes the soup less tomato-y one note.)
½ C plain low-fat yogurt (I added a
dollop to my serving, but it really didn’t do much so would probably skip it in
the future)
Heat the oil in a large, broad soup
pot over medium heat. When hot, add the onion and cook, stirring, until golden,
about 10 minutes (did NOT take 10 minutes - watch this so you don't burn it). Stir in the garlic and cook 1
minute (didn’t use garlic but suspect 1 min would be too long for this too).
Turn off the heat and stir in the paprika and cumin.
Puree the tomatoes in a food
processor (I added mine to the onion and pureed the lot with immersion blender
so as to hide the onions). Add the chicken
and pulse once or twice or until chopped into small pieces (didn’t do this
because I had cubed by hand). Add to the pot with the sautéed onion and spices.
Add 3 cups of the broth and heat to simmering. Stir in the rice, corn, half of
the cilantro leaves, olives and jalapeno. Heat, stirring, over low heat. Add
remaining cup of broth to thin the soup if desired.
When the soup is hot remove from
heat and add lime juice. Ladle the soup into bowls and place a spoonful of
yogurt in the center of each bowl. Sprinkle the remaining cilantro over the
top, dividing evenly (I didn’t do this).
I had 5 generous portions, especially
with the additional rice in there.
2020 Highlights and Reflections
Last week, before my blog post, I spent a good amount of
time reflecting on 2020 (titled ‘Hindsight 2020’ in my journal – and yes, I
felt clever). I read 30 books, got stuff
done at home and in the yard that had been fairly neglected, cooked hundreds of meals. It was
a crappy year in many ways but also had some shimmery parts to it. I didn’t read as many books as I thought I
would – I had trouble focusing for a good part of the year – but I did get 30
read. I lost weight and ate better than
I have in a long time. I spent good
quality (and quantity) time with my husband. I learned about
laundering money (binge-watched Ozark), forensic anthropology (all 12
seasons of Bones) and cattle ranching (Yellowstone), plus various other topics courtesy a variety of streaming
services. I scrap-booked once at a
retreat, once at a virtual crop and then a few times on my own. Christmas cards
and birthday cards were made AND mailed.
I walked over 800 miles, despite weather and a couple months of back
pain that had me doing physical therapy.
Knitting has long been a source of solace for me. As Elizabeth Zimmerman has said, “Properly
practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn’t hurt the
untroubled spirit either.” In April, I
knit a cowl of gray soft baby alpaca yarn and called it my COVID cowl. The pattern was easy to work, and the entire
garment was sort of meditation. Then I started a sweater (corona crewneck?) with
some yarn I have had for at least 10 years – soft blue wool – and began a
top-down seamless crewneck knit in the round, without a pattern (just a general
plan). Before summer and gardening season, I had the entire body of it, plus
one whole sleeve, done. And then it sat
until about November. I finished the
last sleeve the beginning of December and it fits beautifully. December found me working with angora rabbit
wool to make some fuzzy warm mittens.
They are also are light gray color and the finished product is like
plunging my fingers into the cat’s fur.
Warm and cozy – I better not lose them!
My next project will be to make a string to thread through my jacket
like I had when I was 5.
Whew! That was a long
post.
Until we read or eat again,
Hallie
