This head cold (or what will shape itself into a head cold, if I do not quickly defeat it with Oregano tablets & an onslaught of Vit C) I'm sure originated on the tarmac of Calgary airport just last night. We had, what turned into a 2 hour delay, from the gates of Kelowna airport to the gates of our arrival home at Saskatoon airport. While sitting there in the stuffy, tight-quartered, confines of the West Jet cabin, I made the regrettable decision to open my air vent, thinking I would find some relief in the recycled air that would spill down onto my brow. Rather, I think I released the germs of countless un-named viruses down upon myself. At least, that is my raw assumption of where this nasty cold, I am now fighting, found its origin.
Anyway, I awoke this morning feeling pretty flu-ish. Only to be reminded by my husband, that today was cleaning day. That meant that Trudy would be walking through the door, in all her house-cleaning splendour by 8:30 a.m. To call Trudy our housekeeper would be a large misnomer. Trudy is a dear friend, who by her appearance every second Tuesday, keeps our Saskatoon home in some sort of function until my arrival there appx once per month. She has been a main stay, for our family, in this role for nearly 20 years. I think it would be a mutual affection that she & I afford each other to tarry a while, each visit, & discuss our families, spiritual matters & many weighty concourses of the day. Her bi-weekly visits are among the many things/people I miss dearly about this Saskatoon "home sweet home."
The anticipation of my visit with Trudy was the fuel that fired my engine today. Then, I plodded along & got to some of the errands of the day. Here goes: I went to a fave coffee shop, Mystic Java & picked up my Almond Milk Latte, headed to Indigo to pick up my new cookbook, Quinoa Revolution (which I had ordered & had held, for me, earlier in the a.m.,) picked up lunch for my daughter at Opa & delivered it across the city to Modular on Gyles, took the new freeway (which I love, I might add) around to Stonebridge to Stonebridge Chiropractic to pick up my supplements (which included the Oregosept to ward off this bug,) over to Battery Boys in Brierwood to get the very unusual batteries for my digital bathroom scale (& while there picked up a pair of the most awesome texting gloves to adjust the music on my ipod, while dog-walking, w/o freezing my fingers,) & over to Safeway at the Centre for the restocking of general supplies & supper groceries & across 8th St. over to Griffin Take Away to get myself a bowl of the daily soup to sooth my searing throat…not bad for a sicko, right??!
And then, back home to unpack the groceries & get a start on the home-cooked meal that I know the kids are always looking forward to, when we are home. The people that I miss, here in Saskatoon, are too many to mention, but of the "things" I miss, my newly renovated kitchen would be at the top. I am always eager to get at the home-cooking, while here, too. Tonight, I had decided on Greek Salad with Quinoa & Yam. And I got a pot of Chicken Soup rolling to feed this cold of mine, as well.
The salad is pretty straight forward:
Romaine lettuce
Tomato (I like to use a combination of Grape tomatoes, halved & roma tomatoes, roughly chopped)
Cucumber (I like the minis but 1/2 a long english is fine too)
Red Onion (finely chopped)
Red Pepper, chopped
Feta, crumbled
*note: no real amount listed, use in variations that make you happy - for example, tonight, we used very little lettuce & lotsa all other veg*
Dressing:
1/2 C Evoo
1/4 C red wine vinegar
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp garlic powder
sprinkle of parsley flake
1 tsp sea salt
good grind of black pepper
Whiz all til creamy in blender. Use enough to just lightly dress salad & store remainder in airtight container or jar that you can shake the daylights out of before the next salad you want to dress.
Quinoa:
1 C quinoa, well rinsed in a fine sieve
2 C chicken stock (made with better than bouillon)
Bring to a boil in a medium pot & cook on med heat for appx 10 mins or until most of liquid is cooked away, stirring occasionally.
Yams: I peel, cube, toss in a tbsp or two of Evoo & steak spice & bake on parchment-lined cookie sheet @ 400 for appx 30 mins.
We like to serve the quinoa & yams on the side with some cajun spiced chicken. Everyone can eat their salad as desired. Tossed all together or deconstructed with "no foods touching" for some!!
On a warmer (much warmer) night, we would probably BBQ some chicken breasts lightly brushed with Evoo & sprinkled with cajun seasoning. Tonight was definitely NOT one of those nights, with the mercury dropping well below -20 on the ol' thermometer. In a pinch, I remove the chicken from the bones of a rotisserie chicken, chop & toss in a fry pan heated with a turn of Evoo & season liberally with Cajun seasoning. It is nearly as great & we often use this short cut on cold SK nights…
My chicken soup was very basic too: I started with the veg trinity: onion, celery & carrot + garlic. I cheated again & used the bag of already grated carrot. Once this mixture was tender, I added in some cauliflower & broccoli from the freezer & let it soften. In went appx 7 C of chicken stock (better than bouillon) 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp rosemary powder & 1 tsp sage. After all was bubbling away nicely, I added a whole rotisserie chicken, chopped, bones & skin removed & 2 small pkgs of the Shirataki noodles (found in the refrigerator section of store) well-drained & rinsed.
I didn't have much of an appetite tonight but did try a bite or two of this soup, as I was interested in the noodles I had seen on Dr. Oz last week, as suggested by Dr. William Davis of Wheat Belly. And they really aren't too bad. A consistency similar to an al dente pasta noodle…I will be interested to see how the kids weigh in…I am not an excellent judge, as my opinions are slightly skewed by the fact that I am making an honest effort at reducing the wheat-intake in my diet. I think we have to give our taste preferences a chance to accept a new intruder…
It's not often, you'll get a look in my fridge, but since I had no forethought about this blog, all that is remenisent of supper is sitting on these shelves. My one & only piece of Le Crueset cookware houses the "Chicken Soup for my Sick-little-Soul" for tomorrow. *If you squint a little, you won't notice the bottle of Baileys tucked in behind…wink*
And with that, I bid you farewell & pleasant dreams...
No comments:
Post a Comment