February 10th - DAY TEN

Due to sleep deprivation, chronic illness in our house and just general laziness....today was a big day of leftovers. I am not even sure what anyone ate. Nothing that is worth reporting about, that's for sure....

February 9th - DAY NINE

Today's dinner was a work in progress....it morphed twice as I was making it from what I had intended....really, the only thing that stayed the same was that I used a pack of halibut fillets from the freezer and a bit of leftover homemade coconut milk. First I intended to make a new recipe, a Thai-inspired halibut dish from the Ellie Krieger Cookbook, but I decided it was too similar to our soup last night (which only rated in the "OK" category to me). Then I was going to just poach the halibut in the coconut milk, but as I went to do that there didn't seem to be enough liquid, so I diced up my last frozen tomato and added it to the pan. I then poached the fish and added 1/2 of a delicata squash that I had previously baked, diced up. It seemed to be missing something then, so I added a healthy amount (read: spicy!!) of Penzey's hot curry powder. I am serving it over a bed of brown rice (previously cooked, from the freezer). It is really quite delicious!

**Upon eating a few bites of the dish as I typed the above, I decided I was a little too heavy-handed with the curry spices...I shall be adding a bit of plain yogurt to cool it down a bit and make the sauce creamy**

As a side, not in the photo, I did a saute of zuchinni, mushrooms, tomato and onion.

February 8th - DAY EIGHT

I am cooking my first recipe from the above book for dinner tonight....I'm excited because it has been on my "to try" list since I got the book (probably because it is one of the few color photos in the book) AND I have just about everything in the freezer for it, so it's great for my month of pantry/freezer clean out! Here are the things I am using from the freezer: chicken stock, coconut milk, chicken, red bell pepper, lime juice and everything else is in the fridge or pantry. Requires NO grocery shopping. Yippee!!!

I did go to the grocery store today, but limited myself to milk, half and half, whipping cream (because I am making some ice cream for this weekend when relatives are in town), apples and bananas and some tylenol for the kiddo. I did my weekly menu before going to the store and was happy to see that I didn't need anything at all for any of my meals this week....yep, we're well stocked!

Thai Chicken Soup with Chinese Black Rice
- makes 4 servings -

Ingredients
2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 can (15 ounces) unsweetened coconut milk
2 to 3 teaspoons Thai red or yellow curry paste
1 can (15 ounces) diced tomatoes, including liquid
1 1/2 pounds bone-in, skinned chicken thighs or split breasts
4 scallions, thinly sliced (keep white and green parts separate)
1/4 cup finely diced red bell pepper
1 1/2 cups cooked basic Chinese black rice
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro or basil
2 to 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
Thai fish sauce or soy sauce (optional)
Lime wedges, to serve at the table

Procedure
1. In a 4-quart pot, blend the chicken broth, coconut milk, and curry paste to taste. Set the pot over medium heat. Add the tomatoes, chicken, scallion whites, and bell pepper. Bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked, 20 to 30 minutes, depending upon size.

2. Remove the chicken. When it is cool enough to handle, shred or chop the meat and discard the bones. Return the chicken to the pot and stir in the rice. Add the cilantro, scallion greens, lime juice to taste, and fish sauce, if needed to perk up the flavors.

3. Before ladling out each portion, stir well to bring the rice up from the bottom. Serve with lime wedges.

February 7th - DAY SEVEN

Although most of our day has been spent eating half-eaten yogurts and leftover pieces of bread from the fridge (since the half-eaten kid items has taken over!) I did make myself a lunch that was tasty and SO simple...the kids had scrambled eggs with cheese and toast. I heated up a corn tortilla, put in a few of the leftover scrambled eggs, a handful of the vallarta beans from last night, a sprinkling of cheese and a couple slices of avocado (some salsa would have been great too!).

For dinner I am FINALLY getting around to making Moosewood's Navajo Stew (from Simple Suppers) which I got the sweet potatoes for a week ago. I also have dough to make whole wheat naan bread from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Baking book that is fermenting in the fridge.

Navajo Stew
2 medium sweet potatoes
2 red or green bell peppers
1 large onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 (15 oz.) can of tomatoes
1 Tbsp. canned chipotles in adobo sauce
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 (15 oz.) can of butter beans of black beans, drained
flatbread (tortillas, lavash, or pita)
plain yogurt, sour cream, or Cilantro Yogurt Sauce

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet.
Peel the sweet potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes. Stem and seed the peppers and cut into 1-inch pieces. Peel the onion and cut it stem end to root end into thin wedges. In a bowl, toss the vegetables with the garlic, oil, cumin, salt, and pepper. Spread on the prepared baking sheet and roast in the oven for about 10 minutes. Stir and continue to roast for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender but not mushy.
While the vegetables roast, puree the tomatoes, chipotles, and cilantro in a blender until smooth. Set aside. When the vegetables are tender, put them into a 2- to 3-quart baking dish, stir in the tomato-cilantro sauce and the beans, and return to the oven until hot, about 10 minutes.
A few minutes before serving, warm the bread in the oven. Serve the stew in bowls topped with yogurt or sour cream, with warm flatbread on the side.

February 6th - DAY SIX

Day two of no school for my oldest due to her being sick. This has NEVER happened before, so it is quite unexpected that she would be home again today. Her fever has dropped from "scary high" to "low grade" but she hasn't been able to keep any food down for the last 2 days, so there is no way she is fit to go anywhere. She layed in her bed or the couch bed yesterday and didn't move other than going to the bathroom. I had hoped today would be better, but we'll see....

As a result, I have lowered my expectations on cooking today and will be using a new pack of my heirloom beans (www.ranchogordo.com), Vallarta, I think...and serving them with some sauteed red chard (from Organics to You) and possibly some cornbread if I get around to making some....Oh, and a zuchinni dish of some sort. The Navajo Stew will have to wait yet another day!

February 5th - DAY FIVE

One word about today: leftovers. We pretty much ate only fresh produce and leftovers today. I did make up an Asian style cabbage slaw (adapted from a recipe from a friend) that was fabulous and that I will enjoy today as well, but the rest of the day was just eating whatever was close by. That's what happens when you are stuck at home with 2 sick kiddos!

For the cabbage salad I used the following ingredients:
shredded cabbage
orange slices
dried cranberries
slivered almonds, roasted
red onion, diced
red bell pepper, diced
black sesame seeds
rice vinegar
apple cider vinegar
sugar
sesame oil

New Favorite Yogurt

I went on a yogurt buying spree this week and got a whole bunch of new ones to try. Unfortunately, most of them are still in the fridge and I have gone back to buy this one again already! It is just THAT good! and the little cup of honey....Mmmmmm! It's fairly expensive, but is so rich I use 1/2 of the cup as a treat, so it lasts for 2 servings.