A Rainy Ole' Thursday Night

Yes, our Winter Break life of leisure is long gone now. We’re back in the usual weekly grind. Which usually means regularly homemade cooked meals but far less elaborate and now that we’re trying to live the Monday through Thursday “Healthy Lifestyle” again, no wine! Arrrghhhh.

It’s Thursday which means we’re almost through our first week back. It always seems the most tiresome after a break for some reason. It’s a typical rainy, gloomy, damp & cool Tacoma January day. This equals a need for comfort food.

Now tonight’s a not so late night of coming home 7:00ish but G has a late meeting so it’s a do it on my own kind of night. And G is usually so much better at the comfort food thing than I am. So tonight I’m in the mood for some kind of chicken soup. Of course following the healthy weeknight plan something on the lower fat side is also an idea to keep in mind.

I turn to one of our favorite, among many, cooking magazine subscriptions, Cuisine At Home (our ultimate all time fav. No ads, just recipes, full color pictures, we’ve made many a hit of a meal from this fav of ours. We’ve subscribed continuously for 13 years. It’s the only food mag that we do still save. The rest that we recycle after we’ve made what we think looks good and then search for recipes on line as most of them are available online since we do subscribe.)

I find a Thai Coconut Chicken Soup with rice stick noodles in the Cuisine At Home Lite version. Looks good, total time 35 minutes, 325 calories per serving; this fits the weeknight bill. I figure let’s give it a try.

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

2     tsp. extra virgin olive oil

1     Tbsp. minced red chile pepper

2      tsp. minced garlic

1      bunch bok choy, chopped leaves, stems separate

4      cups chicken broth

1      can light coconut milk

2      tsp. curry powder

4      oz. wide rice-stick noodles

¼     cup minced cilantro

10     oz. thinly sliced chicken breast, seasoned w/ salt & pepper

2      Tbsp. fresh lime juice

¼     tsp. salt & pepper

Heat oil in large pan over medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp chile, garlic, and bok choy stems. Saute’ until fragant, about 5 minutes (SMELLS WONDERFUL). Stir in ½ Cup broth scaping brown bits. Stir in remaining 31/2 Cups broth, coconut milk, and curry powder. Bring to simmer. Stir in noodles, cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add Bok choy leaves, chicken, and cilantro; simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes. Remove soup from heat; stir in lime juice. Season soup w/ salt & pepper; garnish with chile pepper slices.

 I had to do some improvising along the way; didn’t have bok choy, not up for a run to the store after finally getting home and into my comfy clothes. So replaced bok choy with fresh mushroom slices and some chopped red pepper strips for some crunch.

G makes a fantastic version of our favorite Tom Kha Gai Soup (Thai Coconut Chicken Soup) and it has mushrooms so I think as it was cooking I started having that craving in my mind and unfortunately this didn’t fit that bill. But that recipe would not of met our “weeknight healthy” regime.

I added extra curry powder and a dash of hot curry powder too being that I love spicy. It was good. It was comforting enough. I overcooked the chicken a bit (it felt weird to just put raw chicken in with the raw veggies so I think I may have went over the suggested 5 minutes because of that. Don’t do that.) I should of added a bit more salt and went a little lighter on the squeezed lime at the end. But overall it fit the bill. And there’s plenty for both of us to take for lunch tomorrow too. Always a plus. We’ll see what G thinks when he gets home to give a try later tonight.

And with absolute excitement…"Thank Goodness Tomorrow Is Friday” and wine and a bit of “not as healthy” food can happen over the weekend. But for now it's off to have a nice cup of hot spiced chai tea. Oh truly; thank goodness for weekends!

A New Year Begins...2011

For us tonight really ends the holiday season as we go back to school/work tomorrow. This is always an evening filled with just a bit of sadness...leisure, no schedule, no beeping alarm clocks, time to just be us...ends.

It's also a last chance to reflect back over the season as it's fleeting. It was a nice holiday, not the best ever, but still nice. It did start off with a treat of G's parents coming for the first time for Thanksgiving. ( A great week of snow, ice, bitter cold and a gas cooktop that decided to go caput as the last Thanksgiving dish was served. Thank goodness for the handy crockpot and that installed gas line out to the patio weber.)  

 We were happy to be able to get in our annual "gingerbread baby" making day and one fabulous day of skiing together with our niece and nephew. We hope a few more can be accomplished before winters end.

One plus to truly be celebrated is the fact that T's dad was here with us. After a summer filled of an untreatable cancer diagnosis, a heart attack followed by a quadrouple bypass surgery we weren't totally sure the 2010 holiday season would be full of merriment at all. The fact we were all together and healthy was a great celebration and not to be unappreciated.

We were able to have some quiet days as a couple of just being us. Not "Mrs. L" or" Mr. L" and all that running a school with 400 students and 50 staff members brings to mind or for G coaching a new science team at a" turn around school" that was formerly one of the lowest performing middle schools in the state. We love our work but it does bring full minds and heavy hearts on a regular basis.

It was a fast holiday break, but honestly they always are, and now the regular 60 hour weeks are back in near view. We spent the day grocery shopping, and menu planning in hopes of getting back on the "healthy lifestyle plan": No wine Monday through Thursday and daily exercise, hopefully even boot camp at the 'Y' again. We always have good intentions but a stressful day easily brings a craving for a luscious glass of that red stuff and a few late nights of trainings, meetings or professional development quickly gets us out of the exercise routine we both desperately need to stick to in order to keep us on track.

G likes ham during the holidays, T not so much..so I bought one earlier this week to make for G as our "last night of vacay" comfort meal in front of the tv ( a bad Sunday routine/habit, but we are 60 Minutes addicts. Nothing gets both of us riled enough to pump fists at the tv like a good 60 Minutes spot can.)

I prepared a Bone in Spiral Ham with a Pineapple Mustard Glaze, Green beans with New Potatoes and Creamed mushrooms, onion Brussels sprouts. I pulled a "worst chef in America" move for sure  (a new fav show we watched in marathon yesterday) and put 2 tablespoons as opposed to the 2 teaspoons of  seasoning in the beans/potato dish...ruined the beans but the potatoes survived. The ham glaze was good... probably should have pulled it out of the oven about 15 minutes earlier though. The Brussels sprouts were a hit, almost tasted like green bean casserole. (A definite fav of G's.)

Overall it met the goal...comforting and casual enough for in front of the tv.



Yeah making food look good in photos is definitely an art. One we haven't mastered yet.

2010 was a year we won't forget. It's a year neither of us would like to relive but still one that we learned from and continues to help define who we are based on the world around us and how we react to it. We fully know we are two very fortunate people. Fortunate to have found each other, careers that we are passionate about, friends & family that add great enjoyment to our life. We know food, wine, cooking and entertaining bring us great pleasure that we will continue to cherish. 

We hope in 2011 to stress less, save more, spend less, eat a little more healthy a few days a week and maybe not go through our wine cellar collection quite as fast. But to tell you the truth I am pretty sure those have been the same hopes for the last 10 years. We may or may not accomplish them but as long as we are healthy, happy and together the rest all works  itself out. That we know to be true regardless of what year it will be.

~ Cheers to you all for a great new year! ~ G & T