This is basically a meal I made up out of what I otherwise was going to throw away, or kinda a meal made out of garbage.  Sorry for so not selling it.  The meal was tasty and pretty complete.  It was however lacking in green vegetables which if you had something like a green bell pepper would make a good addition.   All of the greens in my crisper were brown, so I’ll clean them up another day.

The recipe:

• 1 chicken thigh shredded
• 1 Tbs. Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3 C. Chicken broth
• 1/2 C. Salsa
• 1 Tbs. Basil
• 1/2 Tbs. Oregano
• 1/2 Tbs. Hot madras curry powder
• 2 Tbs. Rice vinegar
• 3 Tbs. Soy sauce
• 1 C. Long grain rice

1. Cook and shred the chicken thigh.  Pour olive oil over shredded chicken.  Salt and pepper to bring out water and flavor.
2. Fry to your liking.
3. Add 3 C. Chicken broth.  I had the juices from cooking 8 chicken thighs minus the schmaltz, so that and the one chicken thigh I had left over from another recipe were the garbage.
4. Add salsa.  I had two jars that were almost empty, so I rinsed them out not wasting.
5. Add water so that you have 2.5-3 C liquid to be absorbed into the cup of rice your going to add.
6. Add spices while bringing mixture to a boil.
7. When boiling add rice, turn to very low heat – I used 3.5 on an electric stove burner.
8. Allow the rice to absorb liquid.   Add water if necessary.  Taste rice to bring to a crunchiness or softness you desire.
9. Remove from heat.  Allow to cool.  Serve.

Sorry once again for the gap in time.  By this I mean it’s been too long.  In my intentions I would like to have more time.  It’d  be really nice if we had a thirty hour day.  Anyways, like most people of the world, I normally keep something sweet around.  Most of us, although we might not admit it in public, quite often prefer these items over our meals.  If you eat sweet cereal you might do this and be okay with it.  I might have it wrong.  Some claim artificial sugars are what cause the dilemma of overweight people, but these carbs contain the most energy.  If you use them up, it would seem, the overweight dilemma would no longer be of concern to the majority of us.

Anyways, I’m off subject.  One of the recipes I created to satisfy my sweet tooth was lime and blueberry ice cream.  The flavor combination of lime and blueberry I found on another blog.  I have also used cranberries instead of blueberries.  They were also a good flavor combo.  I’ve wanted to try rhubarb instead of blueberries, but have only heard of it being available in Texas through non supermarket channels.  My grandmother always made rhubarb sauce pie when I was very young for almost all family gatherings.

The recipe that I  used:

• 6 oz. fresh blueberries
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup low fat buttermilk
• 1 cup skim milk
• 4 fresh small turkish limes

1. In small saucepan place half of the sugar, the orange juice, and the blueberries.
2. Bring mixture to a boil.  Simmer for an hour to reduce.  Smash blueberries with a fork or other similar utensil to form a “syrup with skins.”
3. Let mixture cool to room temperature on a cold range burner.  Further cool mixture by placing in refrigerator for about two hours.
4. In small mixing bowl add the three dairy products, the remaining sugar,  and the juice from four fresh small turkish limes.
5. Whisk mixture in effort to homogenize.
6. Prepare dairy, sugar, and lime mixture in ice cream maker according to manufacturer specifications.
7. When ice cream is to the “soft” stage and the ice cream machine’s work is done fold in the blueberry syrup you have just taken out of the refrigerator.
8. Either serve in “soft” stage immediately or freeze to serve later in “hard” stage.

 

I apologize for my lack of communication.  I went on a couple of trips, one business and one pleasure.  Anyways when I finally got back on the horse of making my food, I once again needed food for lunch at work.  I had several ingredients left over from last time, so I thought maybe in the next iteration of my potato soup I could improve upon the idea.  I made basically the same recipe as last time.  There were two major things I did differently.  I used the slow cooker and let it cook on low for eight hours.  The instant pot was too much trouble to clean, and I was sitting around the house all day anyways.  The second thing I changed was I bought 3/8 pound of asiago cheese for more flavor.

The recipe I used was:

• 2 lbs. Gold potatoes
• 16 oz. Greek yogurt
• 28 oz. Lowfat cottage cheese
• 1 qt. Nonfat milk
• 6 oz. Asiago cheese
• 1 lb. Fresh mini portabella mushrooms
• 1 1/2 lbs. Ham cubed

1. Take the cottage cheese, greek yogurt, milk, asiago cheese, and potatoes and cook them in a slow cooker for eight hours.
2. Saute mushrooms and fry ham.  Set aside.
3. Blend potato, cheeses, yogurt, and milk mixture with a stick blender until uniform.
4. Place mushrooms and ham in serving bowl.  Add mixture and mix stir-ins in.

This soup had excellent flavor but my criticisms of it this iteration are that its almost too thick, like a fancy mashed potato.  I was thinking when adding the potato mixture that if you added baking powder you could make pancakes.  It was that thick.  In the next iteration I might try more milk, less potatoes, or both.  Other than that the luxury buy of the asiago cheese really made for excellent flavor.  Til next time I feel like writing.  In the same weekend I also made a snack of something similar to a granola.  That will be next.