I'm not sure if this cold is porcine in origin, but it sure as heck hurts. I can't even take a full, deep breath without bronchial spasms. At least my fever is gone. I'm taking vicodin for its cough-suppressing properties while I make myself some chicken soup. Recipe follows:


Home-made Chicken Soup:

Chicken Stock:
1 Rotisserie Chicken -- Costco makes 'em cheap ($5) and good.
1 celery heart
3 large carrots, washed, but unpeeled. An equivalent amount of baby carrots is fine.
1/4 sweet onion
3 cloves garlic
6 sprigs fresh thyme
3 sprigs fresh sage
Salt and pepper to taste -- If you can, use a mortar and pestle to crack whole pepper corns, the flavor is better.

Separate the meat from the bones on your rotisserie chicken. Reserve the meat in a bowl for later. Put the bones and skin into a large stockpot. Coarsely chop the vegetables and garlic and put them in the stockpot along with the thyme, sage, salt and pepper. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Boil for 3-5 minutes, then simmer for 2-3 hours or until vegetables are completely mushy. Don't be afraid to add in parts of the veggies or chicken you wouldn't normally eat -- they'll be strained out later.

Once the stock is made, Strain out the bones and remains of the veggies. They will hold on to a lot of the liquid, so be sure and press it out of the (now flaccid) veggies. If you're concerned about the bones getting in the way, make the stock using just the bones first, strain, then cook down the veggies in the pure chicken broth. Once you're done with the combo broth, you can even puree some of the veggies back into the broth.

Once you have your broth ready to go, it's time for the elements of your actual soup.

Final Soup:

Previously Reserved Meat and Stock
1 celery heart
3 large carrots, washed, but unpeeled. An equivalent amount of baby carrots is fine.
3/4 sweet onion
6 sprigs fresh thyme
3 sprigs fresh sage
Salt and pepper to taste -- If you can, use a mortar and pestle to crack whole pepper corns, the flavor is better.

Same as before -- coarsely chop your veggies and throw them in the pot with everything else. Simmer until your veggies are cooked. If you want noodles, throw them in at as you're cooking your veggies. They'll help to thicken the sauce, but you'll lose volume. If you need more liquid, don't be afraid to add extra store-bought broth or cook your noodles separately. Alternatively, you can thicken the sauce with corn starch and serve over biscuits if you're more into the chicken and biscuits thing.

This weekend, Em and I decided to leave our schedule open for work and spend the weekend as a family. While it was pouring rain yesterday, we decided to do a little kitchen prep work. I was able to accomplish the following:

- Roasted an entire bag of garlic heads from Costco. Resulted in a full quart of peeled, roasted garlic.
- Caramelized 9 Hermiston, OR sweet onions. We now have a half-gallon container full of pre-caramelized onions.
- Made beef stew with 2 lbs of well-marbled tri-tip steak, a full bottle of Merlot and orange zest. Served with horseradish-infused sour cream.
- Prepped supplies for the following soups to be made in the next 3-5 days: chicken noodle, roasted tomato w/ shallots, cream of asparagus, french onion.

Recipes to follow upon request.

This is what I eat when I'm really tired.

1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
2 small cans sliced mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
half an onion

Sauté the onion until caramelized. Add in garlic and mushrooms, cook for 2-3 minutes. Add in stewed tomatoes and tomato sauce. Salt and pepper to taste, simmer for 10-15 minutes. Serve.

I just e-mailed my mother-in-law with my clam pasta recipe. Don't know if I've ever posted it here, but it's one of those things it's hard for me to canonize since I do it off the cuff every time.

- 2 8oz cans of chopped clams, drained
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 8-12 small crimini mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely diced
- 1/2 pint cream
- 1 medium lemon, zested and juiced
- Capers
- Olive oil
- Salt & Pepper
- Italian seasoning (if desired)
- 1/4c dry white wine or sherry


In a sauce or sauté pan, cook onions and garlic in a small amount of olive oil and water until onions are translucent. Add in mushrooms and cook until soft. Remove from pan. In the same pan, sauté the clams until they are firm and coated in the remaining olive oil. Add in a little extra if necessary. Remove from pan and mix into onions, garlic and mushrooms.

Deglace pan using the white wine or sherry. Add in cream and lemon zest. Simmer for 3-5 minutes over medum heat to reduce. Add in mushrooms, onions, garlic, and clams, simmer for 1-2 minutes. Add in lemon juice, capers and salt and pepper to taste. If desired, you can add 1 tsp italian seasoning at this point.

Serve over angel hair or penne with bread and Cesar Salad.

I've always loved the juxtaposition of sweet and spicy flavors. The sweet pepper sauce they serve at bento places is a great example of this, though I will often mix in extra hot sauce (read: Sriracha chili sauce or Japanese-style Kim Chee Paste) into the sweet stuff to bring the heat up to what I consider an acceptable level.

I'm sitting here eating my signature sausage pasta sauce, which is why this is coming up. Like many of our recipes, this one has gone through a number of iterations before finally resting in its final form:

Sausage pasta sauce (makes 6-8 servings)

- 1/2 a medium onion, diced
- 8-10oz Crimini* mushrooms, sliced or quartered, depending on size.
- 3 cloves garlic, diced
- 2 cans diced tomatoes, one drained, one undrained
- 2 lbs mild Italian sausage**
- 1/2 head kale***, rough chopped
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1/8 c heavy cream
- Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
- Balsamic Vinegar


Saute onion, mushrooms and garlic in a small quantity of olive oil. when onions are mostly cooked (not quite translucent), add in sausage and cook until browned. Once sausage is browned add in tomatoes and chopped kale. Simmer for 10 minutes on low to medium heat or until kale is wilted and soft. Add in salt, pepper and cream, simmer for an additional 1-2 minutes while stirring.

Serve over your choice of pasta by coating pasta in 1-2 TBSP of balsamic vinegar, the same amount of olive oil, then pouring sauce on top. For a spicier kick, add red pepper flakes before serving. Goes great with crusty bread and Parmesan or fresh mozzarella cheese.

Current Mood: sated

I've made this a couple of nights now and I think I'm getting a handle on how I like to flavor it. Here's the basic rundown. Makes 3-6 servings, depending on the size of the serving.

- 24oz cooked black beans.
- 12oz tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup finely-chopped cilantro
- 1/2 a medium onion, diced.
- 2 small red peppers, sliced thin.
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1-2 tsp cumin (optional)
- 1 whole chipotle, diced so fine it's almost a paste. (also optional)
- Salt and Pepper
- Olive oil

In a sauce pan, saute onions, garlic, and red pepper in olive oil until all are soft. When all are cooked, add in tomato sauce and some of the cilantro. Let this simmer for a bit so the flavors marry up. Add in beans and lime juice. Bring up to heat and add cumin (optional) and the chipotle (also optional). Stir these in and add the remainder of the cilantro. Salt and pepper to taste.

I find that adding a dollop of sour cream when served really makes this. It's also great served with tortilla chips and a little bit of melted cheese. If you opt to serve it with rice, make sure it's brown and not white rice. I suppose some sort of "doctored" white rice would work as well, though (ie, Spanish Rice).

Rice:

- 4 c uncooked sticky rice
- 1 can coconut milk

Prepare rice using 3/4 of the coconut milk and water as required.

Pineapple:

Slice fresh pineapple and saute in olive oil and sugar until the pineapple is cooked through.

Kale:

Saute with olive oil after wilting in water. Saute with juice from half a lemon and a couple cloves of garlic.

Chicken:

Mix the following:

- Remaining coconut milk
- Zest and juice from 1 lime and 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp ground ginger
- olive oil
- Salt, Pepper, Frank's Red Hot to taste

Grill skewered chicken, basting occasionally with citrus/coconut milk mixture (can be cut with honey, if desired). Serve with a final coating of mixture, sprinkle with toasted coconut.