Meatless Monday? Almost....

If you follow my blog or other food blogs, you've probably heard of Meatless Monday. Quite simply, that just means eating vegetarian one day a week. I don't follow it as a rule; it's just a concept I have in the back of my mind. I wasn't even thinking about it yesterday but there didn't seem to be any meat in any of the food I ate yesterday! Then I realized it was Monday and I was thinking, Hey, I'm actually doing Meatless Monday without realizing it! And then, as I was eating my leftover spaghetti and sauce, the next two forkfuls I picked up had two tiny pieces of leftover meatball in them....Oh well. Lol! :)

My chicken soup recipe- Is it Ashkenazi or something different?

Sometimes for Shabbat in the winter I'll make two big pots of this chicken soup, maybe a dessert, and maybe a salmon salad that doesn't have to be made before Shabbat (no cooking required). Any time any of us is sick is also an excuse to make it on a weekday. Ok, no more preamble; let's get to the good stuff! :)

Ingredients

1 whole chicken (a package of, say, chicken thighs would also work, but boneless skinless probably would not come out right)
salt and pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste (optional)
4-5 or more carrots, sliced
4-5 or more celery stalks, sliced
1 onion, whole (I've used yellow and red; both make the soup taste good but they're different)
1 leek, sliced (that's how we like it best but you can also use more or less half a bunch of parsley, chopped, instead)
matzah balls (optional; I actually haven't been making them lately because I found organic, whole wheat matzah meal at my Whole Foods around Passover time but that's it)

Put chicken in your biggest available pot, fill pot with water (you can estimate but if you want a measurement it's 2 and 1/2 quarts or 10 cups), add seasonings, and bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, you can turn down the heat to a simmer if it boils over. Now add veggies and cook for 1 and 1/2 hours. If you forgot the seasonings before or decide you want more, go ahead and add them at any time (but I think the soup comes out best when they're added immediately). If you're including matzah balls, follow your recipe's instructions. (I don't currently have a good one to recommend but I do suggest using whole wheat if possible.)

So what do you think? Ashkenazi or not?

"Slumber Party" with Hubby! :)

Cross posted in The Daily Yay!

To celebrate my new job, hubby and I decided to have a special chicken dinner. I gave Rena an early, simple dinner of crepes (I make them with coconut oil instead of butter or margarine to cut down on my dairy intake, as I might be slightly lactose intolerant, and to avoid using a product with soy) with some raw tomato and some raw avocado on the the side (she loves them; I don't always have to cook side dishes for her) and then put her to bed. I headed to QFC at the University Village Shopping Center to get kosher chicken, as Whole Foods around here doesn't carry it.

I decided to call my parents on the way. They're three hours earlier, as they live in Cincinnati, but it's ok for me to call them late. They had actually just walked in the door: They'd been out late at the wedding of a local Chabad rabbi's daughter. They reported that there must have been 600 people there and that a bunch of them asked about me. It made me happy to know that so many people in my hometown still think and care about me. Even someone who wasn't at the wedding asked my mom about me recently when she ran into her at a grocery store.

At QFC, I headed to the kosher poultry section. I hadn't seen Empire Organic chicken in ages, but lo and behold, it was there last night! I bought all the drumsticks and left the whole chickens and boneless skinless breasts for others.

Back at home, I preheated the oven to 400 degrees and made a one-dish dinner out of a dozen drumsticks, a couple big bagsful of cremini mushrooms, and a pile of raw cashews; seasoned with salt, red pepper flakes, and a little turmeric; with coconut oil mixed in. Forty minutes later.... Yum! :) Hubby and I ate up all the drumsticks -- we each ate half a dozen and saved some of the other stuff for today.

Then we had fun singing, dancing, joking, and playing around. We do that part of a slumber party most nights, really, but this was special because we were celebrating my new job! :)