food

Food and I dance delicately with one another. I work hard to eat healthy, but I also know the times when the planet tilts swiftly beneath me and my emotions cry out for comfort food. My Deserted Island Menu of three items has remained steady throughout the years: broccoli, mac & cheese, and mint chip ice cream. I still eat broccoli almost everyday, but I limit the other two to the “rarely” column. Long gone are the days where cheese is the centerpiece and not a condiment. Now, eating mint chip makes me take a good long look at my emotions and what stress I seek to avoid. Yet, a girl’s gotta eat!

I work with someone who can (miraculously) eat egg whites and an apple for breakfast, a frozen piece of chicken with salsa and frozen brussel sprouts for lunch, and NEVER complain (she does heat the frozen parts). Not me. I can eat the same yummy food day-after-day, but it needs to be homemade. I prefer not to eat Chicken Catchatorie with a side dish of regret, so I work to limit fat, sugar, white flour, and eating out. However, I do leave room for small squares of dark chocolate or Whip ‘N Dip, where a girl can get Light Cream to satisfy the ice cream craving without a shred of guilt. Never being a big fan of meat really comes in handy when one wants to eat healthy. I used to be a vegetarian, and I am back to chicken as my only meat source again. I work out with a trainer these days–”Cupcake” (so named because he has replaced the cupcakes in my life)–so I REALLY do not want to eat something to undo the hard work I do whilst I pay him to torture me for two hours a week!

So, a girl’s gotta eat and gotta eat good and gotta eat good and healthy!

Fortunately, I love to cook. I love knowing I made something not only scrumptious but also good for me and those I feed. (You know who you are!) I love how food binds us together. Conversation flows more easily around a big bowl of chili. Love is folded into freshly baked bread. Illness is soothed. Fear is quieted. Connections made. I think this is why Jesus (and any good Jewish mother!) centered so much of his ministry around the table. You cannot break bread with an enemy without the enemy being transformed into a companion, if not friend. Family is created at the dining room table. Wounds healed.

Here are two of my own favourite recipes–one is my own, the other an adaptation–to make some truly yummy comfort food and food that is good for you:

Chicken Tortilla Soup

You are going to be a bit scared when first reading this, but once you make it you will see how simple it is. I promise. I felt the same way the first time I read Heidi’s site with the pizza dough recipe, but after doing it once I don’t even need to look at it again unless I need a reminder of portion size. That simple once you know it, but daunting the first read. Keep that in mind here too:

• 2 whole chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, split and cleaned up with no fat.
• 2 yellow onions
• 2 green peppers
• bunch of cilantro, trimming off lower half of the stem end, and then cutting the group in half, to reserve the top part for the soup itself
• fresh garlic cloves (Note: I like at least 10 in the soup, and another 6 or so for the chicken.)
• sea salt or kosher salt
• pepper corns
• 2 T oregano
• fresh ripe red tomatoes (Note: I use at least 3 large fresh tomatoes, but more depending on what is in season and looks good. You can make this with only fresh tomatoes, or you can use only canned. This is really a seasonal issue. I prefer Roma tomatoes, but they did not look spectacular at the store this last go around. Instead I used 3 beautiful garden tomatoes with 26 oz of organic strained tomatoes.)
• 26 - 52 oz chopped tomatoes, if needed
• 1-2 yellow, orange or red bell peppers
• 4-8 jalapeños, depending on preferred hotness
• 2 Serrano peppers
• 4 Cups of chicken stock (Note: I prefer Pacific Organic Chicken Broth to all other store bought brands, although I find using the chicken stock from the chicken will work great too.)
• 1 T cornstarch
• 2 limes

The Chicken: To make the most delicious chicken that shreds the moment you touch it and is succulent in this soup…or enchiladas, tacos, etc. you must endure a three hour process. That is the bad news. The good news? This is less than 15 minutes of prep and a 5 minute finish. (Good soup making and laundry go hand-in-hand.) I try and always do four whole breasts, (double the above amount) and freeze the other half at the end, without shredding.

1. Put the chicken in a large soup pot (the same one you will use later) with the lower half of the trimmed cilantro, one roughly chopped onion and one green pepper, smashed garlic cloves, the oregano, some sea salt and a good tablespoon of peppercorns.
2. Add enough water to cover with a half inch of water, and simmer over medium low heat for three hours. Add more water if needed.
3. Take out the chicken, to be shredded for the soup.
4. Strain liquid through a sieve lined with a coffee filter, which will keep out the oregano from the broth.
5. Reserve broth.

The Soup: This recipe started when I made some enchiladas in Chicago with fresh homemade salsa to accompany it. I had the left overs in my kitchen and thought about how much I love Tortilla Soup. In short, you make homemade salsa, but just puree it instead of the rough chop homemade salsa usually requires.

1. Place in two batches the tomatoes, peppers, garlic, onion and cilantro into the bowl of your food processor and puree. (Note: You will need to split the tomatoes over both batches because the water content in them helps keep the food processor working smoothly.)
2. Add to clean soup pot and bring to a boil. Lower heat.
3. Add shredded chicken and broth. Simmer until it turns a deep brownish red.
4. Add cornstarch to 1/4 C cool water, and put slurry into soup.
5. Finish with fresh lime juice and sea salt to taste.
6. Makes 8 servings

You may wonder where the tortillas are. I skip them in order to have the corn muffins below. My favourite store bought brand is FoodShouldTasteGood’s Multi-grain tortilla chip/cracker things. Simply perfect!
Here is the nutritional information, based on the above ingredients put into My Food Diary’s recipe builder:

Corn Muffins

If you love to cook, Heidi Swanson’s amazing site 101 Cookbooks is for you. Everything I try from her recipe trove proves perfect. The pizza dough IS the best, and how I found her site to begin with. I made the Cottage Cheese Muffins, from Rose Elliot, twice now with great success the second go-around by eliminating the salt. (The first batch were too salty given the saltiness of the sun-dried tomatoes.) I use almond flour (Bob’s Red Mill) in lieu of doing my own almonds, which give these muffins a texture not unlike a good corn muffin. Being Southern, I love a good sweet cornbread reminiscent of Jiffy. I thought I could adapt the Cottage Cheese Muffins to be yummy high protein, lower carb versions of my favourite corn muffins. The results were AMAZING!

• 1 C low fat cottage cheese
• 4 whole eggs, or equivalent egg substitute
• 2 T blue agave (in lieu of sugar for those diabetic, like me–can be found at Whole Foods)
• 1 T canola oil
• 1/2 C cornmeal
• 1/4 C soy flour
• 1/4 almond flour
• 1 t sea salt
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper (more if you like)
• 2 ears of fresh corn cut right off the ear and uncooked

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners or spray with oil and dust with flour.
3. Whisk together all of the wet ingredients. (I find the whisking helps the cottage cheese to become incorporated.)
4. Then add the dry ingredients until fully incorporated. (You could stir the dry ingredients first, but I just go for it!)
5. Fold in the corn.
6. Fill cups and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. (I added a tablespoon of lower fat cheddar to the tops for the last half of the baking. Amazing!)
7. Makes 8 servings.

Here is the nutritional info if made with egg substitute: