Saturday , and people seems to be sick

Yesterday was the weekly shop and chop day, made more interesting with time constrictions. Bob had to sing 4 pm mass, meaning he had to leave by 3 pm so all errands had to happen early again. We grabbed some oatmeal fro breakfast, during which Nick announced his throat hurt- never a good sign. I got him to let me look in his throat and his tonsils are swollen. It seems that most years he goes through this at this time of the year, so it meant time to make a batch of sinus herbal soup . Good thing I was heading to the store for supplies!

We finsished shopping and headed home for lunch - ham salad ( run a handful of cooked ham in the food processor to chop fne, do the same with a handful of green onions and 2 stalks of celery, mix in a bowl and moisten with a mix of mayonnaise, plain yogurt and lemony salad dressing) on the multigrain buns with a banana, 5 sugar free cookies that were hiding in the cabinet and refrigerator coleslaw.

Refrigerator cole slaw 2

10 cups chopped cabbage ( green or combo green and red)
2 golden beets- peeled and chopped fine
1 red pepper, chopped

Dressing:
2 c splenda ( can use sugar)
1 t salt
1 c apple cider vinegar
1/8 t white pepper
1 t celery seed

Place all veggies in a container. Place dressing ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.
Pour dressing over veggies. Store in tightly covered container in the refrigerator. Will
keep for several months

Then it was on to chopping and getting some medicinal chicken soup going. For this I took 2 chicken legs and tossed them in a crock pot, added 5 slices of astragalus ( a Chinese herb), a bunch of fresh thyme, a head of garlic( peels and all), the cut off portions from 2 bunches of celery, the tops of about 20 carrots, 2 inches of whole ginger, 4 parsnips, 3 whole onions, 1 bunch of parsley , 2 leeks sliced and a bunch of green onions chopped. Add water to the top , cover and cook on low 12 hrs. In the morning strain out the bits and you are left with incredibly rich, hearty stock to make a variety of soups with that will help deal with colds.

I also made some chop salad for the week's lunch packing. What is a chop salad ? Simply vegetables chopped with a simple vinegar dressing. The vinegar helps to prevent deterioration ( think pickles)

Chop salad

1 c chopped celery
1 c chopped red pepper
1 c sliced green onion bottoms
2 diced tomatoes
2 skinned, seeded and chopped cucumners
chopped parsley
3 T fig infused vinegar
1 T honey
1/2 t salt
dash white pepper

combine and store in covered container

As the afternoon progressed Nick started developing a cough and sneezes, which is usually an indication of a sleepless night for him ( and me). He may be 18, but when he is sick he is still my little boy who comes to tell mom about every weird thing happening with his body and wanting me to fix it. I treat him with herbs and reiki, which he loves the feel of when he is sick. He caught a nap and so did I in preparation for what may well come.


Dinner was a cabinet experiment. I discovered a pack of pesto mix that I found at Aldi's a couple of months back and rationalized that it was basically basil, garlic powder and other things, and it would probably go great on chicken. Hence, pesto chicken was born. I sprinkled the powder on chicken thighs, baked them at 375 for an hour. On the side was Ronzoni pasta with basil and garlic , steamed asparagus and a salad of greens, tomatoes, mushrooms and sunflower seeds. Yummy ! Saturday nights here mean a treat, and we have been picking up single bakery items of everyone's choice( mine has been a brownie). This week, to keep expenses down, I made a batch of black bean brownies from scratch.

Black Bean Brownies 2

½ cup dark cocoa powder
2 t. vanilla
1 t. baking soda
1 can salt-free black beans (drain liquid) -- (15 oz.)
1 large handful sunflower seeds or 1 T. ground flaxseed
1 ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
2 cups pitted dates (chopped)
¾ cup whole wheat flour
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Put the first six ingredients in a food processor. Turn it on and then gradually add the
2 cups of chopped dates, a few at a time until blended. Add the flour and continue to mix
until everything is well blended. Turn off the machine, remove the blade, and stir in the nuts.
Place in muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

This morning Nick is coughing but so far his tonsils have not gotten worse. No fever, no aches, but tired with interrupted sleep. Both he and I were up at least 5 times last night. He made me a card on the sneak, which is always sweet ! He and Bob made breakfast because I was in a dead sleep but thankfully did not try to bring it to me in bed. I HATE eating in bed for the record.But it is always nice when someone cooks for you ! Not sure how the day will go- a sick Nick is a real wild card around here.

My own food revolution- 4 bushels of produce for the week

Yesterday was our weekly Shop and Chop day.We go as a family for a couple of reasons. First, it makes a terrific learning opportunity for my son. He knows how to follow a list, how to identify more kinds of produce than most adults , how to read a nutritional label and is now learning about price per unit and how to make a substitution. Second reason is that in shopping together there are no arguments about where the money goes. Shopping together can be a lot of fun and many hands make quick work. It seems that my son is not the only one learning . We have been watching Jamie Oliver's Food revolution, and my husband thought Jamie was perhaps exaggerating about the sugar content in flavored milk or picking on an isolated brand. He has started reading food labels himself ( house rule is that if it has more than 13 grams of sugar per serving it does not get bought ), and has discovered this problem to be true. He has also discovered this truth about many "lite" yogurts and so forth. He has also become shocked at the sodium levels in things. It's a whole different food revolution going on in this house !

After breakfast we headed out , and did our usual use of the store's boxes instead of bags ( easier for us to get in the car, put on a cart and use to bring out the scraps from chopping) and Bob noticed that we had bought 4 bushels of produce for the week. No more or less than we have bought every week for quite some time. There is rarely anything that gets tossed, and he is beginning to agree that we are becoming rabbits. 6 hours of chopping and cooking later, I had it broke down to ready to go veggies and salads for the week. Here are the salads being offered in MY "school lunch "program.

Quinoa with Orange and Basil serves 8

1 cup dry Quinoa (prepare according to package)
1 Handful chopped fresh Basil + some for garnish
3 Oranges: cut into small pieces with pith and seeds removed
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 cup pecans or sliced almonds
1/2 Lemon or 1 Tbs Lemon juice
juice from 1/2 Orange
1 T Olive Oil
Salt to taste
chopped Green Onion (Scallions)
1 Dash the following spices:
ground Black Pepper
Cinnamon
Tumeric

Prepare quinoa according to package.
Let quinoa cool and toss with all of the above ingredients.

Coconut Fruit Salad

1 cup cantaloupe -- cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup honeydew melon -- cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup pineapple -- cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 cup green grapes -- cut in half
1/2cup red grapes -- cut in half
1 pint organic strawberries -- cut in half or quarters
1/2 pint blueberries -- (1/2 to 1)
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Mix all ingredients together

24 Hour Cole Slaw

2 cups shredded red cabbage
2 cups shredded green cabbage
1 onion, chopped
1 golden beets, shredded
2 carrots, chopped
1 apple, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
3/4 cup water
1 cup cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups splenda
1 teaspoon celery seed
Toss veggies together. Heat , vinegar, water and spices,Bring to boil.
Pour over cabbage - onion mixture. Chill 24 hours.

Broccoli Slaw (because I had several huge broccoli stems )


5 large broccoli stems, peeled and shredded
3 carrots shredded
1/4 c mayonnaise
2 T rice wine vinegar
1 T honey mustard

Combine and refrigerate

After all that chopping , it was time to make dinner. Happily, I took care of that prep while I was doing the other chopping

Chicken and roast vegetable salad

1 zucchini , sliced
1 fennel bulb sliced
1 red pepper cut into strips
1 onion cut into wedges
16 baby bella mushrooms sliced
1/2 lb asparagus sliced
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon dried crushed rosemary
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
9 cups mixed salad greens
dressing of your choice

Preheat oven to 400. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.
Place all veggies but salad greens in a zip lock and toss
with the vinegar, garlic, rosemary and pepper to coat.
Place on cookie sheet and roast for 30 minutes, or till tender.
Meanwhile grill the chicken breasts and season as desired.
Cut chicken breast in strips. Divide salad greens into 3 portions,
top with 1/3 of the roast vegetables and 1 sliced grilled chicken breast.

After dinner we settled in for an evening of Huggermugger . I love playing these kinds of board games with my son especially ! Bob is another word geek and we always have a great time , but with my son it serves to be a better indication of knowledge mastered than a paper test. It always calms any anxieties I have about what he is actually retaining or understanding , and it makes for a lot of family laughs ! All in all it was a very good day !