When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Wear Lingerie..And Make Soup!

When last I checked in, I had had dental implant surgery and two bone grafts, otherwise known as a "sinus lift." If there was any part of my body I wish could get "lifted" believe me, my sinuses would not be in the top ten... or even the bottom ten. However, this is the hand I was dealt and I'm playin' it.
   Last week I was flying high on the meds and still having a lot of pain. I was also not eating very much, though I was pretty good at watching other eat... mostly food that I'd cooked ahead of time.
  Thursday I went to the Maxiliofacial surgeon for a check up and evidently it shouldn't have been hurting the way it was. The antibiotic I'd been given post op wasn't doing the trick and I'd gotten myself an infection. Being the eternal stoic and having had 12 years of convent school, I had just figured it was my lot. The doctor prescribed the big guns... Cipro, and told me I was malnourished, dehydrated and that was the reason I was so lethargic. He told Alan to get some food in me STAT and recommended he buy some Ensure. I don't know if any of you have ever had Ensure before... but let me tell you, one bottle and I was eating. Anything to not have any more Ensure.
  So 48 hours later I believe I'm on the mend. I'm still on painkillers but much less, and less often. I'm also wearing lingerie.
   I know most women have silky lounging pajamas, exotic nighties etc. but that stuff at least in my book, is just "for good" whatever the hell that means. Somehow, no event ever seems good enough. Because if it's really good... I mean what do you need all the fancy stuff for??? And the way I looked at it, if I was gonna start drinking Ensure, I figured I'd better start wearing that lingerie... or else. Like yesterday.
   So I rummaged around in my closet and brought out the Victorian Irish linen nightgown with the antique lace trim, the sexy little rose embroidered number, and my emerald green, real silk, lounging pajamas. The ones that make me look like I just escaped from The Thin Man..or maybe just the Thin Man, who knows. I'm working my inner Nora Charles, and I'm makin' soup baby... I'm Makin' Soup!

"Is that A Loaf of Natures' Pride or Are You Just Glad To See Me?!"

    I started thinking, in my weakened state about just what I wanted to eat in soupy form. Peanut butter was at the top of the list... along with bacon.  What soup recipe did I have in my files that fitted the bill?  The perfect comfort sip for cravers of the pig and the peanut??? African Curried Peanut Soup!!!

   Now unfortunately the making of this soup cannot be shown as it's not pretty... or rather I'm not pretty making it. So I will spare you the graphic details and show you what was going on while I was soup making. Alan took Patsy to the park... enjoy the bucolic beauty of romping and
running and socializing with friends both doggy and human. She had a great old time. Meanwhile
I got my act together. This is a very simple and fast making soup. If you've got  3 carrots and
2 strips of bacon, an onion, arborio rice, chicken broth and some peanut butter in the house, you can make this soup. Fast. Here's what to do.

   Chop 2 strips of bacon or pancetta.
  Put them in a hot pot so that they sizzle and act as the fat for this soup.
 When the bacon is frizzing, toss in 1 onion cut in half and then thinly sliced.
  Cook until the onion is translucent. 

 Meanwhile peel and slice three medium sized carrots.
 When the onion is cooked, add
the carrots and 3 Tbs of regular old  curry powder. This is probably the only recipe I have that calls for regular curry powder, but since a lot of people have it in the house, use it. Don't get fancy. It works perfectly. Stir it all around than add in:
4 cups of chicken broth and 1/3 cup of arborio rice. Now why the Arborio

rice? Well I can't have dairy while I'm taking this medicine, but a lot of people can't digest it anyway, and that's another thing that makes this a great recipe. The secret of adding arborio rice to any soup recipe is that after cooking, the soup is pureed in a processor or with an immersion blender... or as we've called it in our house the rrrrrrrrrerrrrr stick, and the rice causes the soup to taste rich and creamy without a drop of rich, or creamy! Genius, no?
    So the carrots and rice are now in the soup. Bring it all to a boil and then lower the heat a bit and keep it on a bubbly simmer for about 20 to 30  minutes. When everything is nice and tender, add salt to taste, 1 and 1/2 tsp of sugar,  and 1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter.
  Puree it all together until you get a nice smooth peanutty soup.
    Now this soup can be made easily without the bacon. Making it a perfect vegan dish. I just added it because I had bacon and was ordered to EAT! How often can we take advantage of those kinds of orders??! Now really!

 
   You can decorate your soup with a bit of crema, or creme fraiche, sour cream or yogurt. Of course mine had none...because of meds.... Ahem.
 MMMMMM..comforting peanut butter, curry, healthy carrots, rice and baaaaaaaacon! Yum! With a nice toasty slice of Natures' Pride 100% Whole Wheat Bread. What's not to like?

I slip into my silk lounging pajamas and sit back in order to watch something intellectual like Paranormal State or...something.

  Meanwhile...to all my blogger friends like Salty Seattle and La Fuji Mama and Bell'alimento who are somewhere out in Pom Wonderful Wonderland aka, Fresno. Have fun ladies! I got so jealous, I had to clean myself up! So there.

A Fast, Cooling Soup For A Spring/Summer Starter.

Many, many, many years ago grasshoppers,  when I was young and impressionable, I bought a set of Real Deal Cordon Bleu Dinnerware. The big sized bistro stuff. This was back in the day when it was still made in France. It was also back in the day when I thought I'd never be cooking for more than 6 people. This made the dinnerware highly impractical for dinner parties at our house where I've usually got anywhere from 8 to 12.  I bought this back in the day when I only had 4 dinning room chairs, back in the day when the antique pub table we use for our work desk was our dining room table, back in the day before I thought and cooked BIG.  This stuff is OLD!.  It has also just been sitting there and last year I almost gave it away, but couldn't. It was Alan and my first dishes. I got all sentimental and I'm glad I did.
  The other night we had a small dinner party. Only 5 people and I thought why not use the blue and white dishes? As I started planning this non-Indian dinner it started to get complicated. I'm used to dishing up Indian feasts and there I know what goes with what and how to serve it. A regular Tuscan style meal I have to sit down and think about. I wanted to do something special and different and seasonal. I knew I'd be roasting a chicken, but what to put with it?? My first thought was salad, and then I thought, no.
Don't get me wrong, I love salad. A day does not go by that I don't eat my green and leafys, but sometimes enough is enough. I'm talking about a dinner party where it seems that salad is de regueur, doncha' know. For me, it can get boring.
  For my Tuscan dinner the other night, I decided that I wanted to try a first course of soup. A light chilled soup since we'd been having warm days. Just a small cup of soup served in a little espresso cup. I was thinking of  set of little blue and white espresso cups that perfectly matched my old Cordon-Bleu dinnerware. Something to sip that wouldn't kill the appetite for what was to come. I have to confess here that I had been really, really, really impressed with the small amuse-bouche served to us at Sante Restaurant. Why couldn't I try this at home I thought. So I did.
  I decided that a fresh tasting watercress soup would do the trick. This is a soup that I've been making for years. I was first was turned onto the recipe by the book  Saved By Soup. If ever a book lived up to it's title, this would be the one. Anytime anyone asks me about good healthy soup recipes I always recommend this book. Over the last 10 years, I've made and fiddled with most of the recipes in it. It is a real winner.
  Watercress soup is light and low fat, in fact the calorie count in this book comes out to about 67 calories a cup. Can't beat that. Here's my adaptation of this recipe.
In a heavy pot add:
 2 bunches of watercress. Take off the stems and roots.
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 large Yukon Gold potato peeled and diced.
1 finely chopped shallot
 2 cups of water
  Bring everything to a boil, then partially cover the pot and turn down the heat to medium low. Let it simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.
When everything has softened, either put it into a blender or food processor or use an immersion blender (that's what I do) and puree everything to a nice smooth soup.
 Season to taste with salt and pepper. Let the soup come to room temperature than pop it in the fridge to chill.
 Just before you serve, stir in 2 cups of buttermilk and enjoy. This recipe easily serves 8 to 10 in tiny little cups. The great thing about this way of serving soup is that it can be made ahead of time. Just don't add in the buttermilk until the last minute.

I can't tell you how much fun this was to serve.  People were expecting salad and they got...soup.
  It also gave me a good excuse to use some of my cute little espresso cups for something else besides coffee.