The Best Laid Plans..

So much for the great day with my Artist Way peeps. The cat had done his regular barfing during the night AND in the a.m., and I woke up with an upset stomach. Fortunately, mine was just pain which I attribute to too much falafel the previous night. By mid morning I felt ok, and with the increasingly hot weather we were getting, it was a day to work in the garden. Do some planting, come in for some water, do some weeding, come in for some water. Repeat repeat repeat. I used to like gardening as recently as my 40s but then it suddenly became work, not joy. I don't know if I could live in a condo or aparment - easily - but lately it has just been a case of keeping the jungle under control.


I would be happy to grow vegetables but the trees I planted for house shade work all too well, and we have almost no sun in the backyard except for the deck. Yes, containers but they seem to dry up and out when we go on vacations. Are there drought resistant vegetables?

Well, my movie is still to watch, and my right hand has computer mouse finger as well as weed yanking aches in my wrist and shoulder. Sounds like a hot shower, some Aleve and an early night. I bet I don't toss and turn! Not what I planned for the day, but not a bad day in the end.

Souper Saturday

I made this soup last week and it really came out well. (note that I cut back quite a bit on the heavy/rich elements and it was still rich to the tongue tasting)

Thanks to Joe, aka GardenGuru, over at Gardenweb who emailed many of us his huge .doc of various soups. With below freezing temperatures last night, it's soup time for sure. If I have energy, I may make some kind of soup today; otherwise, I'll just thaw a container of sauerkraut soup for my dinner. I suspect it will be the poof-ed way today (pulled out of freezer). But isn't that what freezers are for??

SOUP MEXICAN CHICKEN CORN CHOWDER via Joe aka GardenGuru

Serves: 6-8 (2 quarts)

Ingredients

1- ½ lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
½ cupchopped onion
1 to 2 clovesgarlic, minced
3T butter
2c beschicken bouillon
1cup hot water
1tsp ground cumin
2c half-and-half cream (I used 1c milk and 1c pureed cauliflower)
2c shredded Monterey Jack or Cheddar cheese (I used 4oz Monterey Jack)
1can (16 oz.)cream-style corn
1can (16 oz.)regular corn (I used 2 cups frozen corn)
1can (4 oz.)chopped green chilies, undrained (I used ~1/2c frozen roasted Big Jims peppers)
1tsp+hot pepper sauce
2mediumtomatoes, chopped (I used 1 14.5oz can fire roasted tomatoes)
Fresh cilantro or parsley, optional


Directions

Cut chicken into small, bite-sized pieces.

In a Dutch oven, brown chicken, onion and garlic in butter until chicken is no longer pink.

Dissolve the bouillon in hot water. Add to pan along with cumin; bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add next 5 ingredients. Cook and stir over low heat until cheese is melted. Stir in tomato.

Serve immediately. Garnish with cilantro or parsley if desired