Chicken Noodle Soup

Yum! Whats better then some chicken noodle sou?. So, I actually thought it was Thursday and so began to build up tons of soup making aggression. I cut the vegetables, boiled the chicken, served the soup, drank the soup, and now I am sitting here realizing it is actually WEDNESDAY. Oh well, today is this weeks soup discovery.

I've never made chicken noodle soup from scratch, and so I really wanted to today. Although I didn't slave hours over making broth (I used organic chicken broth from the store), it turned out pretty darn good. There was celery, carrots, onions, garlic, corn, boiled chicken, noodles, and lots of black pepper. Teenage friendly in terms of taste yes, however its a tad tedious in preparation. Lots of waiting time, for boiling, and precooking steps. And no one like waiting, especially teenagers!


I think Ill go have another serving.

Velvet Raspberry

I haven't really examined any teenage friendly desserts. And so it hit me. Nothing is more tasty than raspberry sherbet (in terms of desserts, that is). Its almost, an all ages friendly treat. For ice-cream lovers that go for the sweet, raspberry sherbet is comparatively tart. Apart from that comparison, sherbet gets a thumbs up everywhere else. It has an irresistible velvety texture, its dense, creamy, and to top it off theres only a single gram of fat for every half cup serving. Plus, if you're the super healthy type whirling it in the blender with fresh raspberry's, strawberry's, and bananas and sticking it back in the freezer adds a lovely serving of fruit fibre in your diet.

I also saw my first ladybug of the year!

Discoveries....noodles, cheese and sandwich's!

One of my best memories has to be eating instant noodles everyday after school in grade seven. Ever since I found out they were deep fried, instant noodles were refused entry in to my special pantry. However, I had an urge. So I decided I would make some Chow Mein Instant, and eat half the pack. And they were so terribly delicious, they were boiled till tender, the seasonings were a little spicy and a little nutty, and the noodles didn't stick to the pot. Its officially on my to-do list to attempt to create a 'healthy' instant noodle dish. Right now, I figure eating them with spinach and cottage cheese balances it out.

In other news, this last Friday, my brother calls me and asks if I wanted any cheese left over from a potluck he was at. So he started to list them, and from what I heard over the phone, he said 'sharp cheddar'. And I love sharp cheddar! So I said yes, and then I find out its actually smoked cheddar. Needless to say it was better than sharp cheddar. Smoked cheddar, is softer (only aged 60 days, sharp cheddar is aged 9 months), nuttier, and lighter. I was addicted all through out the week.


In daily huntings, today I had a simple lunch: a sandwich with Indian cheese (paneer) tomatoes, and ginger. Really good. But not something I'd eat every day!

Eatting Out Is Grand

I have openly confessed my obsession with eating out. So, eating out on a Friday night is generally an excellent way to celebrate the beginning of a weekend. (Of course, they have to be followed by a lovely concert band performance.)

It was Vietnamese, again, I had the same meal from take out, again, and I really enjoyed the atmosphere. My family, most of the time, picks food up or has it delivered so I've never really had the chance to sit and eat at the restaurant (Hao's Garden). Quiet, not too many people, and for the most part, the person serving us wasn't frustrated with our "teenage ways"(actually our "fr-geekish ways").
The food was fantastic, at least my dish. My three BUDDAYS (respectively), had shrimp soup (thumbs up from her), vegetable stir fry (i think a thumbs up from her), and lemon chicken (an obvious thumbs up from her). They're not picky eaters, and are generally happy to try the oddest foods. So thats a plus.



Todays meal adventure landed on a basic all time favorite: spaghetti and meatballs. Chicken balls to be accurate. A little too starchy in my opinion. A salad, and iced tea would make it a better meal. There is generally no auguring the popularity of spaghetti. Since it is an all time favorite its on my hit list to make nutritious, while keeping that delicious flavor.

-pow

Fresh Corn Chowder

Okay, making soup from scratch had been one of my biggest nightmares. And now, its not!! Soups from scratch are considerably tastier, healthier, and lovelier than the nasty canned stuff. I made corn chowder: milk, red peppers, potato, canned corn, onions, butter, salt, and pepper. Thats it. It takes a while, but its easy and cooks in one pot. I used low sodium canned corn, and cut down the butter and replaced most of it with olive oil. In my opinion a perfect teenage meal.

I had half a slice of whole grain bread, cottage cheese, and tons of spinach. One of the best meals I've ever had. In fact, because making soups from scratch is soo much fun, Thursdays are officially soup testing days.

-Pow

Vietnamese Take Out

I love eating out. If I could I would almost do it everyday, however, its hard to find a fabulously, healthy, and fresh meal. Plus I am slightly paranoid regarding hygiene in commercial kitchens. In amongst my searches, I'd like to visit some local restaurants and rate the meals appeal, nutritious value, and maybe the environment. What I find most of the time is that restaurants portions are outrageously large, and you end up eating far more than you would normally. I think I'll including portion rating when I try some meals out!
Todays hunt, starts and stops at my lunch. Which was Vietnamese take-out, if my family eats out we always go for Vietnamese. I think its terribly tasty, and its a fine meal for the occasional treat. This one in particular was fairly light, rice noodles, with a layer of lettuce and cucumber at the bottom, mixed with pockets of chopped peanuts and carrots. Topped off with two spring rolls, and I added some ginger chicken to make it a 'meal'. I do admit that I was hungry by three. So not the hottest meal to keep you filled-up, the nutrient value of the meal would rise incredibly with sir fried vegetables, and slacking down on some of the oil would be a good idea.
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P.s. Brennan, I would love to test out your salmon dill recipe (I am obsessed with dill...)

Meals on a Battlefield.

The sun was out all day today. It was quite lovely!

In my food huntings I have embarked upon an amazing food item. Fake chicken. Yes, the first picture (hidden underneath foil) is actually not real chicken its fake. Soy chicken, it is a fairly new item on the market and tastes exactly like the real thing, dare I say: better. Its great for the new teenage vegetarian who's still craving animal flesh, as a bonus it cooks in the microwave under four minutes i. I personally like to grill mine, and today I stuck it in a whole wheat chapati, with onions and had it with some horseradish sauce.

I also tested out some yogurt today that I've never had before, vanilla yogurt (I am the fruity yogurt type). And I must say I was pleasantly surprised, vanilla yogurt chilled tastes exactly like melted vanilla ice cream. I found a winner.


In other food hunting, I made pizza today. Store-bought dough, store bought tomato sauce, and cheese (cheddar and Parmesan). On the side I tossed together a taco salad with salsa ranch dressing (1 tbsp. for every 1 1/2 tbsp. of ranch), crushed taco pieces, cheddar cheese, oh ya and vegetables! Radish, lettuce, carrots, and cabbage.

Since my meal was lacking in cooked vegetables I sauteed some mushrooms (one of the few vegetable sources of Vitamin D) with butter, dill, salt and pepper. I am kind of obsessed with cooked mushrooms, so if I have any excuse I'll make them. Funny story actually, I never really liked raw mushrooms but I'd eat them any way. Then one day this January, I was making some vegetable pot pie for my English and History class, I had tons of extra mushrooms left over that my mother cooked up and served me for dinner, I since have fallen madly in love.

My pizza looked super duper anemic so I placed a cup full of spinach on top of the hot hot pizza to wilt--> yummy. I learned this trick from a book I read by Jodi Lipper and Cerina Vincent, called How to Eat Like a Hot Chick (I know risqué title), and I recommend the 'trick'! You can toss fresh spinach in soups, in pastas, over rice, basically any hot dish you can think up.

Now, if i put both the meals I prepared, tested, and digested today on a battle field the soy chicken wrap would win. It was much more nutritious, didn't have tons of ugly cheese fat involved (instead the chapati was cooked with good unsaturated oil) , and was easy and quick. Plus it tasted just as grand as the second one.

-Pow