Posts made in October 17th, 2011

chicken rice soup

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Posted on Oct 17, 2011 in Food

This soup is boring.

I don’t mean it isn’t tasty—it certainly is—but what I mean is that it’s very normal. So normal, it’s boring. In the most comfortable and cozy way possible. Kinda like how your favorite movie that you’ve seen 100 times is boring. The way a Friday night with pizza and beer is boring. The way your comfiest jammies are boring. Comfort food boring.

I like boring.

I’ve been eating this soup since I was a wee Cass. I’ve been making it since I was a slightly-less wee Cass. This was definitely a standard in my house growing up. Whenever we had a roasted chicken or turkey, we knew the next day was going to be chicken (or turkey) rice soup. I can guarantee that making this soup with my Mama was where I learned the joy and simplicity of a mirepoix. The combo of onions, celery and carrots sautéed a little bit of fat (in this case, olive oil) is just pure magic. You pretty much can’t go wrong when you start a soup with such great aromatics.

If you are low on cooked chicken, you can buy one of those rotisserie chickens from the store and use that meat. No one will ever know, I promise.

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Chicken Rice Soup

This is a great day-after-Thanksgiving dish that’ll feed a crowd. Double or triple it and you’ll have enough to feed a pretty large family.

Serves 8

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 3 large stalks celery, diced
  • 3 large carrots, sliced into thin coins
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 3 cups shredded chicken
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon dried sage
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 8 cups chicken broth
  • 1 cup brown rice

Directions:

  1. In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add in onion, celery, carrots and garlic and cook until softened, about 8 minutes.
  2. Add in mushroom, salt and pepper and cook until mushrooms have released some of their liquid, about 3 minutes.
  3. Add in chicken, bay, sage, rosemary, oregano and broth.
  4. Bring to a boil, add in rice, reduce heat and simmer for 45-50 minutes or until rice is cooked and veggies are soft.
  5. Remove bay leaves before serving.

What’s your favorite “boring” comfort food?

 

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monday motivation + weekly goals

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Posted on Oct 17, 2011 in Motivation

Monday Motivation

“I’m only one person.”
“I can’t make a difference.”
“I don’t matter.”

It can be really easy to fall into the mind trap of thinking that you and your causes are insignificant. It can be daunting to be one person that stands up against big enemy. But it all has to start somewhere. Why not be the start of something new? Some change. Something better. What can you do this week to take the first steps to be the change you wish to see in the world?

Want to take this little piece of motivation home with you? As always, you can purchase this print over at my Etsy store to hang on your wall. Want to check out all my motivational quotes for sale? Head on over to check out this print and loads of others. All are available with custom colors and sizing.

Weekly Goals

Keep on keepin’ on. I kicked some serious health, fitness and stress ass this week while on vacation. But today, the real challenge starts. I’m back to the 9-to-5 (or actually, 7:30-to-3:30) and I want to take the good momentum I had from vacation into the workweek. This means: packing my lunch before bed every night, plan for workouts the day before, and water, water, water! 
Walk Puppyface four times. You’ve seen this goal before (don’t worry, she gets plenty of exercise at doggie daycare), but it tends to fall off my radar when I get busy. The weather has been great lately. Puppyface loves it and so do I. Plus, it is incredibly good for my mental faculties. I think a walk is the end-all-be-all cure for writer’s block.
No snooze button. I’m not snooze button abuser, but I do tend to press it once or twice on most mornings. I never get any good sleep after the alarm goes off and resetting my alarm just resets me to start my goals for the day even later. I should be getting enough sleep (other part of this goal: go to bed early) that I can bound out of bed with no issues. It’s mostly just laziness. So this week: no snooze button.

What are your goals for this week?

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