Chicken, Bean and Pasta Soup

I made this for dinner tonight and you are probably thinking......soup and it's pushing the hundred degree mark!  I am a soup lover winter or summer.  This is light and with a simple salad of cucumber, tomato and greens it makes a wonderful light summer dinner.  I hope you will try it, it has a wonderful flavor.

1 whole chicken, boil until tender and save the broth
4 ounces dried medium shell pasta
1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
15 ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup fresh baby arugula
1/2 cup fresh chopped basil
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan cheese
Kalamata Olives (optional)

Remove chicken from the bone when cooled and cut in bite size pieces. 
Use the broth from the chicken you will need at least 4 cups and add the pasta, red pepper flakes and the can to tomatoes to the broth and simmer covered for about 10 minutes until pasta is tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Stir in chicken, cannellini beans and arugula.  Heat through and ladle into soup bowls.  Top with Parmesan cheese and torn basil leaves. You can scatter sliced Kalamata olives over the top for a little briny pop but do it right before serving or it will get too salty.

I didn't have shell pasta so I used small macaroni that I had on hand and I also used baby spinach instead of arugula because I didn't want to go to the store.  This is a quick soup.  After the chicken is cooked it doesn't take anytime to put it all together.

Summer Fun

Who says you can't have fun after sixty?  My uncle stopped by yesterday afternoon and Gary and I were outside doing some things.  My uncle, who loves to have fun, jumped on the titter totter with Gary and we all had a big laugh.  My uncle loved the titter totter and tried to talk me out of it but of course, I'm saving this for Dutch.  The titter totter was a great garage sale find years ago.

Summertime!

It's early, the sun is just starting to come up and it's a beautiful sunrise. It's going to be a great Saturday !  We're already half way thru summer, can you believe it?  Take time to experience summer.  Sit and listen to the crickets and tree frogs and really stop and look at all of your beautiful flowers.  Believe me, I know how hectic life becomes and if we do not intentionally think and stop and look at all the beauty and the wonderful things about this season it will pass us by.  I know it's hot but that's summer get out and enjoy it for a while and sweat a little. Buy a watermelon, pick some sunflowers along a country road, go to your farmers market and smell all that fresh fruit and buy some good vegetables to eat. Lie in a hammock and read a book late this evening. Enjoy a glass of wine and watch the sun set.

I'm speaking to myself as I write this.  So many times this past week, under my breath I've said, it's so darn hot and I hate this humidity."  :(  God brought to my mind the thought, don't forget to enjoy what summer is all about.  I was so glad He reminded me!

Have a wonderful Saturday.......oh, make some home made ice cream!   Yes  :)

xo

Cucumber Yogurt Salad

This is something simple but it taste wonderful.  I was looking for something to go with hamburgers tonight and made this.  It was delicious!

3 cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup plain whole yogurt
2 cloves garlic, minced

Peel cucumber and slice very thinly using the fine blade in your food processor.  Place in a bowl and mix with salt.  Cover and refrigerate for several hours.

Place cucumbers in a colander and drain about 1/2 hour, turning occasionally.  You may wish to pat or squeeze cucumbers in a towel to remove remaining moisture.  Peel and mince garlic and mix with yogurt.  Add cucumber to yogurt mixture and chill well.  Serve with pita bread.

I would like to suggest using Fage yogurt.  It is excellent for this and I also used the mini cucumbers which I think has a lot better flavor.  The skin on these cucumbers are so thin I didn't peel them.  I was in a hurry and didn't have time to do all the above.  I just threw it all in a bowl and mix it well and it was great.  But this would be wonderful in pita bread with some garden cherry tomatoes.

Garlicky Beef and Bean Stir Fry

This is delicious!  Made this for dinner last night and it was a big hit with Gary.  He has a mental block with Asian food and cannot eat it but this one passed the test.  One giant step toward more Asian cooking.  :)

This is easy and economical.

4 tablespoons sugar ( I used honey)
6 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
8 teaspoons minced garlic
4 tablespoons peanut oil, divided
1 (10 ounce) sirloin steak, thinly sliced across the grain
1 lb. fresh green beans
2 red bell peppers, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch strips
2 teaspoons cornstarch
hot cooked rice

Combine first 5 ingredients.  Gradually whisk in 3 tablespoons oil.  Transfer to a large zip lock bag.  Add steak and seal.  Let stand at room temperature 15 minutes. (I let mine marinate for a couple of hours).
Pour steak and marinade into a bowl.  Transfer steak to skillet reserving marinade.  Stir-fry steak with 1 tablespoon of oil over medium high heat 1 1/2 minutes or until browned.  Remove steak and add be green beans and red bell peppers and stir fry until crisp tender 3 -5 minutes.
Whisk cornstarch into reserved marinade and then pour this over the vegetables and add the steak until about 30 seconds until the marinade thickens.  Remove from heat and serve over rice.

This makes about 4 servings.

Star Dutch Schwartz

Our darling little grandson arrived on June 23, 7 lbs. 13 ozs. and 19 1/2 inches long.  Mom and baby are doing great.  I've had the great privilege of taking care of both for the last 3 weeks. So much fun but whew! I'm pretty tired.  Mid way through the stay, as I was getting up in the middle of the night, I said to myself I remembered that this was hard but I forgot how hard.  What gets you is the loss of sleep. 

Let me tell you a little bit about Star Dutch!  His official name is not Star Dutch but that is what he will always be to me.  Star dust has been sprinkled in my eyes and he has totally won my heart.  All objectivity has vanished from my reasoning in regards to this little guy.  LOL, Is that not a typical grandma for you!  He really is a good baby, eats and sleeps a lot, very content and not demanding. He doesn't like to have his diaper changed and he really listens when I talk to him. :)  I had forgotten the pure essence of a newborn.

The day we left the hospital and drove out of the parking lot, this flashed in my mind.  The first time I saw Dutch, he was a speck on the ultra sound monitor and that speck had a heart beat.  My daughter had a huge fibroid in her uterus and she was given some pretty grim predictions regarding her pregnancy and the chance of major hemorrhaging during the C-section.  As I thought of the miracles that had taken place over the months, my heart was filled with much thankfulness and gratitude.

Some one shared this with me and I would like to pass it on to you.  The first organ to develop in a baby is the heart and the heart starts to beat without a brain telling it to. That struck me the first time I saw Dutch.  If you would like to learn more about this check heart science and you will find that the heart has tissue that is similar to the brain.  Ok, the next organ to develop is the tongue.  Is that not the strangest thing.  I would not think the tongue would be next but the Bible says, out of the heart the mouth speaks. Then the ears form and the auditory nerve that is in the ear goes thru every organ of the body as it develops.  So when you are cursed or blessed you fill those words throughout your body.  Isn't that amazing! There is so much to learn!

I am ready to spend some time now with a much neglected grandpa.  He was more than happy to lend me for these 3 weeks as we both enjoyed getting to know this little guy.  Life is back to normal now but the circle of our family has expanded and it has been strengthened with the addition of Dutch to our lives.