chicken tortilla soup

I have been making a chicken tortilla soup for a bit instead of chicken noodle soup which I think the majority of my children prefer but I think the tortilla soup is actually a bit healthier and could be made from food storage if you planned well. I haven't tried it with canned chicken yet but I think it would work. Here's my recipe, roughly;

Chicken Tortilla Soup

fry some onion
add garlic about 3-5 cloves
1 large can of chicken broth
1 can of diced tomato (I've used mild rotel but the reg. is to hot for us.)
1-2 cans of rinsed back beans
1 can of corn, drained
can of green chilies, drained
chicken
cumin
tobasco, salt and pepper

Every time I make it we like it. One of the things I do if I'm out of onion is to use half of a large jar of salsa. I've substituted cream corn for whole kernal corn; works fine. If I use salsa I don't put in the can of chilies. I've served it with and without chips; with and without avocado and with and without cheese. It's always good.

exercise

Last Monday, Memorial Day Andrew and I went to the mall to walk. It had only been 4 days since my surgery but I thought I could do it. It was much harder than I thought it would be and I had to rest many times. It took 40 minutes to walk around the mall once. I was convinced I should walk more often but didn't make since Monday. Today Andrew and I went again and I walked twice around the mall in 40 minutes. That's more like it.

new couch

My kids have been wanting to see our new couch. We've had a nice tapestry couch and love seat here; bought when we had a huge living room. I decided several months ago that there was just too much furniture in this room and started looking around for something else. I found this at the local Salvation Army store. It is red orange, not my favorite color but it is comfortable and fits the space well. I'd like to slipcover it but I am not in a hurry. It looks brand new. It has down cushions. It cost $200. The down side is that after it has been sat on the back cushions look awful and have to be beat back into shape. Now I need to find 2 chairs to replace the love seat so we'll have more sitting space without the room being cramped.

new toy

Look what I found surfing the net? A new toy and everyone knows how much I like toys. These cars seem way cool!
Okay, they are cool but I just went to their online store and ... close to $40. each, but they are cool.

It's so sad that my boys are too old for such cool toys; they only want dull boring video games.

new recipes

I've noticed many people posting about their menu for the week but I'm not organized enough for that although I have a vague impression about what I'll be cooking; chicken and fish. That's it.

I've decided on a goal for my boys for the summer; Learn to cook

so I'm coming up with a list of things they might like to cook;
macaroni and cheese even though the adults shouldn't be eating it the boys love it. Andrew did a lot of the recipe we made Monday and then ate for 2 days.
corn bread
muffins We started with mixes but we will soon go scratch.
spaghetti
skillet lasagna
cookies
chocolate applesauce cake This is a family favorite.
german pancakes
pancakes
eggs
bread The boy's already make this every Sunday but during the summer we'll need more!
steak fries Cook's country has a recipe we want to try.
potatoes-many forms
roast chicken
the list goes on and on, I think I'll let them choose 3 items and then have them make it 3 times each and then go on to the next 3.

new challenges

I'm recovering nicely from my surgery. Of course my incisions still hurt but only if I lean on something. I went for a walk Monday and that was harder than I expected but I'm sure that will get better too.

The boys went swimming a week ago and I got a good look at Jeffrey's chest. That was clearly something wrong so we did some google search and found that he has Pectus excavatum, or a sunken chest. I took him to his pediatrician today and he also has some scolioses (curvature of the spine), he will be seeing a specialist next week. Jeffrey says someone at a swim party last October asked him about his chest. I just looked at some old pictures and his chest looked fine 2 years ago but I could find no pictures taken last summer without a shirt...

So, we'll see...

gallbladder

I finally finished the tests and Dr. appointments and am having my gallbladder removed today. It seems strange to learn that we function fine without a body part. I could wait but I can't see waiting until I'm sicker. I can eat without making my stomach hurt but even 1 muffin will cause a couple hours of a stomach ache. I've been very careful since my last bad episode to limit any fatty food so I haven't felt really bad since I ate a piece of delicious wedding cake in UT.
I did a google search for images of gallstones; trust me you don't really want to see the images that came up.

On the happy side there are only 7 more days of school. Jeffrey finished 'his' wildflower project. I enjoyed helping him with it but am glad it gets turned in today. I could have really taken over and did more and more flowers... then arranged them artistically... I suggested that he dry a bunch of red, white, and blue flowers to make a flag for his mother for Mother's Day...didn't happen.
On to his next big project, due Friday. The phases of the moon; where he goes out and draws a picture of the moon every night for 30 days. Has that been happening? No, because he decided he could get the information on line and wouldn't actually have to look at the moon. (He did try for several nights and it was overcast so he couldn't see the moon.) I learned yesterday that the moon sites are not perfectly reliable and a computer picture is NOT OK.

works for me wednesday

I decided to go for another 'Works for me Wednesday' post.
I have a trick that has kept my children doing laundry for ...oh about 20 years. I drop a bit of loose change in the washer occasionally and whoever moves the laundry gets to keep it. I know they have no idea that it is planted. The deal is loose change is keepable but bills are not. If you find paper money you try to find the owner or it goes in the family fun dish.

Another 'works for me Wednesday' is a sandwich I just decided I like that is low fat. Tuna mixed with non-fat cottage cheese, add some celery and pickle if you like and it tastes good and helps me stay on this low-fat diet my gall bladder has put me on.

left-over salmon

For Mother's Day My husband fixed me grilled salmon and asparagus, mushrooms and salad. It was so good but we had leftovers... So today I made a pasta dish with it. So good (and it only gave me a little stomach ache-I should have left out the cream).

Shell macaroni (so much easier to get on your fork than fettuccine.)
fry in a bit of olive oil;
onion
red bell pepper
celery
garlic
mushrooms (Andrew didn't pick his out!)
Add;
a jar of 'dried tomato al fredo sauce'
the bit of leftover cream
some milk to thin it a bit
1 grated zucchini
1/4 cup parsley
and left over salmon

so good but I think I could have added spinach...

(no pictures since I left our camera in Utah :( )

gallbladder

I think I'm on the road to having my gallbladder out. At least that is my diagnosis; I wish the doctors would hurry up and figure it out. First

1. Visited with my primary care doctor
2. Then went for a sonogram
3. Next a visit with a specialist
4. Then a bunch of stool samples were required
   
5. Today I had a CT scan
6. Tomorrow an 'upper GI'

So maybe my diagnosis will be soon. Meanwhile I have a perpetual back ache, made worse when I exercise or sew. And I have to be careful about what I eat. Very few fats; I found that a Tablespoon of ice-cream gives me a stomach ache; I can handle a couple of cookies but no more than 2, one piece of cake is to much but I can handle one bite of cheesecake. I had 2 tiny pork ribs while Liz was here and that wasn't on my diet either. By the time the doctors figure out what is wrong I'll have my 'avoid-gallbladder-pain-diet' figured out. The silver lining to all this is a lost of 10 pounds.

visiting

I've had a busy week. I spent a couple of days reorganizing my live so I could leave for a few days. Exactly 3 days. What a lot of work for so little visiting time. It was great though and I'm glad I went. First I flew to Salt Lake City and rented a car to get me down to my sister's. The last coupple of years we had not managed to meet even though I had been to Utah several times. After a 3 hour drive I reached Annabella... (note to self check out the route with a person, not just google maps...I went the slower way)
I enjoyed our chef salad and visit with her friend. Jim's cows have calves and a house was on fire in their town. It was a derelict and was being burned as an exercise by the fire department; of course the whole town went to watch the fire and we had to take the long way to the cemetery.
The next morning I got up and drove to SLC to meet Liz and Carter and attend Eddie's wedding. The wedding went well and we got to visit with our good friends. The wedding took place in the SLC Temple and then we were invited to the family lunch at The Lion House, then 2 hours later the reception in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
I hesitated to go since as the Mother of the bride 5 years ago I did not feel like I got to visit with Mary much. This wedding was so different than Melissa's; first of all I wasn't in charge and second there were all of Eddie's siblings to visit with. We had a great time and then we got to go visit with Roger's folks for the night and a bit in the morning before we cought our flight to Houston Wednesday morning. Liz and Carter came home with me and we were planning on having a great time but I got sick and am just recovering and she leaves in a day! Oh well it's been nice to hang out at home with her.