I've made many, many, many kinds of chicken soup over the years, but this is my current no-recipe favorite, for its sheer versatility. Leftover cooked chicken? toss it in! homemade broth? great! store bought? also great! 

As the name implies, this is a meal I make quite often around grocery day, as it's great for clearing out that last little bit of broccoli from the back of the fridge. After you find your base ingredients, you can also play around with seasonings and etc--pop in a bit of cheese rind, or some chili garlic sauce, or a tablespoon of pesto.

My basic formula is:
- broth (probably chicken, but you could certainly use what you have on hand instead)
- some kind of starch
- vegetables
- something rich
- an acid
- herbs
- meat, optionally
- seasonings

Quite often I'll roast a chicken and make stock from the carcass and then use the stock + leftover chicken to make this kind of soup, but I've also used frozen chicken strips, raw chicken (sliced thin and cooked a bit longer), and no meat at all.

Starches can be rice noodles, pasta, rice, potatoes, etc--or you could leave this out for a lighter soup.

Vegetables are truly whatever you like to eat and want to use up, fresh, frozen, or pre-cooked. Cooked vegetables will break down quite a bit unless you add them right at the end, but you could of course go the blended soup route and have a perfectly lovely veloute. 

While not strictly required, I do often add a cheese rind, a bit of Parmesan, or a little dairy to give the soup a richness. And I love to add a squeeze of lemon, lime, or vinegar--but do be careful if also adding dairy or it may curdle! 

Tonight, the soup is very vaguely Italian, with a bit of cheese, a ton of parsley, some leftover cooked chicken breasts, and most of a Napa cabbage. I squeezed a little lemon in and added a clove of garlic as I took it off the heat. 

I almost always end up serving this soup with some hot, buttered toast, because it fills out the meal a bit and is just very satisfying. 

If you use this, I'd love to hear what you end up making!

I made a really delicious roast pork awhile ago--seriously, it may have been the best pork I've ever eaten. I got some weird cut I'd never heard of and couldn't find in any of my cookbooks, but I think this would be good with any cut meant for roasting.

I combined {this recipe} and {this recipe}. So I combined:
1 t thyme
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 clove crushed garlic
1/4 t rosemary

Rub this mixture over the pork. Then put the pork in a baking dish. Cut up about 1/2 a medium apple and spread over the pork and the bottom of the dish. Preheat the oven to 325 and put the pork in, uncovered. It will cook slowly for about 3 hours. Baste regularly.

Make the glaze:
1/4 c sugar
1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/8 c vinegar
1/8 c water
1 Tbsp soy sauce
ginger

Combine these in a saucepan and heat until slightly thick. Brush over pork several times during the last 1/2 hour or so of cooking.

I added some potatoes, carrots, and onions in the last hour or so--they needed a bit more time or something, but the pork itself was delicious!

Next week I'm planning to post my dinner arrangements so this is by way of testing the system.

My roommate has an evening class so I thought it would be nice to have dinner made for her (she's a vegetarian). We had about half a head of broccoli and an ear of corn that really needed to get used up so I made a vegetable pasta dish.

I cut up broccoli and carrots and sliced the kernels off of the ear of corn. I put them in the pot and left them there while I got everything else ready.

I started the pasta (the spiral-y kind, but it could be anything) and turned it down to low after the water boiled.

In a frying pan I heated 1 T olive oil and about 1 T butter. I chopped up a small clove of garlic and added it. When they were bubbling I whisked in 2 T whole wheat flour. I stirred it until it was nice and bubbly. Then I stirred in about 1 c milk. When it had thickened a bit I also added 1 T lemon juice and 1-2 t soy sauce. I stirred those in well and then turned it off.

While it was turned off I started the vegetables steaming and chopped up another clove of garlic, 1/4 an onion, about 1/4 t fresh ginger, and a few mushrooms. Then I added 1/8 t nutmeg, 1/8 t chili powder, 1/4 t pepper, and 1/2 t ground ginger to the sauce. I turned it back on, whisked it a bit more, and added the onion, mushrooms, garlic, and ginger. I cooked these for a bit and added 2 t heavy cream (we just happened to have some--this part really isn't necessary). I let the onion and mushroom cook a bit while I drained the vegetables. I used some of the broth to thin the sauce down reasonably. When the onion and mushrooms were cooked enough, I added the pasta and vegetables and stirred it all up. I put a bit of Parmesan cheese on top of mine.

Would I make it again? Yes, definitely. It ended up being nice and flavorful with a very slightly spicy aftertaste. I added a little more lemon juice and soy sauce. But overall this was a fairly quick and yummy dinner.

Ingredients:
broccoli
carrots
corn
onion
mushrooms
garlic
fresh ginger (about 1/4 t)
1 T olive oil
1 T butter
2 T flour
1 c milk
1 T lemon juice (to taste)
1-2 t soy sauce (to taste)
1/8 t nutmeg
1/8 t chili powder
1/4 t pepper
1/2 t ground ginger
broth of some sort
2 t heavy cream (optional)
pasta

So I just made shortbread. It's ridiculously simple and the only expensive part is the butter. Which is better for you anyway, but I understand if you're like, I'm not going to blow a pound of butter on one thing!

But it's so gooooooood.

Anyway, the recipe:

1 lb butter (REAL BUTTER NOT MARGARINE)
4 c flour
1 c sugar

Cream the butter and sugar together by hand. I recommend doing this literally by hand as it's much simpler. Especially if you forgot to soften your butter.

Mix in flour 1/2 c at a time. At a certain point, you won't be able to use your spoon/fork anymore and you'll want to go back to the hand mixing. If you're me, you might never have left. Anyway, when the dough leaves the sides of the bowl, you're good.

Press in a pan. Score the top lightly and prick the squares with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Turn off oven and leave sitting in for 10 more minutes. Cut while still warm and soft. That's it. Seriously.

If you feel like splurging on the butter, you can't go wrong with shortbread.


In other news, I have ordered Twilight from the library. I want to see what all the fuss is about. Although I suspect it'll be one of those things where I go, "WHY am I doing this to myself? Why am I still reading this?" And then keep reading.

In still other news, we have had some seriously gorgeous weather the past few days. Which is good because, make no mistake my friends, the rain, it is coming. I enjoy the rain for the first month. Although I left my umbrella at home, so we'll see how much I actually enjoy it this year.