Pat's Breast Cancer Journey

Something that is now a fav….

1 can of artichoke hearts

1 cup cut up marinated cherry peppers (fairly mild)

2 cups of french bread torn into 1 inch pieces

olive oil

2 sliced garlic cloves

put a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat.  Add the bread and toast.  Set aside

in another tbsp or so of oil  brown garlic then add artichoke hearts (quartered works well) and saute until brown

Add peppers and heat them through  –mix in the bread

Serve as a side dish. Yummy

S& P to taste

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Ok, left overs galore!

Throw one cup of brown rice, 1/4 cup salsa (I like mango, kinda spicy) , 1/4 cup quinoa, 1 cup broth (I used chicken) 1 and 1/2 cup water in the rice cooker with a tblsp of olive oil.  Steam until done. Add one can black beans  and heat through.  Cut up any left over chicken you have (I had four thighs).  In pita bread put a spoon full of the rice mixture, chicken, sprinkle with any cheese you like and add some cucumber.  Yum!  I used left over cucumber, tomato and basil salad (olive oil and vinegar)  that had marinated all night.  Wowzers.

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Friday tired:  We had chicken last night and had the two breast pieces left over for tonight.

From the garden:  one good sized zuchini sliced,  one chopped tomato, fresh basil cut small with sissors, diced red bell pepper.  From the store, broccoli cut into small pieces, green onions, sliced baby bella mushrooms, chopped garlic, half cup of white wine, cup of vegetable broth, small whole grain macaroni.  Saute the mushrooms in olive oil with garlic, onions, some red pepper flakes, and wine until the mushrooms are cooked to your liking.  Add in all the veggies starting with the broccoli to give it a 3 minute head start on everything else.  Hold the tomato until the end (I hate mushy tomatoes).  Add the broth toward the end, too.  Cook the veggies until they are done but not mush!!!  Zuchini should be firm and broccoli still pretty bright-green.  Mix the hot cooked macaroni into the veggie/broth mixture.  I took the chicken breast and sliced it and put the slices (still in the shape of the breast) on a small plate in the microwave for 40 seconds.  Then I slid it on top of a bowl of the macaroni and veggies mix, drizzled some of the broth over the top of the chicken, topped with a small amount of grated cheese and served it.  I didn’t want any chicken and the mac/veg combo worked all on it’s own.

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Last week the chicken I took out of the freezer wasn’t thawed by dinner time.  Keith said, “What, no plan B?”

Plan B:  Salad for Keith and Greens and Polenta for me!

Salad:

Items from the garden:  Arugula, Basil, Tomatoes, Cucumber and Lettuce.   Add chopped walnuts and chopped red onion, some oil and vinegar dressing and YUM. (For Keith some left over spaghetti worked well with this)

My meal:

From the Garden:  Swiss Chard, Beet Greens, Spinach, Basil.  All cut into strips.  Saute one chopped clove of garlic and one small chopped scallion in olive oil.  When the garlic starts to brown, add the greens and saute until they are tender, add one tablespoon of balsamic vinegar.  Add one skinned and chopped tomato and keep cooking until the tomato is heated through.  Pour mixture over cooked polenta and top with parmisian cheese.  In case you forgot, polenta is cooked by stirring into boiling salted water, with a tablespoon of olive oil,  until it is dissolved (I am sure there is another name for that, it’s not really dissolved, but the water is not floating on top)  the polenta is always cooked 4 to 1  cups of water to polenta.  You have to stir a long time before you can lower the heat to very low, cover and cook.  The stirring takes about 10 minutes and the rest of the cooking, another 10 or so.

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Monday morning:  No oatmeal today!  I’ll have some granola for a snack later…

For Keith,Ian and me today’s brunch served out on the porch:

Veggies from the Garden

Frittata from the oven

Frittata:  From the garden, zuchinni sliced thin and chopped spinach, beet greens, scallions, yellow pepper, parsley with a small amount of fresh basil.  Beat eggs and a little milk, half a cup of cheese, add some red pepper flakes and 1/2 tsp. nutmeg.  Saute veggies in olive oil until they start to soften, pour beaten egg mixture evenly over the hot veggies (Don’t stir!) and put the whole pan into a preheated oven, for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  Top with two slices of crumbled crispy bacon and serve with salsa.  We had cantaloupe, too!

So, I had two eggs yesterday and about two today.  That’s enough for two weeks for me!  I used a really small amount of cheese and low fat milk instead of cream or whole milk.  I won’t have cheese for the next few days either. That small amount of bacon doesn’t add too much except flavor.   It was good and fun.