Catching My Breath - Creamy Potato Spinach Soup

Earworm Alert:

I don't wanna be left behind
Distance was a friend of mine
Catching breath in a web of lies
I've spent most of my life
Riding waves, playing acrobat
Shadowboxing the other half
Learning how to react
I've spent most of my time

Catching my breath, letting it go
Turning my cheek for the sake of this show
Now that you know, this is my life
I won't be told what's supposed to be right

Catch my breath, no one can hold me back, I ain't got time for that
Catch my breath, won't let them get me down, it's all so so simple now

I love Kelly Clarkson, but enough is enough. (Cuing Mother Superior Helen Gaius Mohiam's voice):    Get out of my mind! Yeah, that worked.

I always look forward to the end of Daylight Savings Time, because I get an extra hour of sleep. Except this year. This morning, at 4:30 AM (officially 3:30 AM), I headed downstairs with Chelsea and gave her a luxurious, much-needed bath. Since  I was now wide awake (Chelsea napped in her bath) I made my coffee and started to prepare this luxurious, much-needed soup. My other cooking plans got put on hold so I could start planting the brassicas.  Which was a REALLY stupid idea, because I overdid yesterday and now I was about to overdo today. Am I in denial regarding the fibromyalgia?  Mmm, I would have to say "yes." So despite my achy muscles and headache, I plunged right back into the garden taking on a major planting project.  All those brassicas and lettuces, nine seedlings to a pot and I don't remember how many pots but it was a lot.  So I only got through half of them before I had to cry "uncle", wave the white flag, and come out with my hands up.

Anyway, I didn't get my extra hour of sleep, and I'll still have to give it back come spring. That's the part that really sucks. The part that doesn't suck is that we bought a new car for Robert. Unexpected, especially the deal that allowed us to swap the 2013 for the 2015, virtually even Steven. For the first time in I don't know how many years, there is nary a red car in the Rothfeld family.

And I baked some blueberry muffins, but that's tomorrow's story. I also hurt like hell, but that's everyday's story.

I have been deliberately ignoring the news.  It's all bad, and bad news can be overwhelming when I feel like this. The only presidential candidate I can even bear to think about right now is Dr. Ben Carson. He is so soothing to listen to, even when he says something which causes liberals to go running for their blood pressure medication. Fortunately, I have low blood pressure.

Let's talk about soup. If you follow this blog, you know how I get about soup; I probably spend more time working on soup recipes than I do with okra. There's a reason for that, beyond my simple love of soup: I can usually get soup down my aging gullet, and more importantly, keep it down.  I try to stick to textures that won't cause problems, and I have found a delicious keeper with this Creamy Potato Spinach Soup. Unlike a baked potato soup, this is not overly thick or rich. The creaminess comes mostly from the potatoes, which are whirled smooth with an immersion blender before the spinach is added. I did use a small amount of heavy cream, but if you want to leave it out, no harm no foul.

Creamy Potato Spinach Soup

6 slices regular bacon, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
2 leeks, white and light green parts sliced thin
1 large clove of garlic, sliced thin
6 baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
8 cups of water
4 Knorr chicken bouillon cubes, broken up
2 bay leaves
1 rounded teaspoon dried thyme
3/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1-10 oz. box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted, all liquid squeezed out
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
kosher salt, white pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a large pot, cook the bacon until well-rendered and as crisp as you like.  With a slotted spoon remove the bacon to paper towel to drain. Pour off all but 3 tablespoons of the bacon fat, and add the butter to melt.  Cook the leeks and garlic in the pot until the leeks are soft and beginning to caramelize.

Add the potatoes, water, bouillon cubes, bay leaves and thyme. Season with salt and white pepper, and bring to a boil.  Cover, lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and cook another 10 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaves. With an immersion blender, puree the potatoes until smooth. Add the Worcestershire, the spinach, the cream, and the nutmeg, and bring up the heat to just under boiling.  Add the cheese and stir until melted. Serve garnished with the cooked bacon, or not. Au naturel for me, thank you.

Gorgeous soup. Enjoy.

Saturday, as usual - Ribs and Muffins

Crockpot Barbecue Pork Ribs

Carrot Muffins

Oops, I owe you a couple of recipes.

But first, today was a shopping day, as usual for a Saturday. Lowe's for garden stuff. BJ's and Publix for food and other stuff. Hundreds of dollars of stuff. Stuff to stuff into the car and then take out of the car to bring into the house and to stuff behind other stuff.  Saturday, as usual.

That would have been fine, more than enough in fact, but noooooo, I had to go outside and start messing with the garden. Did more than I should have. I'll kvetch about that tomorrow.

Here are the recipes; both of them very easy.  The recipe for Spiced Carrot Muffins is from Williams-Sonoma. These are good, but not spiced in any sense of the word.  If you like more spice add cinnamon. Rob actually like them the way they were, and so did I. We report, you decide.

Don't be freaked out by the dark green shreds - those are from the deep purple carrot I shredded along with the orange ones.

The Crockpot Barbecue Ribs is a favorite recipe of mine.  The ribs come out so tender and flavorful, you may never use the oven again. The recipe works perfectly in a 6 quart oval crockpot, cooking two racks of ribs.

This time, I tried cooking four racks of ribs in my new 8 quart crockpot.  I also used a different spice blend, as I favor my mild Jamaican Jerk Rub.  These ribs also cooked beautifully, however, if you follow my lead, you will need to reverse the position of the ribs several times so everyone gets a chance to cozy up to the heat, which emanates from the sides.  You will also need more time to finish them.

I used Sweet Baby Ray's Original BBQ sauce. Once they were done, I laid them out in a very large pan, poured on more sauce, and put them under the broiler BRIEFLY.

Speaking of briefly, that's today's blog post. If you didn't watch Doctor Who last night, you missed a goodie.  Good plot, good acting, and a couple of Easter eggs. Try to catch it On Demand.

Have a peaceful Sunday.

Double Double Toil and Trouble

Long ago, and far, far away, I was a much younger version of myself and I had the energy and the strength to work like a longshoreman - well, maybe not quite that hard. But I was commuting to the city from our home in Ronkonkoma, two hours each way, to work in the financial district, while going to school in Brooklyn in the evenings for my paralegal certificate, and working double doubles (4 parties each weekend) at the kosher catering hall. Oh, I got tired, but at least there were a couple of good reasons for it. I worked hard and I thrived on it. 

This morning, I woke up feeling as bad as I used to feel back then. All I had done yesterday was help James with the planting - maybe 90 minutes of placing little potted plants in specific locations  - and prepared the oxtails. And there was that bad landing, a single one-foot jump, that jarred every nerve in my body. Crap.

After sleeping ridiculously late, I crept downstairs and somehow got the spareribs into the BIG new eight quart crockpot.  It is 3:00 PM as I am typing this and I still haven't finished yesterday's post. I  also have to bake muffins, and while I managed to grate two carrots I find myself stuck in Stop. Any thoughts I harbored for doing some additional work in the garden got quashed before I made it to the bottom of the stairs.

I've also got that cognitive overload thing going on.  Noise is driving me crazy, and I'm not talking about fire engines tearing down Clyde Street, or two trains passing each other on the tracks down the block, or some stupid lowrider blasting dirty lyrics out the car window. Nope, I'm being driven crazy by the television at the other end of the house and barking dogs.  Hell of a time for my hearing to be working.

Somehow I managed to prepare the spareribs and the carrot muffins. Neither recipe is one I cooked up in my fevered brain. The crockpot ribs are a definite keeper (and I have made them before) but the jury is still out on the carrot muffins.

Recipes tomorrow. Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

As the Worm Turns - Oxtails with Peaches, Carrots and Shittakes

The Magic LOST. First game of the regular season, home court advantage, and they LOST. But wait, it gets better: they lost by one point. One freaking point. A single digit. I hope Coach Skiles took them back to the locker room and gave them hell.

The Mets lost the second game of the World Series. What the hell is going on? I am not even close to being emotionally invested in the Mets, although back in 1969 it was a different matter, even though I was raised by a serious Yankee fan - but I still cheer on the major league New York teams, and damn it, I want the Mets to win.

Well, that was exhausting. Alway great to start the day with negativity. 

Speaking of negativity, check this out:

It was pasted on the back window of a car parked in my therapist's parking lot. Not his car, and likely not one of his patients - I had to park all the way down the lot, which is unusual - but delightfully snarky, whoever the car's owner happened to be.

As you know, I did not watch the third Republican debate (because I was watching the Magic lose instead) so I have to rely on the media for the skinny on what happened out there in Colorado. The news here in Florida is that Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are no longer playing nice. Yawn. But the really big news was not so much the candidate's performance as it was their joint effort in smacking down the CNBC moderators for trying to start what Senator Ted Cruz called a "cage fight." We're hearing that the debate winners were Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Chris Christie. Go New Jersey!!

Today turned out to be a good one, a productive day. If I passed out on the couch for a two-hour nap, so be it. It was worth it.  I prepared the oxtails, and while they took their time in the crockpot, I helped James with the planting. Well, he did all the heavy lifting, while I waved my baton.  I did some measuring, placed each little veggie pot where they needed to go, and wielded a pair of scissors to remove the little plastic liner from the top of the pots.  Not exactly the same as digging and raking, but we were in the sun and after a little while we were feeling it. Once, just once, I sort of lost my balance causing me to have to jump back about two feet, and that, my friend, jarred the hell out my body, reminding me yet again how fibromyalgia forced me to give up Taekwando.

I still have one bed to work on, the one that will contain all of the lettuces and cruciferous vegetables, but the majority is done and gorgeous and I have to show it off:

Onto the oxtails - seriously, do not be freaked out by the name. First of all, this is not "offal", or some kind of innards.  It is a cut of beef, no different from eating a short rib.  This is the kind of eat-with-your-fingers messy dish that can only be described as heartwarming. Sitting around the dinner table, everybody happily slurping, is a picture worthy of Norman Rockwell.

This is my second version of this dish. The first used apricot nectar and dried apricots, and included a sweet red bell pepper and jalapeño. If I'd had the peppers available, I would have included them, but even without, this version came out (cue Christopher Eccleston voice here) "Fantastic!" The first time I prepared oxtails, I did everything on top of the stove,  but this time I had to rely on the crockpot to babysit the dish while I worked on the garden.    

Oxtails with Peaches, Carrots and Shittakes                                                                                                           

2 whole heads of garlic
3 1/2 - 4 pounds oxtail
Dry Rub for Lamb
Olive oil (if you have garlic-infused oil, use it)
2 large yellow onions, chopped
2 large yellow onions, halved and sliced
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried thyme
4-10.5 oz. cans Campbell's beef consommé
2 cups V-8 fusion peach mango juice
3 tablespoons chipotle sauce (La Costena brand)
honey, to taste
4 oz. box of shittake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
1/2 stick of butter
1 teaspoon sugar
4 carrots, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1/2 pound dried white peaches (Trader Joe's), cut in quarters

First, roast the garlic: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Cut the tops off of the garlic heads. Put a small amount of oil in a pan, and set the garlic heads in there, cut side up. Drizzle more oil over the top of the garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes or until the cloves are soft and light brown.  Set aside to cool. You can do this well in advance.

Season oxtails on all sides with the dry rub.  Cover and set in the refrigerator for at least an hour. (I actually triple-wrapped the seasoned oxtails months ago and stored them in the freezer.) Heat olive oil in a large deep skillet over medium high heat, and brown the oxtail on all sides.  Remove the oxtails when browned and set aside. Add the chopped onions and lower the heat to medium. Add the bay leaves and the thyme and stir. Add the beef consommé, the peach mango juice, the cloves of one head of the roasted garlic (easiest to squeeze them out)and the chipotle sauce.  Stir and scrape up the bottom of the skillet.  Taste the sauce, and drizzle in a small amount of honey, to taste, to counter any excess heat from the chipotle sauce.  Bring to a boil, then shut off the heat.

Spray the inside of a six quart crockpot with some no-stick stuff.  Place the oxtails into the crockpot, and pour all of the sauce over them.  Cover the crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours. Now add the cut-up carrots and peaches, cover and cook for another hour.  As soon as you have added the carrots and peaches, melt the butter in a skillet and add the sliced onions. Season the onions with some salt, pepper, and the teaspoon of sugar.  Cook for a while until the onions begin to caramelize.  Add the cloves from the remaining head of garlic and the shittake mushrooms. Cook until the onions are caramelized and the mushrooms softened.  When the hour is up, add the contents of the skillet to the crockpot, cover and cook another 2 hours.

Remove the oxtails to a baking pan, and with a slotted spoon, do the same thing with the fruit and vegetables.  Pour the sauce into a pan (I used the same skillet throughout) and place it in the refrigerator to cool for several hours.  Skim the fat off the top of the pan and discard it. Put the skillet back on the stove. Over medium high heat, cook the sauce until it is reduced by half. Taste and reseason.  Spoon the sauce (which is now rich and glossy and full of flavor) over the oxtails. You can serve immediately or refrigerate overnight.

Okay now - don't skip the fat skimming stage. Very important with this cut of meat. Do reduce the sauce, even just a bit, to bring out the best flavor.  First time I served this I accompanied it with store-bought potato gnocchi.  This time I'm going to serve the homemade gnocchi in my freezer. Or you can make mashed potatoes, which are perfect for this dish.

This is also screaming out for a green vegetable, like green beans. If you make the mashed potatoes, the vegetable has to be green peas. I think it's a law or something.

Driftwood

This morning, my mind drifted to politics and from there to another Donald. He calls himself Don, and he is a very well-known and popular stand-up comedian who specialized in the genre of "insult comedy." Don Rickles could be a vicious mother*** but ha ha, everybody laughed.  If I remember correctly (and who knows) there came a time that he had to tone down the venom because for a lot of people, being insulted just wasn't funny anymore. The age of political correctness followed, and you know how well that has worked. But he is still, at age 89 no less, a very active comedian and actor. Just not as mean as he used to be.

I bring this up because I sense a shift in the political fortunes of front-runners Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson. I didn't use a divining rod or anything - I read the polls, same as you - and it seems that some Republican voters are drifting away from the Donald and drifting over to the Doctor (not The Doctor) very possibly because the Donald's meanness, initially refreshing, is beginning to wear just a little thin. At the complete other end of the meanness spectrum is Ben Carson, who is conducting his campaign using his best bedside manner.  I am not unaware that Dr. Carson has expressed some opinions that are making Democratic heads explode, but he delivers his messages in such a calming way, he's positively Zentastic.

Perhaps it is time for Donald Trump, like Don Rickles before him, to tone down the snark just a bit before more Republicans cozy up to the delightfully snark-free Ben Carson. It doesn't matter to me, I'm still voting for Hillary, provided she's not indicted (what a country, eh?), but I used to be a Republican, and just sayin'.

Speaking of the Republicans, the third debate is taking place tonight, and while I normally love to watch the presidential debates, the Orlando Magic are playing their first televised game of the regular season and that is that. We are Fox Sports! We are Florida! I want to see if Scott Skiles has worked his coach magic with the Magic. Go Magic! Go Mets! Go Today's Earworm!

Last night I didn't get to sleep at all, no, no
I lay awake and watched until the mornin' light
Washed away the darkness of the lonely night, lonely night

Last night was a terrible night for Chelsea; she didn't sleep, and neither did I. Rob and I are at our wit's end trying to bring some relief to all four of the dogs, but especially Chelsea, who are all being tortured by the damn fleas. We've bombed the house twice, tried commercial sprays, collars, shampoos, organic sprays and capsules, 1/4 of a Benadryl tablet, and nothing works for any length of time. Woody and Chelsea are both apparently allergic to the flea bites and they have both chewed themselves raw. She cried and whimpered and scratched like a whirling dervish. Woody was restless, walking all over the bed, the pillows, our faces, stopping to scratch so energetically, the bed shook. I am never well-rested under the best of circumstances, which these were not. I used a terrycloth washcloth to gently rub Chelsea's skin, sort of like scratching without the skin-shredding. She eventually calmed down and slept with her face buried in my side. Tonight I'm going to try a little Gold Bond medicated powder.  I hate to see the babies suffer.

Time to get philosophical - which I wasn't planning to do, but there's a thunderstorm outside, totally ruining my planting project (I finished the plan, though), and I don't have any of the ingredients to prepare my oxtail recipe, except the oxtails themselves. (Yes, I said oxtails, get over it. Wasn't I right about the beef heart and the goat?)

So I was on Facebook and came across this article (I recommend that you read it) which had been shared by a friend from high school. I shared it, with the accompanying paragraph:

"If there is one phrase I tend to overuse, it is "everything happens for a reason." On the other hand, I believe that God does not usually share that reason with us. But I would never suggest that my statement would preclude grieving a loss, for as long as necessary, perhaps forever. Because I believe in God, I believe He has a huge master plan that often causes Him to set terrible wheels in motion. That phrase, at least to my mind, is never intended to be used as a palliative for those who are suffering."

But of course, I had more to say, and that was best-suited for this blog. So here we are, at least here I am, explaining myself.

My grandmother never used this phrase, and she wouldn't believe it if somebody said it to her. God Himself could come down to explain to her, and she would still not accept that He had a good reason for taking her daughter, my mother Joyce, from her at the age of 29.  No one should ever have to outlive their own child, and I saw what it did to my grandmother. At the end of her life, lost in the fog of senile dementia, having forgotten everyone else, she remembered Joyce.

Personally, I have the biggest problem accepting the reason for children to be born with terrible congenital defects, or to be viciously abused, to have their childhoods stolen. So many times during the past quarter century I have asked, "God, why do You let this happen to little children?" So far, He hasn't answered me. But even if He did, it would bring no comfort. All that God can do is give each of us the strength to keep on living.  So perhaps it is the wrong thing to say to a mourning parent, but the phrase is not going to fall out of use, because it happens to be true. Platitudes like this one persist because they all have a kernel of truth.

I think the author of the article is angry at the wrong people. How many of us know the right thing to say when a friend or relative has suffered a loss? I certainly don't, and I'm sure I've said the wrong thing in the past, but never with the intention of hurting someone or implying that there was no reason or right to grieve. Grief and the process of grieving is as vital as breathing. The pain never goes away. Recognizing that each human tragedy is part of a greater plan doesn't take that away.

And that's my opinion.

At the end of the day, I got no cooking done. Tomorrow will be an epic cooking day, God willing, the crick don't rise and the puppies let me sleep. Potato Soup with Spinach; my overly-complicated recipe for Oxtails (but so good); a muffin of some sort; crockpot spareribs. In the meantime, nobody will starve, I ga-ron-tee! 

My Magic are doing swell keeping up with the Washington Wizards. Let's see if they can keep up the energy in the third quarter.