I know, I know

I am well aware that it has been awhile since I posted last. Today is 3 days post Christmas and we are all getting over the flu. None of us, kids, hubby or myself, have eaten much since Tuesday. Today we finally showered and got out of the house. We only made it to church and back, but that was enough. We came home and all were hungry. My solution was onion soup. I knew it needed to be something not to heavy, as all of our tummies are very delicate right now.

I have always followed different recipes when making French onion soup, and have never used the same one twice.  I figured I had enough variations in my mind I could do one on my own without a recipe.

Here it goes. 4 red onions sliced into thin rings. Garlic. 1/2 cup real butter. Thyme.  Salt and pepper. Put this into a large pot and saute until golden and soft.  This took about 30 min.

I added 1 1/2 cup of white wine. Boiled it until the wine dissolved. Then removed the thyme stalks. It is kind of thick and pasty at this point.

I stirred in 1/4 cup of flour, and cooked it until the bitterness of the flour was gone. It got even thicker now.

Add in 8 cups of chicken stock and bring back to a boil. I then added two handfuls of mozzarella cheese. Then I turned heat down to medium and let slowly boil for about 15 minutes.

As this was finishing up I sliced french sandwich rolls into thin slices. Added garlic powder and topped with mozzarella cheese. These went into the oven on broil until it was golden brown.

By the time the rolls were done so was the soup. I put the soup into oven safe bowls for each of us. I floated a slice of cheese bread on top and covered with more mozzarella. These went back into the oven on broil for about 5 minutes until these cheese was golden. Took out and served.

It was so good. I think tomorrow it will have aged a bit to my benefit. It will only get better.

Turmeric shrimp

Following the same track as yesterday led me to shrimp and turmeric. I started with shrimp boiled in white wine and covered until almost fully cooked. Then added garlic, turmeric and onions. This one smelled very mustardy. Not even sure if that is even a word. But it did. The taste was heavenly though.

Perfect paring was pasta shells. That way the sauce from the turmeric shrimp can be caught in the shells.

It was a delightful meal.  Kids finished off it all. Here is the after.

So far turmeric works with both chicken and shrimp. No turmeric for a few days, do not want to burn the kids out on turmeric.

Turmeric Chicken

Not sure why but my Pintrest has been inundated lately with the health benefits of turmeric. Not sure if it is a new American Fad or if I am just late to jump on the bandwagon. Crazy enough I already had this in my cupboard. It was in a recipe that I used quite a while ago. I have never used it since. I could not even tell you what recipe I used it on and have never used it since. That being said I actually love it, as of yesterday.

My cooking consist of me smelling spices and adding them to my dishes based on smell. If anyone has smelled turmeric, it smells like mustard. Not really something that seems like it could be added to many dishes.

Yesterday I asked the kids what they wanted for dinner. Benjamin responded with the usual, Bean and cheese burritos, followed by Quesadillas. Jasmine gave her usual anything but pasta. I settled on chicken and couscous.

I started with olive oil, and chicken breasts on the skillet, high heat. I sprinkled turmeric, garlic salt and some grilled onions (from yesterdays dinner) over the chicken. One side got nice and golden and then flipped the chicken over. I again sprinkled turmeric and pepper on the chicken. I turned the heat down to med-lo and added in 1/2 cup of white wine, and covered it. This cooked for about 5-7 minutes. Then I turned it once more and added in a 1/4 cup of water and some bacon bits (the ones from Costco that come in a bag). Covered it again and cooked for 2-3 minutes. Then took the cover off and turned the heat way up and boiled off the liquid.

What was left was a oniony garlicky sauce, along with the chicken breasts. The turmeric did not have a mustard flavor at all. It added just a touch of spice to the chicken. It ended up so juicy and good. Not sure why I have not been using this spice more often. I needed to hop on this band wagon quite a while ago. It is a new and different flavor that is amazing.

The couscous was just a basic couscous that I add a bit of salt, onion powder, dried onion (I like how it stays a bit crunchy), sun flower seed and grilled garlic slices. It is easy and the kids like the various textures.

I did not get any pictures of this meal. By the time it was done, the kids were starving and I was not going to fight them to let me get a picture before they ate. But know this, all the food was gone. I usually make 3 chicken breasts, the kids each eat half and Rougeh and I eat a whole one. Last night, Benjamin ate his and asked if there was any more, I gave him half of mine, he loved it that  much.

Another score of mommy! If anyone has a spice that they would like to introduce me to I would love suggestions. This will be tried in many different dishes for the next, who knows how long.

BTW, ORANGES are in season!!!