Pseudo-Foodie

For those of you who are curious, the fort is being utilized right now. I can hear D working on rerecording some lyrics. I only hope the sound of the gerbils' wheels isn't traveling through to the basement.

And so here I am, posting. Two in one day is probably excessive, but oh well.

I like to cook. I don't do it enough, especially now that I work a normal 9-5 job and don't get home until close to 6:00. As a teacher, I had plenty of time to run to the store and plan a meal and get it started before D came home from work. Not so any longer. I haven't quite figured out the new rhythm of working, planning meals, grocery shopping, and cooking, the latter three all happening between 6-9 PM. D is suffering for it a bit, too. He's lost some weight.

But! I made this super easy soup this evening for supper, and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. I was a little skeptical when I heard about it. The last time I tried to make an "easy soup", it was awful. (And out of the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook nonetheless! I can usually turn to them for a good staple recipe, but not that time. I felt so betrayed.) But this, although it had a lot of ready ingredients, turned out to be rather yummy.

I'll post the original recipe below, and then tell you what changes I made to it.

Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp butter
48 oz can chicken broth
1 bag frozen tortellini
10 oz frozen chopped spinach
2 14 oz. cans stewed tomatoes
grated Parmesan

Prep:
In a large saucepan, over medium heat, cook garlic and butter 1-2 min. Don't let garlic brown. Add broth and pasta. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 10 minutes. Add spinach and tomato. Simmer for five more. Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle Parmesan over. Serve.

See? It's a cheater's recipe. Here are the changes I made: Instead of canned broth, I used broth from bouillon cubes and hot water. Instead of frozen spinach, I used 8 oz. of fresh. (Oh, how I would love a food processor!) This time I did use the stewed tomatoes, but next time I plan on trying chopped or crushed. The stewed ones were too big to spoon up. I also think this recipe would be good for winter - I'd add some spicy ground sausage to it to make it heartier.

I made some crusty garlic bread to dip in the broth, and that was it.

I think sometimes I ought to have a plan, or a goal. You know, "Study your photography books and take your camera out and experiment." "Do one small house decorating project a week." "Try two new recipes a month." That sort of thing.

But perhaps that's too lofty. Maybe I should shoot for "Try to get dinner on the table before 8:00 PM."