Comfort Food Recipes

I've posted some of my favorite comfort food recipes and thought you would all enjoy as well.  Maybe you could make it for me too (wink wink).

Cream of Tomato Soup

Tomato soup is one of my favorite soups.  It's so comforting in the winter with a nice crusty grilled cheese sandwich. Here's one of my favorite recipes.  It will be hard to go back to the canned soup after you make this.

Adapted from The New Best Recipe Cookbook (Cook's Illustrated)

2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes (Muir Glen Fire Roasted are my favorite)
1 1/2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 large shallots, minced (or 1 medium-large onion diced)
3 garlic cloves minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Pinch of allspice
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 2% milk (original recipe calls for 1/2 cup heavy cream)
Salt & Pepper to taste

1. In large saucepan over medium heat melt butter.  Add shallots/onions and cook until they become opaque in color then add minced garlic and let cook until you can smell the garlic (~30 seconds).  Add flour and tomato paste and cook for another 30-45 seconds.
2. Add canned tomatoes (including juice), broth, brown sugar, allspice, salt and pepper.  Cover the pot and increase the heat to medium and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally for 20-30 minutes.  
3. Remove from heat and using an immersion blender (a food processor or regular blender would work too), blend 3/4 of the soup until smooth, leaving some tomato chunks.  Add the milk (or heavy cream) and stir.  Taste to make sure seasonings are right.  
4. Serve immediately or freeze for a later date (I usually freeze in individual containers for lunches) but be sure NOT to boil when reheating.

Not my mamma's chicken 'n dumplings

Growing up whenever I was sick, my mom would make me chicken and dumplings.  As an adult, I would even make this for myself when I was feeling under the weather.  I was accustomed to doing a free form  drop dumpling recipe, until I was introduced to Art Smith's chicken and dumplings recipe. I think I am now a convert....

Stock:

one 3 to 3.5 lb chicken, cut into 8 pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 carrots, sliced into rounds
2 quarts water

2 - 3 bay leavessalt and freshly ground black pepper

Dumplings:
1.5 cups all purpose flour
pinch of salt
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
1 Tbsp canola oil
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Saute onion, celery and carrots in dutch oven until softened. Add chicken, water, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper.  Bring to a boil over high heat, skimming off any foam that rises to surface.  Reduce heat to low and cover tightly.  Simmer, occasionally skimming broth, until chicken is tender, about 50 mins.

Using tongs, transfer chicken to a platter (keep broth and vegs simmering) and cool it until it's easy to handle.  Discard skin and bones and cut meat into bite size pieces.

Meanwhile, increase the heat under the broth to high and cook until liquid is reduced to 6 cups.  (if you're in a hurry, strain the broth, reserving the vegetables, and measure 6 cups of broth, reserving the remaining broth for another use.  Return the 6 cups of broth and vegetables to the pot.)  Skim off any fat from surface of broth.  Stir the chicken back into the pot.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To make the dumplings, place flour, salt and oil in medium bowl and gradually stir in water to make a stiff dough.  Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead briefly.  Roll out 1/4 in thick.  Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1 in wide strips.  (If you wish, you can do what my mother does - make the dumpling strips while the chicken is simmering, and freeze the strips until ready to cook - Art Smith).

Slide the strips into the simmering soup, placing them next to each other without stacking or crowding.  Cover tightly and reduce heat to low.  Simmer until dumplings are cooked through and tender, about 10 mins.

Sprinkle the dumplings with parsley.  Serve from the pot, breaking up the dumplings as needed.

Turkey Meatloaf with Brown Sugar-Ketchup Glaze

It's winter so I crave comfort classics when the temperate drops below 30 degrees.  Here's another recipe that I've adapted from The New Best Recipes Cookbook (Cook's Illustrated). I've lightened it up using ground turkey instead of the ground chuck, pork and veal mixture they use (gotta watch how much red meat I eat moving forward -- increases my chance of reoccurance).

Glaze
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 teaspoons cider vinegar

Meat Loaf
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion chopped
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Dijon
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1/2 cup whole milk or plain yogurt (I used 2% milk)
2 pounds ground organic turkey (I get 1 pound ground turkey breast and 1 pound ground turkey thigh)
1 1/3 cups bread crumbs
1/3 cup fresh parsley leaves, minced

1. For the glaze, mix all of the ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside
2. For the meatloaf: Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat oil in a medium skillet, add the onion and garlic and saute until softened.  Set aside
3. Mix the eggs, thyme, salt, pepper, mustard, hot sauce and milk in a medium bowl.  Add the egg mixture to the ground turkey in a large bowl along with the breadcrumbs, parsley, and cooked onion and garlic; mix with a fork until evenly blended
4. Add to meat mixture to a loaf pan or or pat the mixture freehand until it is approximately 9x5 inches.  Brush with the glaze and bake for 1 hour.  
5. For individual portions, I used a mini loaf pan and baked for approximately 30 minutes.   

Busy Week of Recovery

While everyone was settled into their post-holiday work routines, I had another week of taking it easy but was very busy with doctor appointments.  On Monday I went to see my plastic surgeon who said that my incisions were healing nicely but I still needed to be careful about too much movement, lifting, etc. He did give me the green light to start chemotherapy on January 20th, as I had originally planned.  On Tuesday, I had a follow-up appointment with my surgical oncologist who basically said that I needed to see him in 6 months.  I don't think I'll have much follow-up with him thereafter (no breast tissue remaining), which means I also get out of ever having to do a mammogram again (hallelujah!).  For those who haven't had a mammogram, yes they are uncomfortable but for me they cause a lot of anxiety.  That afternoon I passed the MUGA heart test, which was to just confirm that my heart was strong enough for the chemotherapy.

I've been having a lot of anxiety of reoccurance so I went to see a psychologist and psychiatrist that work specifically with Northwestern's cancer patients.  As I've learned more about my disease and compare it to what my mother had, I can't help but to think that I will have a similar outcome.  These are very grim thoughts and I know I need help getting past this.  I unfortunately have a very aggressive form of breast cancer (commonly seen with the BRCA1 mutation) and the chances of it coming back are greater than many of the other bc subsets. While I have a good fighting chance it's just hard for me to feel 'rah rah' knowing that my mother was part of the group that  didn't make it. I feel better knowing that I have a supportive team of doctors that will help me work through these emotions and anxiety.

As of right now, I am scheduled to begin chemotherapy on Thursday.  As I have heard from my doctors and other cancer fighters, the first treatment is often the hardest because of the unknown.  I don't know how I'm going to feel afterwards, I don't know what I'm going to feel like eating (my taste buds will change) and I don't really know what fatigue feels like.  All of this unknown adds to the anxiety that I've been feeling.  So, please keep me in your thoughts as I head into this next week.  I hope it's not as bad as I'm expecting it to be.

A Day At A Time

It was a busy week for me with doctor visits and procedures so I have spent the weekend doing a whole lot of nothing.  I feel pretty lazy and wish the weather wasn't so cold so I could withstand going for a walk.  But, it is January in Chicago so I'll just snuggle up in a blanket.

I saw my plastic surgeon this past Monday and he wanted to remove the dead tissue from my incisions so I headed back into the OR on Wednesday.  It was interesting to be in the OR while not sedated.  I was able to even joke around with doctor and nurse.  I got a glimpse of the incision afterwards and it looked good.  I've had a special dressing on it since then so hopefully it's been healing nicely.  I still have one drain left and it's hardly slowing.  I see the doctor tomorrow and I'm fairly certain that he'll want to keep the dang drain in.  It will be so nice once I am drain free...

On Friday I had my port put in, which wasn't too awful of a procedure.  They gave me some medication that would make me a little zombie-like but not 100% knocked out.  Once I was finished, I got really emotional.  I'd like to blame the medication but it was largely driven by the fact that I knew I was one step closer to doing chemo, which I'm not looking forward to.  I try to keep a positive attitude most days but I could not be "Susie Smiles A lot" that day.  I'm pissed that I have to do chemo and it's going to do strange things to my body, like make my hair fall out and alter my taste buds (I am a foodie, after all).  Yes, I know those things will come back but it does not make me feel any better about it now.   After the procedure, I had dinner with some friends that I could cry and laugh with, which made me feel better.  By Saturday, I was feeling less upset about everything.  I guess that's what they mean by "take one day at a time".

Tomorrow I go back to the plastic surgeon for a check up.  Tuesday I'm going to see my surgical oncologist for a post-op follow-up and then I have to do a MUGA test (to make sure my heart can withstand the chemo).  Not sure if I'm going back to work just yet.  I don't know if I could handle 8 hours of work (I still rest and nap a lot during the day).  After all of my procedures last week, my body may just need more healing time.

Happy New Year!

I haven't made any new years resolutions (I figure I have enough on my plate with upcoming treatments). But I do hope that 2011 be my year of restoring health and REMISSION!

I hope everyone had a great holiday. Mine was quiet and relaxing, which is how I like it to be even when I'm not recovering from surgery.

Speaking of recovering, the doctor wants me to take another week to heal so I'll be home all week, aside from the few doctor visits I have.

Over break I met with my medical oncologist and I'm tentatively scheduled to begin chemo at the end of January. I also shopped for a wig and picked one out that I hope will fool everyone :) Thanks to Aliza and Sara for coming with me and not letting me pick out a wig that made me look like a television news reporter. Honest friends are the best to have at a time like that.

Missing my office today...but I hope that sleeping late and curling up to a good book will make me miss it less :)

Hope you all have a great first day of work in the new year!


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