A Crazy Cooking Day!

Today, I apparently turned into a madwoman. I spent the whole day grocery shopping, cooking, packaging, and freezing. Oh, and doing dishes. Lots and lots of dishes. I'm pretty sure I used every cooking utensil, pot, pan, cutting board, and prep tool--and some of them twice. However, the net result was a growing stash of good food in the freezer.

It doesn't make sense to do anything else, really. I'm so careful to purchase organic food, humanely raised meat, and plan nutrient dense meals. Then, I have to work 14 hours, and I go to McDonald's. Yep, that makes sense. Deplete your body with stress and exhaustion, then eat crap. So, one of my efforts this year is to develop a freezer full of quick meals, or quick go-withs. Also, I'm trying to free myself of the expectation to always fix great food. Because, if I can't, then I buy more crap. And eat it. Frankly, I could cook something better than that, even if I only had 15 minutes-as long as my freezer was full.

So, this is what I did today. First, for the Sunday Game of the Week on the CLBB, I chose to cook from Sizzle with America's Top Chefs. This is more of a magazine supplement than an actual book, but it cost $10, so I'm counting it as a book. (Speaking of way to expensive stuff, did you know that you can print out unlimited coupons for Borders for 25% to 30% off any one item in the store? Who knew?) Anyway, nothing much appealed to me today, except...this Grilled Bread with Beans and Bitter Greens. Thick sliced rustic bread is grilled until toasty, rubbed with peeled garlic, then spread with a paste of white beans cooked with garlic. That's good, right there. But then...it gets topped off with bitter greens (chard, escarole, turnip greens, etc.) which are sauteed with onion and garlic, then seasoned with red pepper flakes and red wine vinegar. This is probably my new favorite food. It was YUM-my! I could SO make this my lunch every day. It even beans out the goat cheese, roasted pepper, and arugula on a toasted English muffin. With food like this, I could become a vegetarian!

I also roasted a turkey breast, but I didn't eat any. No special reason. I just don't really like turkey. I had high hopes for this one, because it was a kosher turkey breast, and I really like kosher chicken. Alas, no. Leaves more for the Husband.

I needed something to eat too, and a Broccoli and Rice Casserole sounded good. So I made one. Hearty with brown basmati rice, full of antioxidant rich broccoli, onions, and garlic, and made with a lowfat white sauce, with some sharp cheese added for more protein, I can feel good about eating this.

I also stocked the freezer with pork wontons for Wonton Soup. This is another morph recipe left over from the Balsamic Roasted Pork Tenderloin. The filling was really good, and would make great lettuce wraps, especially if you added some chopped water chestnuts. I didn't take pictures today, but I will when I make the soup. These little wontons are really cute; hope they don't disintegrate once they hit the hot broth!

Of course, it wouldn't be dinner without dessert. We have an old favorite--a cheesecake concoction made with reduced fat products and Splenda. It's called Cheesecake Parfaits, but I quadruple the recipe (yes, really) and make it in a 9x13 pan so we have it all week. If anyone is low-carbing, the crust can be made with almond meal instead of graham crackers. It's just as good, if not better. However, this makes a great company dessert layered in stemmed glasses with fresh berries or frozen berries cooked until tender with Splenda and vanilla. Either way, it's very good--a nice, light finish to any meal. (It's also good for breakfast, not that I'd know from personal experience!

Wonton Soup

6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 cup shredded coleslaw mix
1 cup shredded leftover pork (from Balsamic Roasted Pork Tenderloin)
1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
24 wonton wrappers (often sold in the refrigerated section of the produce aisle)
1/4 cup chopped scallions (white and green parts)

Place the broth in a large saucepan, set over medium-high heat, and bring to a simmer.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the slaw mix and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the pork and soy sauce and cook, stirring, until the cabbage wilts, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Arrange the wonton wrappers on a flat surface. Spoon 1 teaspoon of the filling onto the center of each wrapper. Wet your fingers with water and run a wet finger along the outer edge of the wrapper. Pull up the edges of the wrapper and pinch together, making a beggar's purse-shaped wonton. When you run out of filling, place the stuffed wontons in the simmering broth and simmer until tender and translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the scallions, and serve.

My notes:

I minced a small onion and 3 cloves of garlic and sauteed them before adding the cabbage. A little grated ginger would be good, too.

The pork mixture could easily become a filling for lettuce wraps, a topping for rice, or the addition to some type of noodle or noodle soup.

This soup would also work by cutting the wonton skins into ribbons, and adding them, with the loose pork mixture, directly into the broth.

The wontons can be made ahead and frozen; the do not need to be defrosted before making the soup.