Nuturing My Family: A lil' home cookin'

There is something about winter that makes you want to stay at home and eat warm, comfort food (even if I am on Weight Watchers!) Because supervision at school was a little slower this month due to exams, I was home more during the evenings, was able to cook from scratch a little more, and was able to enjoy more meals with my family. Here are a couple of the great recipes I made recently:

Chicken Corn Chowder
I had roasted a chicken, and actually had time to boil the carcass to make some homemade chicken stock. I had a hankering for a warm bowl of chicken corn chowder, so after consulting a few recipes online, I created this soup, which was quite easy and so yummy!

3 - 4 slices bacon, chopped
half onion, diced
2 cans cream of potato soup
2 soup cans chicken stock (homemade or canned)
1 can corn kernels (or about 1 cup frozen kernels)
1 can creamed corn (or 2 cans of one kind of corn...your preference)
milk
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
seasoning salt or cajun seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan, fry the chopped bacon and onion until bacon is cooked and onions are translucent. Drain off excess fat. Add the cream of potato soup, chicken stock, corn, creamed corn. Stir. If soup is too thick for your taste, thin with a little milk. Add chopped cooked chicken. Season to taste with seasoning salt or cajun seasoning, as well as salt and pepper. Do not let mixutre boil, but simmer for about 20 minutes until flavours are combined. Serve with grated cheese on top if you like, some crusty bread and raw veggies or a nice grean salad. Comfort food at it's best!

Apple Brown Betty
My mom used to make this as dessert for Sunday Dinners in the winter. The warm, cinnamon-y apples with their crumbly, crispy crust were always great served with vanilla ice cream. This is not like most cobblers as there is no oatmeal in the topping. (I will have to remeber to snap a photo of this the next time I make it and add it to this post!)

6-8 Baking apples such as Granny Smith
cinnamon
sugar (or substitute Splenda)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour

Peel and core apples. Slice very thinly and layer in baking dish. Sprinkle a little cinnamon and sugar over each layer. Repeat layers of apples and cinnamon/sugar until dish is almost full.
Combine butter, brown sugar and flour with your fingers in a small bowl. Work until mixture is crumbly. Pack over top of the apple layers. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown - about 40-50 minutes.

Let me know if you try either of these recipes!

Nuture

Do you know the power of one little word?

Last year was the first year I chose a word to focus on. It was Simplify. Although outwardly it may seem that I did lots to complicate my life, I really did take my word to heart. I worked hard to let go of things that weren't working anymore, to put new systems in place, to find additional resources and support, to work smarter, not just harder. And at the end of one year of focusing on the word simplify, I feel it has touched a lot of aspects of my life.

Now I am ready to choose a new word for 2011.

N-U-T-U-R-E.

This year I am planning to nuture many different areas of my life - my body and physical well-being, my personal relationships, my creativity and my spirituality.

I like the word nuture because it is a verb - an action word. It can mean to feed, nourish and protect; to support and encourage; to bring up, train, develop or educate. And the results of nuturing something usually means growth, change, enlightenment. I like that.

Specifically I like the idea of focusing more of my limited energy on things that matter most - my family and my outer and inner self - to acheive growth. Usually at the end of the day I have given all I have with so-so results. Most often I feel devoid of energy, of passion, of feeling. I hope that by dedicating some time towards nuturing myself, I will regain that passion and love of life and be able to pass it on to the people that matter most.

I look forward to seeing where this one little word might lead me, and documenting it in some creative way I hope to share with you along the way.

Happy 2011!