Harvest Monday

One night last week after reading about Daphne's greens I harvested some tatsoi and some baby bok choy for dinner.

 Daphne described making soup with the tatsoi by using bouillon.

 I used beef bouillon and added some soy sauce.  I sliced up the tatsoi and

 divided it between two bowls.  I poured the hot bouillon over the tatosi, sprinkled on a bit of grated fresh ginger, green onions sliced and topped it with some chow mein noodles.

 We ate the soup before I thought to photograph it.  Sorry. It was really good.

The bok choy went into the stir fry.

See what others have harvested at Daphne's Dandelions.

Looking for a Good Read

I am very particular about the books I read.  Bottom line: they have to be good. But good for me may not be good for you.  A good read for me is usually an historical fiction that is believable.  Case in point and one of the best: "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society".  That is one of my all time favorites and I have read it twice already and will likely read it again. 

I do enjoy a mystery now and again and if it's also historical fiction, even better.  A recent example of such is The Conjurer's Bird".  That one had me spellbound and I didn't figure it out ahead of time.  Another one that can fall into the mystery category is a series by Alexander McCall Smith featuring a lady detective in Botswana.  I've read those twice now and thoroughly enjoy them all.

I also pick up non-fiction titles from time to time.  The last one I read was about Warren Jeffs of polygamy fame and presently serving prison time for the rest of his life.  The book "Prophet's Prey" was a look into the life of the Mormon cult he led and his capture and trial.

I've just returned from the library but with none of the books I went looking for.  I keep a running list of books I hear about from friends and from interviews on NPR.  I should just go online to the library to request these titles and will do that next time.  I did come home with three unknowns:  "The Sheen of Silk" by Anne Perry (a mystery with historical bent), "Mutiny" by John Boyle (historical fiction), and "Love on the Line" (not sure what category).  Don't know which one I'll read first but I won't finish "White Oleander" that someone gave me.  I was desperate for a book and started that one but got only so far before deciding this was not for me.

What books are you reading?  Any good reads lately?

Addendum To Thursday's Post

The chicken chili was so good last night.  I didn't need to add any additional salt.  I froze a good portion of it to thaw at holiday time for lunch when there are more people here to serve and kept  4 cups to have for lunch tomorrow and next week.

White Chicken Chili

I made up this recipe after a friend shared hers with me.  For today's post I've modified it to use vegetables from my garden preserved by freezing.

Ingredients:
Chicken - I had the leftovers from cooking a whole chicken in the crock pot on Monday.
Canned cannelli beans - I used two cans drained.
Cream of Chicken soup - 1 can
Frozen zucchini
Frozen green peppers
Onion chopped
Chilis - 1 small can
4 cups chicken broth plus broth left from the crock pot
Spices: cumin, garlic powder, worchestershire sauce.
I will add salt once I taste it since the chicken had been salted already.

 Onions, zucchini, peppers visible in the broth into which cream soup has been added.  The brown circle is the congealed broth leftover from cooking the chicken with the fat skimmed off.

I put all of this in the crock pot on high since its already 2 pm and I hope its done by 6 pm tonight.  I'll add an addendum once its done.

Everything in the crock pot before its stirred.  As the zucchinis thawed I was able to chop them up.

Linking to Robin's Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard