Green Soup with Little Bits of Chicken

I found the cookbook, Lose Weight the Smart Low-Carb Way, at the book swap yesterday, so of course I had to try a new recipe. I need to lose about 20 pounds, but I don’t put any effort into actually losing weight. Because it was a rainy day and I wanted to make bread, I thought the Creamy Broccoli Soup with Chicken would be the perfect recipe to try. Yes, I know that bread is not low carb, but is sure does taste good with soup.

I put two tablespoons of butter in a skillet and sautéed one sliced onion and one sliced clove of garlic until they were tender. The recipe calls for one chicken breast –cut into bite sized pieces – to be put in the soup at the end of the cooking time, but I wanted my chicken seasoned with the garlic and onions so I cooked it with them.

I removed the chicken from the onion mixture and set it aside. I added three tablespoons of flour to the onions and let it cook for one minute. Then I added three cans of chicken broth, 1 ½ pounds of cut up broccoli florets, 2 bay leaves, ¾ teaspoons of ground sage (yes, sage in broccoli soup – I couldn’t believe it either), and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. I cooked this until the broccoli was tender, discarded the bay leaves, took out about a cup of broccoli florets for the soup, and then did a very stupid thing.

The recipe says, “Ladle the soup into a blender, process until smooth, and return to pot.” They are evil I tell you. What they didn’t say is, “Make sure you use the actual blender lid (not just some random lid) for this step, or the combination of heat and whirling blades will create broccoli soup projectile all over your arm and kitchen.” They also didn’t say, “When blending hot soup, put no more than two cups of soup into blender at one time, or even with the right lid, the combination of hot soup and whirling blades will send broccoli soup shooting out of the top of the blender lid.” They also should have a warning that says, “When blending hot soup, please clear your kitchen of small children and animals. Wear eye protection and arm protection. Maker of recipe is not liable for burns or damage to kitchen resulting from exploding hot soup.”

Because I learned the hard way, you don’t have to. Aren’t you glad? I didn’t get pictures of this step because, well, my arm was submerged in cold water while I intermittently wiped broccoli soup off the walls, counter top, cabinet fronts, and floor. There was still enough soup left to finish the recipe. I was lucky.

The recipe also doesn’t tell you that at this point your soup is going to be really green – I mean really green – like if you blended Kermit the Frog in your blender green. I was getting concerned at how ugly this soup looked. I added the one chicken breast (it really needed two breasts – and more unblended broccoli florets), the reserved broccoli florets, and 1/3 cup of half and half. I thought it needed more half and half, so I increased the 1/3 cup to ½ cup. The half and half diluted the green just a bit. I also added a shake or two of cayenne pepper to my personal bowl of soup.

Husband came in and before tasting it said, “I wouldn’t make this for company. It is really ugly.” Little son said, “Oh yuck. I’m not tasting that.” Little son did taste the soup and ate two bowls of it. Husband tasted and said, “The flavor is good,” and ate at least two bowls it. Sage in broccoli soup works – who would have thought it.

I liked the flavor but was disappointed in the title of the recipe. The title is “Creamy Broccoli Soup with Chicken.” For one thing, this soup is not creamy. Blending broccoli and chicken broth does not create creamy. One chicken breast for six servings does not make chicken soup. If they called it, Green, I mean Really Green, Broccoli Soup with Little Bits of Chicken, I would have been okay with it – as it was, I was disappointed that it didn’t have the creamy texture of a true cream soup. I did, however, feel really good after eating it. It only has 177 calories per serving (unless you pump up the half and half like I did) and 16 grams of protein. It is super healthy and something I may make again now that my arm is no longer red.

Feed the Littles

I wrote this post last night after dinner.

If you have DID or are familiar with it, you know that littles are the parts, alters, or others who are still babies or children. Alters need the attention and care they didn’t get when the host (the body) was a child. Every person with DID has what is called a system. Each system is unique. DID is a creative coping mechanism that the abused child creates. Because the abuse is severe, alters are created for the sole purpose of helping the host survive the trauma. The child can switch to an alter that was created to deal with the abuse and keep their own identity/mind/self safe. Each alter is created for a specific purpose; they have a role or job. My system has five littles that I am aware of. When I was first diagnosed with DID, I thought there was just me and one child alter. However, as my healing progresses and my alters feel safe, they make themselves known to me. As they become known to me, we can often share co-consciousness which eliminates me losing time when I switch.

When I was a child, we (my sisters, mother, and I) went hungry often. Because of this, I love food and I love to cook. When I am stressed, I find it comforting to feed not only myself, but also my littles. When I take care of my littles by doing things that I know they will like, they learn to trust me which promotes healing and co-consciousness. Some therapists feel that a person with DID is not healed until they have integrated all their parts, but for me, integration is not my goal – co-consciousness is my goal. I hate to lose time more than anything else. When I lose time, I feel like a failure. I know that I need to trust the system and the process, but losing time is scary.

Tonight I made Creamy Chicken Soup and home made bread. The bread turned out so good. I used my Bosch Universal – best kitchen appliance we ever bought. Here are the ingredients I used:

2 cups warm water
3 teaspoons yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons salt
2 handfuls of rolled oats – crushed up a bit
and because I was out of milk, I added two large spoonfuls of plain yogurt.

I mixed in enough flour to make a soft, smooth, non sticky dough, let it double, punched it down, shaped it into two loaves, put it into Pam sprayed loaf pans, let is rise again, and baked it at 375 for 30 minutes. After it came out of the oven, I rubbed butter over the top of the loaves.

This bread was so good. It rose higher, was moister, and had a wonderful texture. I think I’ll keep plain yogurt on hand for the next baking day.

The soup is one of our favorites. It is warm and creamy with chunks of chicken and potatoes.

Creamy Chicken Potato Soup
4 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1 lb chicken breast diced
2 carrots grated
1 cup diced onions
3 cups water
1 cup milk
4 oz cream cheese or Velveeta
1 bag country gravy mix
1 tsp parsley flakes
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese - add at the end - just before serving

Cook chicken until done. Combine water, chicken, potatoes, carrots and onion in large pot. Bring to boil then simmer 15 minutes. Add parsley and cream cheese or Velveeta stirring until cheese is melted. Add milk and gravy mix, stir with wire whisk until all lumps are gone. Cook over low heat or in your crock pot for 2 to 3 hours. Top with shredded cheese just before serving.

Because I never have country gravy on hand, I mix up some chicken bouillon, flour, and spices and use that instead. Tonight I was a bit heavy handed with the pepper and salt, but it still tasted good. My husband who is a salt-aholic said it was just right. My 3D family and my internal alters are all satisfied. Yum!