LUCY BURDETTE: All through last week, I couldn't get settled about making dinner. I had food, I had recipes, but nothing sounded quite right nor did I feel like making it. For the first time in a while, something I made tasted and smelled terrible to me. That only fed the uncertainty. (I suspect that this has to do with how hard I'm working on a draft of Key West food critic #15. All my creative juices are running in that direction.) This is kind of a silly question, but do you ever suffer from dinner anxiety?
This soup was one of the things that turned out well, the result of bits and pieces I had left to use—leeks, carrots, and kale. Apparently, Olive Garden has a popular chicken gnocchi soup though I’ve not tasted it. But I started with that recipe and tweaked it to add more vegetables. It’s a good recipe to use up leftover cooked chicken that you have in the freezer.
Ingredients
3-4 tablespoons butter
4 or so small leeks or two large
3 sticks of celery, sliced
1 cup carrots, diced
2 small garlic cloves or one large, minced
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 to 2 cups half-and-half or whole milk
4 cups chicken broth
½ teaspoon mustard powder
2 cups diced cooked chicken
12 oz. frozen potato gnocchi
1 cup fresh spinach or kale, roughly chopped
Fresh parsley
½ tsp red pepper flakes, optional but really good
Salt and pepper, to taste
Slice the leeks, the celery, and the carrots. Melt the butter in a large pan and sauté those vegetables for a few minutes until soft. Add the chopped garlic and sauté for a minute or more. Add the 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour and the mustard powder and stir that until beginning to thicken. Slowly add the chicken broth, stirring frequently like a gravy. Sprinkle in black pepper and red pepper.
Simmer for 10 minutes or so, then add the chicken and the gnocchi. Simmer another few minutes until the pasta is cooked through.
Add the milk and the kale and simmer until the kale is soft. (I also added some chopped fresh parsley because I had it in the fridge.)
We found this delicious—I added no salt, but more black pepper. And served with corn bread. Yummy!
What's for dinner at your house, especially when you can't think of a thing? Are you a planner or a pantser when it comes to supper?
Oh, this sounds delicious, Lucy . . . definitely on my "must try" list.
ReplyDeleteUnless we are having guests, I seldom plan ahead for dinner . . . sometimes, either when I'm out of ideas or when we simply feel like it, we have breakfast for supper . . . .
that's an idea to remember Joan!
DeleteJoan, we do that too! Like last night I had corn flakes and my hubby had stew that I made the night before. I did make biscuits though and had to bake them in the toaster oven as our oven's computer technology isn't working.
DeleteBreakfast for supper is our favorite!
DeleteYour soup looks wonderful. It is a great idea for me after we pick up a rotisserie chicken tomorrow. Maybe I will use chicken tortellini? When my brain is overloaded with issues, I will grab an easy recipe, lay out the ingredients in order of use on the kitchen counter and assign the task to dear hubby who knows not to deviate from the recipe! Otherwise it may be a piece is frozen pizza from Whole Foods or a bowl of cereal! Take it easy! Love what you’re doing with your garden. Alicia Kullas
ReplyDeleteI never plan ahead. With such an unsteady supply chain for protein at our local markets, I purchase the best that I can find and go from there! Alicia Kullas
DeleteThanks Alicia, and love how you arrange things for your Hub. I may have to try that though I doubt he'd follow the "don't deviate" rule!
DeleteIt sounds delicious, Lucy. I love a heart soup for supper!
ReplyDeleteThere definitely are times when supper ideas all sound meh. I used to throw together stews at that point. Not a bad idea for some of my odds and ends in my fridge right now though. Hmm. I'll let you know if it turns out interesting.
Let us know...
DeleteNo, I rarely have any anxiety when I cook, even when it's a new recipe.
ReplyDeleteMy easy go-to dish is an Asian stir-fry in 20 minutes. Pick whatever protein I have (usually chicken, pork or shrimp) or make it vegetarian. Use a mixture of veggies inclufing onions, carrot, mushroons, Adan green (pak choi from my balcony garden from late spring), scallions.
The sauce can vary from a garlic-hoisin sauce to a Vietnamese pad thai -like sauce made with fish sauce, tamarind concentrate, rice wine vinegar, sugar & garlic. I always have acwide range of Asian condiments in my pantry/fridge.
Serve with parboiled brown rice or Adian noodles (udon, rice noodles).
I've got that on the rotation this week Grace. Would you hire out as personal chef??
DeleteHa ha, you are not the first person who wanted to hire me as a personal chef! FYI, autocorrect & spell check is off. Those "Adan" & "Adian" should have been "Asian"!
DeleteOh, and I am usually NOT a planner for meals in retirement. It's kinda strange since I was a Type A planner for most other aspects of work & personal life.
DeleteFrom Diana: Asian stir fry tofu is on my menu of favorites. I get what Lucy meant about dinner anxiety.
DeleteStir fry is a go-to of mine, as well. Great for finishing up veggies and we each choose our own sauce. It's easy, too. The hardest part is taking out the wok!
DeleteGRACE: That has been a fun/funny retirement adjustment - realizing that I don’t have to be hyper-efficient anymore. There are times when that is easy and others when I find myself reverting to old habits and layering 3 tasks so I can finish 5 minutes sooner.
DeleteLISA: Interesting, I thought it was just me but what you say makes sense!
DeleteThat sounds really yummy! I'm not very creative, am limited in what I can eat and am only cooking for myself much of the time. Usually I buy (and then cook) the same things over and over.
ReplyDeleteWhatever works for you is good Gillian!
DeleteI'm a planner. I prepare menus before making my shopping list so that I'm sure to have what I need. But sometimes I have a clean-out-the-fridge supper consisting of whatever's leftover. Some of my best soups happen from those mish-mashed ingredients!
ReplyDeleteSounds good Annette!
DeleteAnnette, my mom used to make “clean up the kitchen” meals which involved the meat grinder! She’d grind it all together (meat, veggies, whatever) and then cook it; I am a little hazy on which method of “cooking” she’d use (bake, fry?). Anyway, there was a lot of ketchup used to cover it up on my part! — Pat S
DeleteIt’s breakfast for dinner here when you can’t think of anything, have not prepared anything, or don’t feel like making anything. We’ve been without a fridge for almost two weeks now so we’ve just been eating out. Hopefully, the new fridge will be here in the next few days!
ReplyDeleteomg, no fridge for 2 weeks? that's brutal--you'll be glad to get back to your own cooking!
DeleteOh, no, Brenda! It sounds like a camping trip. Milk and beer in the ice chest. It doesn't sound like fun, though.
DeleteLucy I use the knock off Olive Garden soup recipe all the time! It is delicious and a family favorite! As to supper anxiety - all the time. Hard to think of something to make for dinner EVERY DAY!
ReplyDeleteThis is Chris F
I know, every day! It's a lot of responsibility!
DeleteI'm in Brenda's "breakfast for dinner" club... Or PB&J. Or Corned beef hash (from a can) with an egg. But more along Lucy's path, right now I've got frozen shrimp, an ear of corn, onions, potatoes, fresh dill, chives, cream: the makings of a corn and shrimp chowder.
ReplyDeleteYummy Hallie!!
DeleteNo food anxiety here, I just fix whatever I find in my kitchen
ReplyDeleteYou must be a good shopper Dru:)
DeleteThat sounds delicious, Lucy, and I have both gnocchi and leftover chicken in the freezer. When I'm uninspired I'll often cobble together a shrimp stir fry, because we always have brown rice in the pantry, shrimp in the freezer, and usually broccoli in the veggie drawer. Or maybe one of us will whip up a fritatta.
ReplyDeleteLucy, I never thought of the touch of mustard powder in this kind of soup and I am going to try it. My secret ingredient is salem oelek – it is a touch of heat, but can be barely discernable for those who think they don’t like hot peppers (jalapenos, garlic and onions begin any recipe in my house!). Try the touch of heat in any chowder – it just brings out the flavours. Also oyster sauce.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter, who now wears the crown for best ginger cookies, told us last weekend that her secret ingredients, one of which most people could identify was the cloves, but also a touch of cayenne powder. Who would have known that she a person who would never taste anything with the above three necessary ingredients would put cayenne in her cookies! She still has not admitted how she makes her brownies, but they are scarfed down immediately, and she insists that they are not the ones with ‘added ingredients – nudge, nudge, wink, wink’.
Meals in our house – often by the seat of the pants, but sometimes planned (roast dinners, long recipes that read that they should taste good). There are few meals that follow any recipe – any excuse will work – can’t find all the ingredients, thought this would taste good in it, or even I am really hungry while I am cooking it and want more butter. My third child (son) likes to cook and experiment, and if I say we had a good new recipe, he will ask for the recipe and the substitutions – “did you substitute turnip for baking powder in this recipe?” Cheeky child! However, should ‘something come up in our day’ we are both happy with any manifestation of eggs – recipes and combos are endless.
Food anxiety all the time lately. I get past it by making a list of 4-5 meals I think I can manage, then shop for just the ingredients I'm lacking. So, no staring into the fridge, pantry, thinking what the heck should I make? The rest of the week, leftovers are on order, or I eat a late lunch and skip supper altogether if I'm the only one around.
ReplyDeleteFrom Diana: Dinner anxiety happens to me too. I would eat whatever I can find in the fridge if I am hungry. These days I do not seem to be hungry. What are my usual samples ? A big salad with a balsamic vingarette. At univerisy, it was Pizza.
ReplyDeleteWhen I visited a friend in a town outside Amsterdam, Holland, they had eggs for dinner. I loved that idea of breakfast for dinner.
From Celia: What a delicious sounding and seeing too with the photos, Lucy/Roberta. I am well acquainted with the what for dinner question.I will be trying your soup I know. I'm in waiting for local leeks but I use Videlia or sweet onions in their place a lot. With the low salt eating that ? becomes even more challenging. Luckily Victor loves a smoked trout so I can always give him smoked trout, b&b and some salad. Then I can eat eggs or leftovers etc. But my go to when out of everything is a frittata or a spinach quiche without the pastry which I think I may have put up on JRW at some point. I'll check.
ReplyDeleteLooks yummy! I am a planner-winter in the far reaches of Maine makes that a requirement. Once a month I dig out my recipe files and select a bunch of recipes that appeal. Then I shop for everything. Including perishable produce. Some nights, the state of the produce in the crisper drawer dictates the answer to the age old question, "What's for dinner." This month I made a wonderful discovery. Pizza dough freezes! That opens all sorts of future options for pizza and calzone night. I've got some dough in the bread maker right now.
ReplyDeleteYes I do have kitchen anxiety occasionally - that's when I suggest we go out for dinner!
ReplyDeleteBut if we don't, I will occasionally make a breakfast meal. My other favorite go to is Girl Scout stew which is so easy. I brown hamburger with diced onions then add a can of Campbell's Vegetarian soup with the little O's. You can add whatever spices you want. It is easy and surprisingly good in a pinch!
I love this soup and make it in the winter. I’d be quite content to make an omelette or grilled cheese for dinner but live with someone who expects meat potatoes and veg every night. At least we’ve turned it into fish or chicken most nights and he does cook sometimes but I find it tiring to plan ahead and it’s not healthy to stock the freezer with TJs frozen dinners
ReplyDeleteI have made the Olive Garden soup, and it’s delicious. It makes a lot, and I am a fan of the cook once eat twice policy. I do find it stressful trying to figure out what to make for dinner every night. If I am out of ideas, our go to is avocado toast, or my hubby will make a delicious omelette.
ReplyDeleteGetting a little too warm for hot soup around here. I’m thinking along the lines of warm weather options.
ReplyDeleteHow about an assortment of cut up fruits or vegetables with either sour cream or cottage cheese, or perhaps yogurt. If that isn’t filling enough you could add smoked salmon or some sort of cold fish or fish salad such as tuna.
None of these require a lot of preparation or foraging for ingredients.
A variety of appetizers, like a dim sum.
Then there is always take out and you can order enough for another day or two
I came up with something new last night. I was making barley mushroom soup to help use up some leftover barley. Decided to not add milk or cashew "cream" to it.
ReplyDeleteTo make it more interesing and add to the protein, I made tofu croutons. Pressed the extra firm tofu. Mixed bouillon with coriander, onion powder, and poultry seasoning and some hot water (to dissolve the bouillon). Diced the tofu in 1/2 cubes and marinated in this mix, gently stirring now and then. All the liquid was soaked up by the tofu. Spread the cubes on a parchment lined baking sheet and baked at 400F for about 10 minutes, turned the cubes, and baked another 10 minutes. Ended up with slightly crunchy cubes to toass on the soup and eat out of hand. Quite tasty and fun.
I am sort of a planner but the 24/7 of cooking does get me down sometimes. However, the other night I had half of a roasted chicken I had made so I made gumbo. It's a Martha Stewart recipe which she calls 30 minute gumbo. She lies of course because she has a prep cook but for we mere mortals it takes a little longer to chop the onion and the red peppers and shred the chicken. It turns out well though and now I have plenty for the freezer and to give away too. Then last night, because we are eating red meat on Monday, I made risotto. I add blanched and chiffonaded kale and sautéed mushrooms at the end so it's a very hearty meal and once again, I have left overs for another day. I need to learn to make stir frys I can tell.
ReplyDeleteI like to plan, and usually make a shopping list on Sundays with ingredients for at least three or four meals. However, I don't always manage to make them because life annoyingly interferes!
ReplyDeleteThat looks delicious, Lucy! Since Hub is the cook here, I don't have much dinner making anxiety :) I have discovered since he started cooking, that if I don't have to do it, everything tastes amazing.
ReplyDeleteOh, this dinner slump is a real thing. I so agree! I’ll be rolling along, making reasonably fine to fabulous dinners, and then suddenly, wham!. Massive failure. I tried to make grilled pork tenderloin with fig sauce, and I’m not sure how you can go wrong with that, but I certainly did.
ReplyDeleteAnd once you hit a supper slough, it is hard to get out of it. You just have to go out for dinner for a while. That has been my experience.
Good luck to us all!