Back on track!

I truly wish you could see what goes through my head on my half hour drive home from work daily. If I haven't already picked out what to make for dinner the inside of my head resembles the interior of an exotic butterfly aviary with colorful winged creatures fluttering to and fro....do I go with spicy, exotic and colorful? Savory and solid? Light, fresh and tangy? What to do, what to do?

I spend a good portion of my day at work taking other peoples food orders, creating custom menus, talking about food options, detailing out menus and parties and watching them get produced, so it is not big surprise that sometimes I come up against a stumbling block and the butterflies in my head turn in to a rainbow tornado that I can't control. At which point I call Brock and ask him what he wants for dinner. His standard reply is "I'm easy!". Which he is.

And he isn't. But that doesn't help when this scenario comes about.

Every once and a while he does give me a straight request as referenced in my previous post of chili & cornbread. But most nights he leaves me to my own devices and imagination which range everywhere from take out pizza on a lazy night to insanity in the kitchen where every dish, pot & pan I own is dirtied somehow.

But he is open to trying just about damn near everything I make as long as I stay away from a few taboo foods....that in itself is priceless. :)

After my insanely good but not so dietetic chili the other night I have been trying to eat leaner and cook lighter. Some days it works and other days not so much. But after a visit to the gym I found I was down another pound (yay!) and that made me want to amp it up again and do my damnedest to keep the LB's comin' off.

I was also not really up to going to the store after a long ass day that started off with only about 4 solid hours of sleep on the books.

Thus begins the mental inventory of what is in the fridge, freezer and pantry and then trying to wrap my head around what cuisine/continent I wanted to channel. Do I go Italian, American, Asian, Mexican, Southern or fusion???? Good lord there are too many things jumping around in my brain for me to even focus on this.


FOCUS!!!


FOCUUUUUSSSSSSS!!!!


And then????


Ding!! Dingdingdingdingding!!!!


Trader Joe's Potstickers...frozen and waiting for me to add them to tasty broth with veggies.


Oh good lord was that a freaking relief!


Veggies are solid, I knew I had a few snow peas hanging around, carrots, green onions & celery and some crimini mushrooms would round it out nicely.

For the broth I thought I might have to resort to using my stash of "Better than Bouillon" chicken flavor, but was stoked to find a bag of chicken wing tips (from the hot wing post-oh yeah!) and a bag of frozen shrimp with shells on.


In to the pot goes.....



About 8-10 Chicken Wing Tips
Shrimp Shells from about 10-12 Shrimp
1 Onion, chopped
1 Carrot, chopped
2 Celery Stalks, chopped
6 cups water

Bring to a boil and turn down to a simmer, skim off any foam that rises to the surface and discard. Simmer for about a half an hour and then strain.



While the stock is simmering, chop, slice & dice....

2 Medium Carrots, peeled-slice on the bias
2 Celery Stalks, sliced thin on the bias
4 oz Mushrooms, sliced
4 oz Snow Peas, sliced in 1/2
3 Green Onions, sliced thin

Slice Shrimp lengthwise in 1/2 and set aside

After stock is strained, return to the pot and add the carrots, mushrooms and celery, add a tablespoon or more of soy sauce to the pot depending on your salt preference. Cook for about 15 minutes and add in the snow peas, shrimp, green onions and 6-8 frozen potstickers (can be pork, shrimp or veggie). Simmer gently until won tons are cooked through and shrimp is pink.

Adjust seasoning as needed with soy sauce, Siricha hot sauce, sesame oil or even oyster sauce if you like.



Now your toes are going to hurt from all the weight falling off, right????