Post vacation cleansing

Part of the problem with doing such a good job of eating everything in the fridge before you go on vacation is that you return home to LITERALLY NOTHING.

We had a crazy first day home…from the second we landed we were go go going.  It was a text book (and literal) definition of hitting the ground running.

Straight from the airport to swimming and then off to Costco and finally Trader Joe’s…phew.

As is customary after a long time away from your own kitchen, Kyle and I were both looking to clean up our diets big time now that we were back.  More veggies, less booze (<– him) and sweets (<– me).  Little changes that make your body feel awesome and work at it’s best.

For dinner that night I made a big salad with chicken, kale, feta, dates, and roasted seeds.   Kyle declared it was so good it should be added to my (fictional and not at all in the works) cookbook.  Talk about a compliment!

I massaged an entire bag of kale in lemon juice and olive oil until it had softened down to half it’s size.

Meanwhile, I put some frozen chicken breasts from the freezer straight into the instant pot. [After that was done, I removed the meat to shred it and cooked quinoa in the broth left in the IP]

All I used for dressing was oil and lemon juice, but it was fine thanks to all the toppings.

The dates were super fresh and buttery soft. Is there anything better?

A perfect meal to set the week off on the right foot.

Dinner number two for the week was a vegan corn chowder.

One of the restaurants we went to in Chicago had a chowder on the menu and I was inspired by that to make one when we got home.

I looked at a bunch of recipes and kinda made my own version with the help of a Frontier Soup mix.

 

 

 

Obviously, I skipped the suggested heavy cream.

Instead, I used this (new!) product from TJs.  It’s not as thick as I was hoping it would be, but since it’s shelf stable it’s something that seems good to have on hand (because the nut milks we buy are usually vanilla flavored and that doesn’t work in most cooking).

I also increased the amount of fresh corn, decreased the amount of broth, and added a shallot.

All that gelatin in the home-made stock made for a huge boost in flavor!  It was basically a big blob of jelly when I poured it into the pot.  Helloooo nutrient powerhouse.

I was going to serve the soup on it’s own, but then the idea of having a hearty country bread to dip in it was pretty appealing.

So I pulled this beautiful loaf from the freezer.  It’s from Full Belly Farm and has a totally unique combo of whole grains – polenta and millet and poppyseeds and who knows what else.  It’s toothsome on the outside from being baked in a wood oven, but sooo soft on the inside (from gluten, naturally).

I wasn’t going to have any initially, but it looked too good to pass up, so I went for it.  Some kinds of breads are worth it.  And it didn’t even end up bothering me so it was definitely a good decision.  😉

I pureed the chowder with the immersion blender so it was partially blended but still chunky.  I loved the how much the fresh corn stood out…it was the dominant flavor, nicely enhanced by the herbs and seasonings in the soup mix.  I especially loved the dried peppers!

Big thumbs up for Frontier Soup mixes.  Half of the kids were into it.  Miss V doesn’t like the texture of soup apparently, because she reminded me that this was too much like the carrot soup that she didn’t like.  So apparently there are foods she doesn’t like!  Who knew!  In any event, I gave Kyle a big bowl for his lunch the next day and we STILL have at least 3-4 servings left, so it’s going to be the gift that keeps on giving (which is fine because the rest of us devoured it).

Talk about not judging a book by it’s cover (this is one of the least attractive things I’ve ever photographed!).