I couldn’t help but smile as I woke up this morning. Despite the fact that my five year old son yelled “Mmmooomm!!!- Please turn the light on! I can’t pee in the dark and I am scared!” at 6:00 AM on a Sunday, I couldn’t help but smile. How much longer will he need me? How much longer will he cuddle with me and express affection?

I dutifully got out of my cozy, warm bed and turned the bathroom light on. “I will be in your bed, Joshua.”

Sure enough, my son yells again “Mommmmm, where are you?”

“In your bed,” I reply.

“Oh.” Trot, trot, trot, and jump. We are now both in his bed and snuggled deep into his blankets. Sigh.

Of course, the two year old has been woken up, and asks, “Are you ok??” in the sweetest two-year-old toddler voice.

“Yes. Go back to sleep,” was my crisp and short reply. Reassured, the two-year-old chirps happily to himself for the next hour. I stretch, I yawn, and I stumble out of my son’s bed. Coffee, coffee, coffee.

Outside, the snow has covered every pine tree in the neighborhood. As the sun rises, her rays cause thousands of little sparkles to shine brightly as it bounces off the back yard snow. I wish I could send this picture to my blog page. It’s just beautiful.



After to attending to my children’s needs, I switch gears and put my cooking hat on. Let’s be practical today. It’s time for comfort food and time for using up leftovers. Since I have two gigantic pieces of grilled chicken, I will attempt to make Chicken Stew, Chicken Salad, spinach and artichoke dip, and bread in the bread machine. As I have said before, I am NOT THE gourmet cook. I am the typical “let’s buy the box” cook. My cooking skills have been improving, however, and if you are like me, then you might just benefit from my simple and easy recipes.



The chicken stew recipes is as follows:

One bunch of celery

One large can of Swanson Natural Goodness Chicken Broth

¾ of one large red onion (diced

Leftover fresh parsley (about 1/3 of a bunch)

Salt

Minced garlic

½ pound of baby carrots

Olive oil

Optional spices: ground coriander seed, curry powder

Arrowroot powder (thickener)

White rice

2 small bay leaves

I sautéed the red onion in olive oil. I just love the sweetness of the red onion. Next, I added salt and garlic, warmed it up for a minute, and then turned off the heat. I chopped my celery and parsley and then added them to the crock-pot. I cut my grilled chicken (previously cooked with salt, garlic powder and turmeric) into bite size pieces and added it to the crock-pot. I suspect I should have salted the celery, but didn’t. I placed the onion and garlic mixture on top, and then poured in the chicken broth. Finally, add the bay leaves, set the crock-pot on low, and walk away.

While the crock-pot is cooking, I attended to the children. Once they were happy, (Ezekiel raisin toast for breakfast – lightly toasted – and apples), then I made the dip.

One can of artichoke hearts

Fresh spinach

Minced garlic (1 tsp)

Salt

Dairy free mayonnaise from the health food store

Drain artichoke hearts; add all ingredients and pureee in a blender. I must say, I prefer the simple olive oil, garlic and salt to the dairy free mayonnaise. However it is still quite edible and tastes delicious with BTD compliant corn chips (read those labels.) In fact, many generic versions are BTD compliant and quite cheap. Throw in a chunk of farmer cheese and you have a quick and easy lunch. Personally, I prefer more spinach than artichoke.

If there is one piece of advice I could give to newbie Moms: Focus on the dips and the raw vegetables. Black bean dip (A,O) Spinach and Artichoke dip (A,O), etc. If you don’t have the Cook for your Blood type book, please pick one up! There’s nothing faster than compliant cheese, chips, raw veggies and dip!

Time to check on the chicken stew. Practical Tip: Offer your children a taste of your stew BEFORE YOU SPICE IT UP. When you do spice it, place a ladle full in a bowl first and add a small amount of beneficial spice. My two year old liked the ground coriander seed, but did not like the curry. I offered him a bowl full with rice (My two-year-old hates all soups. I am guessing that it is still too difficult for him to eat soup, ergo add the rice!)



The carrots were nowhere near done and if I had been in a hurry, I would have set the crock-pot on high. Since I have all the time in the world today, keeping it on low should provide a delicious dinner. Regarding rice: in the past I have cooked rice in the crock pot (white rice) and it has taken about two hours. But in my opinion, it just tastes better on the stove. What’s fifteen minutes anyway at the end of the day?

It’s about noon at this point, and I am happily blogging away. After resting with a hot cup of coffee and some leftover muffins, I am going to make pumpkin almond bread in my bread machine and assemble a week full of snacks. The pumpkin almond bread recipe is in the earlier book I mentioned, and I am using roasted almonds, macadamia nuts, (expensive, but on sale) dried cherries, raisins, and dried pineapple for my trail mix snacks. I bought those teeny tiny snack plastic bags for the very first time. We are going to stuff a huge bowl full of these trail mixes and take care of snack time in the process.



At the end of the day, I will have had a very productive BTD day with relatively little work. I’m even going to get a nap in today. Cooking day bliss…