Fusion Soup and Happy St. Pat's Day!

Ok, enough serious posts for a while. You’ll be pleased to know that I’m over my November Zucchini Funk. It lasted all the way into February, which is why I visited the therapist three weeks ago. Nothing makes a person feel better than going in and whining for an hour non-stop to someone who listens, tells you your feelings are valid and hands you tissues.

Poor thing, she looked exhausted when I was done. I don’t know how therapists do it. I’d be leaping out of my chair ready to strangle people, which is why I did not choose psychiatry as a career path. But I’m really glad nicer, more patient people did.

And now, thanks to massive guilt over not being as hard a worker as my dad, and a self-help book called, “The Success Principles,” by Jack Canfield,  I am a new woman. I’m all fired up to start this biscotti business and not take no for an answer. Remind me I said this when I’m covered in flour and whining in a few months.

I’m going to the gym in the mornings, exercising, practicing swimming, practicing Italian, working on this biscotti thing now, and only watching Netflix maybe an hour a week. Pretty soon I may even be able to swim and breathe at the same time. Who knew all you had to do was actually get up when your alarm goes off at 5:30?

Now that I’m furiously busy, I needed a break from trying to come up with a good name for my biscotti company and had to clean out my refrigerator, so I decided to make some soup. I made chicken soup with whatever I found in the refrigerator. I used a Costco chicken carcass which hadn’t been skeletonized by my kids yet, green onions, bok choy, garlic, leftover Italian sausage I’d cooked for breakfast, celery, 14 dried tortellinis, tomato puree with basil, and some Aroma Italian seasoning. (Remember? That’s the one that makes your kitchen smell like the Italian store.).

My son tasted it, said it was amazing and asked what was in it. I told him and he immediately said, “Oh, it’s fusion.” I said, “No, it’s leftovers,” but fusion sounds so much cooler, I’m going with it. Maybe I’ll start twisting my hair up and putting chopsticks in it so I can look like those cool chefs with food trucks.

What I love about this soup is you can put it on the stovetop, throw everything in and walk away, which is what I do most of the time because I’m always distracted by the 25 other things I’m doing.

Oh, and Happy St. Paddy’s Day! 

I will be wearing green in honor of my mom, who was clearly not Irish, but loved St. Patrick’s day. It combined three of her favorite things: pots of gold, magic leprechauns and a saint. I wish you luck today because luck, combined with a lot of hard work, can turn a whole life around.

Today’s soup is hardly Irish, but it’s made from leftovers and since the Irish suffered during the potato famine and were probably into leftovers, the soup ties right in. (There’s a stretch if ever I saw one.) Just tell them it’s “fusion.” You’ll be OK

Frans “Fusion” Chicken Soup
1 Costco chicken carcass – they are great (hopefully with some meat on it’s bones)
8 cups water
6 green onions chopped into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup chopped celery (leaves and stems)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
6 baby bok choy
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 teaspoon (or more) Aroma Seasoning
1 1/2 cooked Italian sausages cut in half lengthwise then chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cup dried tortellini or about 14
1/2 cup of tomato puree with basil

Put the chicken in a pot with the celery, onions and water. Cook it over medium heat covered about 45 minutes.  Rinse the bok choy and cut it into about 1 inch pieces.  Place it in a frying pan and saute it with the minced garlic and olive oil until wilted.  Add it to the soup.  Add the Aroma seasoning, chopped sausage, tortellini and tomato.  Let the soup boil for about ten minutes so the tortellini cook and the flavors mingle.  Serve hot with grated parmesan or romano cheese. (This probably makes about six servings. You could double the recipe and use a whole chicken with lots of meat for more soup.)