A Toast to Good Health!

Oh, man!  Ilene and I took our first dose of the mother apple cider vinegar this morning, in hopes of helping her with her cholesterol.  WOW!  I like vinegar, but that about knocked my socks off!  And I burped it for about 4 hours!  But, here's to good health!

It has rained all day today!  It's a good thing it has stopped because we discovered a leak in the bathroom above the sink!  It was running in pretty good, too!  So, Ilene called her roofer.  He will be out to check it tomorrow.

I love the bird house hanging from the clothes line pole.

Clouds filled with rain

Today I fixed a new soup recipe.  It was DELICIOUS!  Here's the recipe and some pictures:

Chicken Alfredo Tortellini Soup
Ingredients:
2 T. unsalted butter
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
4 oz. baby carrots, halved lengthwise and sliced into half-moons
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size cubes
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups reduced-sodium chicken stock
1 cup half and half
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
9 oz. cheese tortellini, fresh or frozen
2 cups freshly shredded parmesan cheese
2 oz. fresh baby spinach

I cut up everything and gathered the ingredients first

Directions:
1.  Warm a large pot over medium-high heat.  Once you can feel the heat when you hold your hand 6 inches above the pot, add the butter and let it melt.  Add the onion and carrots.  Cook the vegetables until the onions are translucent, about 3 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.

Onions and carrots

Then add the chicken, salt and pepper.  Stir to combiine.  Cook for 3 minutes, just to get a little color on the chicken, stirring occasionally.  Don't worry about the chicken being cooked through, because we are going to continue cooking it.

Chicken added

2.  Sprinkle the flour over the chicken and veggies.  Stir to coat everything and continue cooking for 2 to 3 minutes to cook out the floury taste.

Add flour

Stir in the chicken stock, half and half, and the red pepper flakes.

Chicken stock, half and half, and red pepper flakes added.

Continue cooking until the soup thickens, 5 to 10 minutes.

Thickened soup

Add the tortellini to the pot and cook until al dente (has a bite to it), 5 to 7 minutes (frozen tortellini may take a little longer).

I set the tortellini out to thaw while I prepped everything, so by the time I was ready to add it, it was pretty much thawed.

Remove the pot from the heat.  Sprinkle a handful of cheese over the soup and stir.  Once it has melted into the soup, add another handful.

Add the cheese a handful at a time

Slowly melting the cheese will give the soup a smooth consistency.  Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as necessary.

After cheese has melted.

Pour into bowls and garnish with the spinach (which we forgot to do).

YUMMY!  We all had a second bowl!  (We invited Carolyn).

 NOTE:  To reheat cream or cheese soup, warm it in a pot on the stove top over low heat, stirring frequently.  Add milk to loosen the soup.  Cheese or milk-based soups need to be warmed slowly to prevent them from separating or having a grainy texture.

We got this recipe out of The Winston Salem Journal on page D3 on January 3, 2018.


Ilene and I started this puzzle last night and finished it tonight.  It is beautiful!  The trellis was the last  thing added. Seemed like a lot more than 500 pieces!

Wishing you all a great weekend!