The other day I was really not feeling well. That is normal when you live with chronic illness, but that day it was worse. I felt like I was floating through the day in slow motion. It would have been a perfect reason to decide to pick up a cheep dinner. Karen always loves it when I suggest burgers for dinner… 🙂 Today was a Soup for Dinner day!
But as I thought about it, I realized I just needed to handle this day better, even if was slower than usual. Crockpots, slow cookers, and instant pots really can make a slow day a success if you think about it and I decided to get mine out and see what was in the fridge.
I had planned to make chicken for dinner so I found those chicken breasts easily and then checked the crisper drawer and was so thankful that my staples were in there: carrots, celery and mushrooms…and a half an onion from the salad I made the other day. I knew we had a bag of onions on hand. Karen REALLY loves onions so I never let us run out. Then I proceeded to chop that onion and 2 more (onions are so great when you don’t feel good). I chopped 3 medium celery stalks. I took my time with the onions and celery but when I got to the carrots I was getting tired so I let them be a rough chop, in different sizes. I planned to let this cook for 5 hours so I wasn’t worried about the size and I wanted it to feel rustic. When I was done with the carrots, I was thankful that the mushrooms were already sliced and I just removed the plastic wrap and dumped them into the crockpot.
I really didn’t have a plan for the direction I was going but I figured it was a good start. I added a splash of apple cider vinegar, a little butter, some Himalayan Sea Salt, black pepper and a hefty amount of organic garlic powder…I was going to let this cook for a while but I realized that a nap may be in my future so I decided to handle the chicken now. That was easy. Season both sides and threw them on top and put the lid on tight.
I set the crockpot to high and cleaned up my work space a bit. It wasn’t hard. I usually keep a garbage bag handy and wipe things down as I go. Big messes are so much harder to clean and scrubbing makes my shoulders spasm.
As I considered that nap, I decided to just finish it off. I checked out the cupboard. I always have free range chicken broth on hand. Sometimes I have organic condensed cream of mushroom soup ready for days like this too. But lo and behold, Progresso Soup was on an amazing sale the other day and Karen brought home a few cans of Creamy Mushroom soup and I thought…even easier! The can has 2 servings in in and only 130 calories per serving, it also has seasonings and ingredients that go well with what I had already put together, so I dumped it in there, added some Italian Seasoning and set the timer for an hour.
I use crockpot liners when I cook. Because I have fibromyalgia it is hard to scrub a crockpot and usually Karen does it for me. I have found when I cook with the crockpot on high for more than an hour, the liners sometimes break. But one hour is good to get the temperature really going and I wanted that chicken to have a chance to be fully cooked.
An hour later, I came in and gave everything a good stir. I broke up the chicken a little with a metal spoon and turned the crockpot to low.
A few hours later I came back to see how things were going. The chicken was easy to chop with the spoon into more bite sized pieces, which is what I wanted. I gave it a taste and it was a little flat so I added some mustard until I was happy and let it keep cooking until Karen came home from the gym.
When it was time to eat dinner, the place smelled wonderful! I garnished our bowls with a bit of dried parm and romano cheese and we enjoyed a rustic October dinner. Plus we had left overs for 2 more meals! I love it when one meal can be stretched through a few days!
Soup does not have to be hard. It just has to be warm! 🙂
In hindsight, I am glad I didn’t give in to my desire to be lazy about dinner. Fast food does not make me feel good the next day. The high salt, carbs and chemical fillers wrecks me. My system is more sensitive than many people and certain oils and additives cause my arthritis, psoriasis and fibromyalgia to flare up. Many people don’t realize how the quality of food you eat makes a difference for days to come, but my body lets me know. I challenge you to eat out less and eat at home more, make sure you read labels and challenge yourself to learn to cook with less processed and more natural foods, if you aren’t already doing that. Your body will thank you.
I hope this article answered questions you had and was easy to understand. If you would like us to write about a particular topic that you can’t find on this site, please send us an email on our Dear Jamie page and someone from Our Team will be glad to research and write about your topic.
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I hope this article helps Fuel Your Wellness. Please leave your comments below.
Summer D Clemenson is a co-owner Clemenson Enterprises, LLC and Wellness Works NW. Summer her wife, Karen G Clemenson’s personal motto is Creativity, Honesty & Positivity are a must! This mantra helps them stay community and wellness minded in all they do. Summer is an Independent Wellness Advocate at dōTERRA. Summer also writes poetry and inspirational blogs @ GoodTimesAlways.com. Her crochet art can be viewed and purchased @ KnottyWares.com & she loves special orders!
