Kelly's "Feel Better" Tomato Soup

Well it is three in the morning and I'm wide awake.   Since the knee surgery 24 days ago I've struggled to sleep more than six hours a night.  I have yet to figure out why my knee gives me trouble when I'm sleeping!  Going to sleep is no problem but I always wake up close to three with a swollen and tender knee.  It doesn't matter if I've stayed off my leg all day or had an active day with the limited chores I can accomplish.

Saturday night I started to feel run down.  Most likely the lack of sleep catching up.

Prior to being on a primal diet (pre March 2011), just two or three days with rough sleep I would have been sick with the sniffles, grouchy or physically exhausted.  Scientifically speaking I cannot provide anything more than my observations but my body feels more resilient to illness and adapts better to life's variations.  My three year old started preschool this summer so I'm getting plenty of germ exposure yet this is the first summer in a long time where I have not had a summer cold.

Now back to Saturday night.  So I am tired and around eight pm I develop a crazy craving for tomato soup.  At the same time I'm feeling blah my good friends little girl Kelly, a spunky little five year old red head, is developing a fever of 102. Unfortunately we live on different coasts of the US.  Dropping off an extra batch just isn't easy.  So I'll name this recipe after her so she knows I'm thinking about her.  On a side note, her fever broke the next day and she is feeling better.

Now I dislike raw tomatoes.  I can handle them in salsa, but to eat them like an apple, on a sandwich or burger - ick ick ick.  Needless to say, we don't have any fresh tomatoes in our house.  Even the smell makes me shiver with ickyness (is that even a word).

But I do like cooked tomatoes.  I buy canned, organic tomatoes.  Maybe this summer I'll try stewing some if I can get past the smell.  I really like Fresh and Easy's Roasted Tomatoes.  The price is right and the can lid is a pop off...no can opener needed.

Normally I would use homemade bone broth and fresh basil.  But I needed something quick, at 8pm cooking with only one good leg.

Ingredients:
2 TBSP butter or coconut oil (I used coconut)
3 cloves of garlic chopped
2 TBSP Italian Seasoning (I prefer fresh basil)
2 cans roasted tomatoes
1 can of chicken stock (part of my emergency earthquake kit)
1 cup of cream (or milk)
1 handful of shredded cheese
salt/pepper

1. Oil in pot, medium heat and add garlic.  Cook for about a minute.  Add Italian Seasoning and mix into oil.
2. Open cans of tomatoes and stock - slowly add to oil/garlic/seasoning (may splatter!).  Turn heat up to high and once the liquid boils turn down to a simmer.  Cover.
3. Cook for 30 mins.  Add milk/cream.
4. Blend smooth.  I use an immersion blender to smooth out the veggies and stock.  If you don't have an immersion blender, #1 BUY ONE, #2 blend small batches in your blender until smooth.
4. Serve in a bowl, garnish with a handful of cheddar cheese and a few twists of black pepper.

Now cross your fingers I can get back to sleep.

Herb crusted pork loin so easy you can cook it standing on one leg

On July 21 I had knee surgery.  What was suppose to be simple turned slightly complicated.  In the end I sustained two arthroscopic snake bite scars and an additional two inch, unplanned, scar.  My inner meniscus, think cushion between the femur/tib fib, was 40% removed.  The outer meniscus was discovered to be torn and luckily sewn back together.  And two ligaments, which help stabilize the knee, had the slack taken in.  I've been waiting for surgery since April and glad it is over...however my recovery is really just beginning.

Recognizing I would be an impact on my wonderful wife, N, the night before surgery I grilled six rib eyes (scotch steaks for my aussie followers), about ten pounds of veggies, a packet of bacon and found a batch of homemade bone broth spinach soup in the freezer.  Last thing I wanted her to worry about was cooking for me.  And after all, I knew I'd be up and back to normal within a few days - wishful thinking.  (If you are interested in hearing more about my knee, read on.  Otherwise scroll down to learn about the awesome herb crusted pork loin I cooked while supported by crutches.)

In a way, knee surgery has been a nice treat.  Fresh cup of coffee when I wake up in the morning. and on demand during the day (always said please).  Breakfast/lunch/dinner in bed.  Even better, breakfast in bed with my 3 year old while watching Cars or Beauty and the Beast on the laptop.  Not being responsible for cleaning up the kitchen, loading dishes, grocery shopping.  Being driven around since the pain meds make me a little loopy.

After being cooped up in the house for ten days I got to go grocery shopping with the family.  I hobbled into the store on my crutches and asked the clerk if I could use the electric cart.  My 3 year old jumped on my lap/good leg and we cruised around picking up the items from our list.  Cruising down the "expires today" sale area I found a two pound pork loin for three bucks and change.  I was craving a meat dish with a crunchy, salty coating.  And a pork loin is so easy I knew I could do it while balancing on one leg.

Ingredients: (Serves 4 if you add a salad or other veggie)

1.5-2lb pork loin
2 cloves of garlic chopped
Parmesan cheese (I used pre grated tonight)
Italian seasoning mix
Extra virgin olive oil
Coarse sea salt
Pepper
Spicy mustard
1/4 stick butter
1 head of cauliflower

Based on my mobility I did not scientifically measure this recipe's ingredients.  Trust your gut and just wing it.

Preheat oven to 425.

Start heating an oven safe pan on the stove over medium heat. I'm using my trusty cast iron  Add the butter and after it melts pour one swish around the pan of olive oil.

Mix Parmesan, garlic, italian seasoning, few twists of salt n pepper together in a bowl.  Don't skimp on the salt.



Mix olive oil and two sandwich size squeezes of mustard in another large bowl. Coat the loin in this liquid.

Transfer loin into large bowl with dried ingredients. Using your hands massage the dry ingredients onto the pork loin. Once your are confident it is coated enough transfer the loin into the pan with hot oil/butter.  

Cook in pan about two minutes and gently turn over when the crust gets crusty.

About two minutes later place in the oven.  I recommend you insert a meat thermometer prior to transferring to oven.


Bake for five minutes while you prepare the cauliflower.  


During the five minutes break apart the cauliflower into small trees (as J calls them). 


Remove Pan from oven, add cauliflower around loin.

I coat the cauliflower with olive oil when it's in the pan but you could toss the cauliflower on olive oil prior to adding to pan. Quick twist of salt n pepper.

Bake another 20 minutes or until the meat thermometer reads 165. Take out of oven, remove and rest meat for five minutes. 

Leave cauliflower in pan,  mix around in the oil and seasonings and put back in the oven while the meat rests for five minutes.

Remove from oven, slice pork and serve with cauliflower.  Fresh grated parmesan made the cauliflower superb.  

Don't be afraid to scrape the drippings off the bottom of the pan.  You could remove all the cauliflower and deglaze the pan with wine, whiskey or cream.  That would have been awesome on top of the pork.


Sorry about the weird formatting of the photos and text.  I initially wrote my narrative on my iPhone but during the cut and paste blogger started doing some weird formatting.