I would just like to say that I’m so pleased that my anxiety is at an all time low recently. After my 6 month post-op checkup, I didn’t feel any relief at all, but after a few weeks the relative safety of my life is beginning to sink in and I am starting to acknowledge that I am really cancer free. I don’t want to jinx anything but maybe I do get to catch a break. I’m writing this to remind myself when I decide to read back on this that maintaining positive mental health is so incredibly difficult, and I can say that I’m not constantly in fear anymore not because I’m blessed or because I chose to be happy (I get this advice sooo much, I wonder if people really think I didn’t try?), but because I physically dragged my ass to multiple doctors and costly tests to confirm exactly where I stand, and I maintain a strict and often tiring regimen of nutrition, relaxation and spiritual devotion (yes guys, constantly relaxing your mind when it doesn’t listen can be a tiring task), and i also put in hours and uncountable dollars in therapy. Mental health = hard work! Self care is probably the most thrown around term for moms and also the most garbage advice ever because so many of us can not afford the time for a break or money for therapy. If death had not been around the corner for me, I would have responded to advice of self care with a shot of tequila and called it a night. Seriously, thank you universe for everything that happened. I’m nowhere near finished with project Carrie, but today after my latest therapy session, I’m so proud of myself for finally fixing some pieces that have been broken for years.
The other day my cousin delivered the freshest organic veggies to me directly from a farm, what better to do than to make a stew for my angel baby girl. Honestly I’m so lucky to be spoiled by people who know exactly what I love! Typically a stew should have carrots, onions or leeks and celery, but I only had half a carrot left and i hate buying celery cause I can never finish it, so I made do with whatever I had in the stash. I think that onions and carrots are crucial, after that it would be fine to improvise and substitute with whatever is convenient. Some sort of greens would be helpful, and as always, a greater variety of veggies would enhance the flavors better. So please don’t be confined to any recipe, but be creative with what you have at home!
I don’t eat meat anymore, so tonight I served this to Bevy with rice, and I froze the remainder into 9 separate tubs for some instant meals. If you enjoy chicken, you can enjoy this together with your kids, mixing this with any type of pasta, rice or mashed potatoes.
INGREDIENTS
5 large organic chicken drumsticks
1 red onion cut into strips
2 stalks green onion cut into short lengths
1/2 large carrot cubed
1/2 large potato cubed
1/2 large purple sweet potato cubed
1 tomato cubed
1 cup beans cut into short lengths
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried sage
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp all purpose flour
water (or any type of stock)
1/4 cup plant based milk
parsley for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
In a large pan, brown the drumsticks on high heat on all sides with some oil. Once brown, remove from the pan.
Add all the veggies into the existing oil in the pan, mix till all coated in oil. Add the flour and stir till all veggies are coated, cook for a few minutes.
Add the drumsticks back into the pan, add water or stock until everything is covered, then add all the dried herbs. Turn the heat to high. Once the water is boiling, clamp on the lid and turn the heat to the lowest setting.
Cook on low heat for 1.5 hours or till the chicken falls off the bone. Stir every 10 minutes to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan.
Once chicken is tender, remove the chicken so that you can debone and shred it. Turn the heat to high to reduce the broth to a thick sauce, then add your plant based milk. Once its at your preferred consistency, turn the heat off and add your shredded chicken back to the sauce. Garnish with parsley if you have it.
TIPS
Definitely use drumsticks or else they won’t be so tender for shredding.
By cubing the veggies I mean around 1 inch pieces. Don’t cube them too small or they may dissolve completely when cooking.
If you don‘t eat the chicken skin, remove the skin and skip the browning step, just directly stew the chicken into the veggies.
There is no stock/sodium/wine in this recipe so that your babies can enjoy this dish and also to minimize the groceries I have to buy:) Who the hell enjoys cooking food that’s more expensive than eating out! I still find the flavor really delicious to my liking, so it’s definitely not a baby food recipe. The chicken and veggies flavor the broth very strongly and I suspect that using drumsticks helps the flavor a lot. However if you prefer stronger flavors you can add salt and pepper once it’s all cooked. If even that doesn’t kick it for you, I recommend cooking the chicken in any veggie or chicken stock instead of water.
I use dried herbs and frozen bay leaves to minimize cost and wastage. If you decide to use fresh herbs, double the amount i’ve listed for dried herbs.
I added some hazelnut milk at the end to make it creamier and to boost the calcium in the dish since it’s for my Bevy boo. You can opt to add heavy cream, dairy milk, or omit this completely.
