Gray Hair and Barefoot Contessa's Chicken Mexican Soup

OK...Before I talk about my gray hair, I need to update you on my body's weird electrical field problem.  Since I diagnosed myself with the disease (I am a RN remember), I have had TWO more incidents since my last blog post.  The replacement computer at home has had two more BLUE screens that say something like dump program when it goes down.  Then at school on Wednesday, the power went out three times, and we had to go into a shelter in place which meant we had to hold the students in our classrooms so they would not be out in the hallways if the power went out again!!  Can you imagine that scenario?  I looked at my fellow teacher when the power went out and said "OK...I really think I caused this!  This is too weird.  There is not a cloud in the sky!"  She said "You DO NOT have anything wrong with you!"  Her tone of voice and weird suspicious look in her eye led me to believe that she really might think I do have something wrong with me.  I will keep you posted.

On to the gray hair.  I started graying in my 30's.  I will never forget when I first came face to face with this event in my life.  Little Food Police (she was about 10 or 11 at the time) was a member of a dance studio that loved to compete.  We were headed to Atlanta for one of the thousands of dance competitions she participated in.  I was exhausted from teaching school all week and proceeded to lay the front seat down to take a nap.  Little Food Police was in the back seat pretending to mind her own business.   I drift off to a beautiful wonderful sleep and begin dreaming.  In my dream, something is stinging my head like little bees or ants.  My RN side says "Uh oh something is wrong with your brain.  Maybe you are having a stroke!"  So I wake myself up to see if I can move all four of my extremities.  I can, but I am still feeling these little pricking sensations in my head.  I gather my wits and then realize that Little Food Police is pulling my hair out strand by strand.  I sat up and said "What do you think you are doing?"  She said "I am getting rid of all this gray hair for you Mom!"  Good grief!  I asked her how many she had pulled and she said "Twelve!"  Heaven help me, but I told her to keep going. 

I always said that I would never be one of "those" women who colors their hair.  Well, I lied like a dog.  The gray started growing in like a skunk's tail.  I had a stripe of gray down the middle of my head.  So, at first, my hairdresser parted my hair on another side so it would camoflauge the gray.  But it kept expanding its territory.  Then she uttered the words "I think you are going to have to color your hair!"  By then, I had changed my tune.  I said "Bring it on!"  I did not realize how expensive coloring your hair was though.  It was almost $100.00 each time I had to color and at the rate my gray was coming in, that was about every 6 weeks.  I started feeling guilty for spending the money. 

And then I remembered....Daddy had been coloring my mother's hair for years.  I had always thought how trusting she was to let Daddy, of all people, put chemicals on her head.  But her hair was always gorgeous except for the time her sister - my Aunt Susie - turned Mama's hair orange.  There was a big scene at the house that day.  Something happened with the peroxide I heard.  I started thinking if my Daddy can do this, my Husband Fred surely can.  I broached the subject with him stressing how much money he would save, and of course, he said he would try it.  Can I just say that he could have a second job as a cosmetologist.  He is good - so meticulous, so methodical.  The family now calls him "Chez Freeda".  We were at a friend's house one night and she said "I love your color!  Who does it?"  I responded "Oh Chez Freeda honey!"  She then asked "Would you mind telling me where she works?  I want to go to her!"  I couldn't stop laughing, and when I told her where Chez Freeda worked, I think she honestly was serious about him doing her hair.  I thought "Oh no Sister.  Get your own husband to do your hair!  This one is mine!"  HeeHee!

I now have to make an appointment with Chez Freeda to color my hair because he is so busy with the radio station, and I am not joking.  At the last appointment which is in the den on a stool with newspaper surrounding us, I asked him if the gray was still progressing throughout my hair.  And he responded "Yeah...It looks like it is really taking off!"  OK...I got steamed.  You refer to airplanes "taking off", "taking off" pounds, "taking off" on a vacation or even "taking off" from work but NEVER EVER use the phrase "taking off" in reference to your wife's gray hair.  He apologized, and I accepted it with the understanding that he will from now on lie like a dog when I ask that question.  I have an appointment tomorrow, by the way, with Chez Freeda.  I can't wait, and he better lie!

On to the recipe...It is the last recipe I am cooking out of Barefoot Contessa at Home.  It is her Mexican Chicken Soup, and it is good good Clark!  For those of you wondering who Clark is, it is Clark Griswold from the Christmas Vacation movie.  He has a dumb cousin Eddie who uses that phrase, and for some reason, I feel a need to always say that when something is good.  Oh, but I digress.  I will make this recipe again and again and again.  It has some of the best flavor in a soup that I have had in a long time besides Paula's Old Fashioned Vegetable Beef Soup.  It is a keeper.

You will need chicken breasts, onion, celery, carrots, garlic, chicken stock, whole tomatoes in puree, jalapeno pepper, cumin, coriander, cilantro and white corn tortillas.

Chop up 2 cups of onions and carrots and 1 cup of celery.  It seemed weird for carrots and celery to be in a Mexican soup but Barefoot knows what she is doing!  Saute the veggies in olive oil for 10 minutes.

Chop up 4 cloves of garlic and add to the vegetables after they have cooked for 10 minutes.  Cook the garlic for just 30 seconds.

Chop up a jalapeno pepper after removing the seeds and membrane.

You know how they always tell you to wash your hands after handling jalapenos.  Well, I guess I didn't, and I touched the inside of my conjunctiva (nurse term for lining of the eye).  I have never felt so much pain in my life.  I felt like I was going to throw up it hurt so bad.  I had to flush my eye out with water for 10 minutes.  It is still red!!  I have learned a valuable lesson today.

You also chop up some cilantro.  Publix did not have cilantro, but they did have this new product in a bag called Culantro.  It is a hybrid that supposedly lasts longer in the fridge and tolerates heat better.  It tastes just like Cilantro.  That is so weird to me.

This is what it looks like.  Strange.  What is also strange is that in order to taste cilantro properly, you have to have a specific gene.  If you don't have the gene, it tastes like soap.  How weird is that?!  Thanks Kristey Fry and Allie Shelton for enlightening me on that subject.  I don't know if you have to have a gene for Culantro though!!

You also cut up 6 corn tortillas into strips.  These smelled so good!

You add the tomatoes, chicken stock, jalapeno, cilantro/culantro, cumin, coriander and torillas to the veggies and simmer for 25 minutes.  When that has cooked, you add the chicken and salt and pepper for taste. 

When done, you ladle it into a bowl and top with broken tortilla chips, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and slices of avocado.  It is sooooooooooooooo good!  I want some more right now!

Here is the recipe....

Mexican Chicken Soup

Barefoot Contessa at Home

4 chicken breasts

2 c chopped onions

1 c chopped celery

2 c chopped carrots

4 large garlic cloves, chopped

2 1/2 quarts chicken stock

1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes in puree, crushed

2 - 4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced  (I used just one)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/4-1/2 c chopped fresh cilantro (Culantro)

6 (6-in) corn tortillas

Toppings:  Sliced avocado, sour cream, Cheddar cheese, and tortilla chips

Rub the chicken breasts with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Roast the chicken at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Cover and set aside.

Heat 3 tbs olive oil in a large pot.  Add the onions, celery, and carrots and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the chicken stock, tomatoes with their puree, jalapenos, cumin, coriander, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, cilantro if using, and the tortilla strips.  Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes.  Add the shredded chicken and season to taste.  Serve the soup toppeds with sliced avocado, a dollop of sour cream, Cheddar cheese, and broken tortilla chips.

Now go have a great day!!