What to make on a nice chilly evening for dinner for my beloved? Well, first, I was so excited about all the fresh vegetables we had, and the artichoke straight from the garden! In one pyrex:

• Sliced Shiitake mushrooms
• button baby portobello mushrooms
• green asparagus
• white asparagus
• already poached artichoke

Add chicken. I had always learned from my mother that Kosher chickens are the tastiest. She has her reasons why. I, personally, think it is because they have been brined in kosher salt water for a couple of days. I bought an organic chicken and made my own brine with kosher salt and water, mixed in a glass bowl, and let the chicken soak in it for 1 1/2 days. This morn, I took it out, rinsed it well and dried it and left it in a bag in the frig. This afternoon when I had time, I made the seasoning, rubbed it under the skin and all over the top, and baked with all the goodies. Holy Cow! Really!

This is the raw chicken nicely seasoned and ready to bake–

The seasoning was made of chopped fresh rosemary from my garden, mashed with fresh garlic, kosher salt, lemon juice and zest, and extra virgin olive oil. Then sprinkled turmeric and paprika on top. My mom says everything looks better with colorful spices like paprika! That’s it. So amazingly beautiful and aromatic!

I also added some of the above oil blend on top of the veggies, and especially the cut artichoke.

Baked in the oven on 350 for about one hour.

Took it out and tented with some foil while I heated my carrot ginger soup.

            Carrot-Ginger soup was very easy and I made it the other day in between clients while I was working.

• sautéed cut onions
• sautéed cut up carrots
• small amount cut up ginger
• sea salt to taste

Cook in pan, season with salt, wait til nicely wilted. Add filtered water, (if you want you can add a natural vegetable bullion cube, or chicken broth, or just water.) Season it as you would like or leave it as is. Cook til soft. Puree in Vitamix or with immersion blender. Season with sea salt and pepper if you desire. That’s it!

What a nice dinner we had tonite. I lit candles and we sat and ate together enjoying each others company before I travel in a few days. Meanwhile, we have dinner of all sorts for this week that can be lovingly changed into other magical meals.

Steamed artichokes that I cut, seasoned with chopped garlic, lemon, sea salt, and olive oil. Then baked. Yum!

Kitty and Malka hoping for handouts. They know a good one when they see it!

 –Lovingly, Elinor