Eating Well, Means Living Well

Ajiaco! 
Finally I learned how to make my favorite Colombian soup: Ajiaco Santafereño.

Last weekend my adoptive mother taught me how to make a soup that can solve all problems if given a chance. Potatoes, chicken, corn on the cob, and a hand-full of things I am not sure how to translate into English.

 

Cook, serve with rice, avocado and of course a glass of freshly made fruit juice.

I will post the recipe here one day soon. In the mean time, I will just taunt you with the pictures.

 Inspired again to cook, after two weeks of not even walking due to a fractured heal bone, I am back in the kitchen, with a vengeance.

Roast chicken, potatoes, apples, celery and HERBS, lots of herbs.

A treat every night, and sometimes when ever I have a hankering:
Homemade yogurt with Maple syrup.

I have been making yogurt since I moved to Colombia and couldn't find plain yogurt (without the fruit and added sugar etc). So I learned how to make it... very simple and comforting. Delicious too.

 It may not look like much, but that is why we don't eat pictures of food, we eat the food itself.

 Chicken last weekend was such a hit, that is was time for another this weekend.
During the week I don't always have the time to cook and this week, in particular will be hectic getting my photo exhibition printed, hung, publicized etc. So I thought in the quiet hours of my Saturday afternoon and my lazy midday Sunday that I would cook up a storm, so I can fuel my week well.
I know the junk that I eat when there are not enough homemade options. I know how I feel when I eat that. And this is not a week for that. This is a week for hard work, celebration, self-care and good eats.

Saturday I roasted some potatoes that have already served as all or some of 4 meals and I have one more portion to repeat this (Sunday breakfast) for Monday Lunch.










And so the cooking continues: I have to get myself through Thursday without making another meal besides my morning fruit smoothies (which I indulge in because I live in a tropical climate where fresh, local, delicious fruit is in abundance).

So one more meal came about because of what I had in my fridge.
Broccoli Goat Cheese Quiche- crust made from scratch
I made the goat cheese last weekend- that is remarkably easy too. Another post forthcoming.

So 45 minutes later (from start to oven) I have a

dish that will feel me for the rest of the week. This is what it looked like on the way into the oven...

it is cooling now. The sun will set soon and my afternoon ritual of eating dinner on my balcony to watch the day end will be hosted by a delicious slice of this.

* For someone who speaks so disparagingly about "food porn," at least in this post, I may well be guilty myself.