Monday, Monday

Yep, a crazy Monday. Hubby had a very difficult night and a morning that would be tough under normal circumstances. Commercials that had been made before surgery needed to be revised, pain meds were not working for him, and a relative needed to be here overnight (not a good night for that) which is difficult when you're trying to get through pain and physical therapy. But we love her, and she was good about being as unobtrusive as possible.



After talking to the doc today, we figured out that since Hubby was on pain medication for over a month before surgery, he was somewhat immune to the benefits of it after surgery. No wonder he has been hurting so. Anyway, he was told to back off on the physical therapy and laps around the house with the walker (!) and we have a new prescription that should help him through the next couple of weeks. Whew!



I did want to pass on a recipe that we tried over a week ago that we absolutely loved!!! I pre-warn those people who don't care for fennel...


It's got FENNEL! This recipe came from the Cuisine at Home mag that comes just often enough that we look forward to the new issues!

I also want to pass along the fact that this week, in southern AZ, we have been fortunate enough to be experiencing temperatures in the 80's!!! So this was a perfect evening meal for us.

Chicken Salad with Orange & Fennel

1/2 cup mayonnaise (we used light mayonnaise)

1/4 cut Greek yougurt or plain yogurt (we used plain)

2 Tbs. orange juice

Zest of 1/2 an orange

4 cups diced, cooked chicken

1 cup halved red grapes

3/4 cup diced fennel bulb

1/4 cup slivered almonds. toasted (we used pine nuts cuz we had 'em)

2 Tbs. chopped fennel fronds

1 Tbs. chopped fresh tarragon

kosher salt & pepper ( we used whatever we had)

Mixed greens (we used aragula)

Whisk mayonnaise, yogurt, orange juice, and zest gtogether in a bowl. Stir in chicken, grapes, diced fennel, almonds, fennel fronds. and tarragon. Season salad with salt and pepper.

Serve immediatel on a bed of mixed greens, or cover and chill.

I guess if you are freezing in the east, or just plain cold, this might make a nice salad to go along with a big bowl of steaming hot soup!