Day off, plus recipe

Today I had the day off. I lounged around some, and did a little work, too. Called Dad while watching the View, said I didn't know he and Mom were going to be on TV. We are? Yeah, they are showing and doing a make-over for the messiest garage in America. He pretended he couldn't hear me...to be truthful, our garage is lots cleaner then the one on the show.

Ran to the grocery store to get my food for dinner (more on that in a moment). The car ahead of me at one point had alot of bumper stickers. But my favorite was "What would Scooby do?". I thought that was great.

So I am trying some of the food from the magazine Marie Claire's diet "Wine, Chocolate, and Cheese Diet". Yeah, I know. But what they are saying is if you cook your food from fresh ingredients (none of those nasty preservatives) and eat smaller portions while not starving your body of the things it needs, it's okay for you. I thought, well, I can do that. So I tried my first recipe tonight: Potato and Leek Chowder. I doubled the recipe, so I won't be doing this for just a couple meals. If you are interested in the diet, you can find it at http://magazines.ivillage.com/marieclaire/frenchdiet. Its pretty good, so here it is:

Leek and Potato Chowder

Don't know how to handle a leek? Get the easy details here.

• 1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp. unsalted European butter
• 2 cups chopped leeks (white and light-green parts)
• 1 large Yukon Gold potato, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch cubes (cutting the potatoes into small, even cubes ensures that they'll cook evenly and quickly)
• 2 cups (16 fl. oz.) chicken broth, plus additional if desired
• 1/2 tsp. ground sage
• 2 tbsp. unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup half-and-half
• 3 tbsp. chopped fresh chives

1 Add the oil and butter to a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks and cook, stirring constantly for five minutes, or until softened.

2 Raise the heat to medium-high. Add the potatoes, broth, and sage. Cover with lid. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Remove lid.

3 Whisk the flour with the half-and-half until very smooth. Add it to the potato-leek mixture, stirring constantly. Once thoroughly combined, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for five minutes or until slightly thickened.

4 Adjust soup consistency by adding more broth, if desired.

5 Stir in half of the chives. Season to taste with sea salt. Serve topped with remaining chives.

Note: This recipe serves two.

330 calories, 8 g fat, 53 g carbs, 5 g fiber