NaBloPoMo Comfort Food: No-Mac and Cheese, or Chard with Cannelini

It poured outside today.  And, as luck would have it, I have a newly acquired accessory: an air cast boot.

I re-sprained my ankle yesterday at the Y.  Not doing anything particularly extraordinary; just doing some aerobic exercise in my favorite class.  But I could kick myself, because I'm in the last stretch of workout time before I start a new job (yes, you read that right; I will be employed) on July 8.

(The good news is that at our CSA today, our amazing farmer actually pre-picked the pick-your-own strawberries himself in the rain so we wouldn't have to stand out there and get sopping wet ourselves.  My ankle and I were both grateful beyond words, and I told him I loved him.  I'm not sure he really took me seriously.) 

Of course, I can't exactly go running with a boot on my foot.  Which is probably for the best anyway; my attempt to recover too quickly the first time may have contributed to the re-injury.   For a week or so now I've been feeling like my ankle was weak, or my foot was hurting in a strange way, but I figured if I ignored it, I would feel stronger, or it would just go away.  Well, it didn't.

Unfortunately, it's a metaphor for the way I do lots of things.  Not just working through the pain, but ignoring the signals to slow down, to rest, to heal the right way.  And of course, if you don't heal right, you're at a greater risk for re-injury.

Which is my way of telling myself, "I told you so."

I was asking my therapist tonight (for what was probably the tenth time) when I was going to be done with therapy.  ("Wait," you say, "you never told us you were in therapy."   "Yes," I counter, "I didn't tell you until today that I got a job, either."  Touche.)  And essentially she replied (also for the tenth time) that we don't change overnight, that sometimes we need constant reinforcement and support during change, especially if we've been living with a skewed perspective on things for a long time.  It wasn't the answer I was hoping for.

Tomorrow I'm going to ask you about your thoughts on forgiveness.  But today, for once, I'm going to go to bed before midnight.  Because sleep is one way of taking care of mind and body.  And it's something I don't do enough of.

The funny thing is, had I known that it was going to be this kind of day, I might have saved the sausage I had in the refrigerator for Sausage, Chard, and White Bean soup.  Instead, we had this.  Which was probably as close to comfort food as I could get out of an early-June CSA box.

Swiss Chard and White Beans with Mascarpone
aka "noMac and Cheese"
Adapted from Sprout and Pea 

1 c. veg­etable broth
2 T olive oil
1 large onion (finely chopped)
2 cloves gar­lic (finely chopped)
1 head chard (leaves julienned, stems cut into 1/​4" dice)
2 cans can­nellini beans (rinsed)
4 T. mas­car­pone cheese
2 T. lemon juice
1 T. lemon zest (or to taste)
1/4 t. thyme
salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, add onion, gar­lic and the stems of the chard. Cook for about 5 min­utes, stir­ring occa­sion­ally, until soft­ened.  Microwave the vegetable broth until it barely begins to simmer, and add to the vegetables.  Cook and stir until the broth is almost evaporated.

Add chard leaves, can­nellini. Cook and stir for a cou­ple of min­utes, adding water if it begins to look too dry, until the chard breaks down well.  Add mas­car­pone cheese, lemon juice, lemon zest and thyme. Sea­son with to taste with salt and pepper.