Peruvian aguadito – quinoa, chicken & coriander soup

Lately I have been very mishkabibbled. It is a word my husband uses and roughly translated it means out of sorts, anxious, discombobulated and uncertain. Whether this is an actual word or a word he has made up I am not 100% sure.

It appears to be a corruption of ishkabibble which also has a complicated history but a different meaning altogether. Anyway, he swears this was used in Montreal when he was growing up – I think he has coined a new word.

Either way this word, real or made up, perfectly encapsulates my state of being. I am currently at home doing bits of freelance work and also working on recipes and blogposts. This sounds great until you add a little background information.

Every day there’s 2-5 builders drilling, hammering, tearing down walls and tracking mud in and out of the house as they work on the kitchen. The incessant noise and mess make my head hurt literally and figuratively. I feel as if I can’t hear myself think, my train of thought constantly interrupted.

But as Robert Frost said ‘the best way out is always through’ which, in this case, means I just have to ride the chaos and disruption until we have a lovely new kitchen in place. And in the meantime muddle through and stop being mishkabibbled!

Publishing a new post always makes me feel like I have achieved something and this recipe for Peruvian Aguadito caught my eye in a book I was sent to review, Tori Haschka’s Cut the Carbs: 100 Recipes to Help You Ditch White Carbs and Feel Great.

What I really liked about this book, is that Tori doesn’t demonise carbs but instead explains why she had stop relying on them (following an illness) and provides varied and accessible recipes that exclude the big four whites (bread, potatoes, rice and pasta).

While I feel that the book is slightly let down by the photography or, possibly, the printing, there’s lots of recipes that look and sound appetising without making you feel deprived – Peach pulled pork with dirty quinoa, White bean colcannon with sticky braised beef even several dessert options that aren’t entirely fruit-based. If you are looking to cut carbs or realign your eating habits this book has some great ideas.