Chipotle Black Bean Rice Soup

A Hubby's Fav - Great for a crowd that likes something new and different!!

pic borrowed from HERE

Adapted From Green Smoothie Girl

Ingredients:

1 C Dried Black Beans, (soaked overnight and rinsed well) or 1 can

1/2 Tbs Coconut Oil

1 Small Yellow Onion, chopped

1 Carrot, Diced

1 medium Green Pepper, seeded and chopped

2 Cloves Garlic, minced

1/2 Tbs Dried Oregano

1/2 Tbs Ground Cumin

1/2 tsp powdered Chipotle (or less, its PRETTY spicy!)

1 LARGE dry chipotle Pepper

4-5 Cups Water

2 Bay Leafs

1/4 C Spelt or Barley

1/2 C Brown Rice

1/2 Tbs unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 C Fresh Orange Juice

Large Handful of chopped Cilantro

2-3 tsp Sea Salt

1 Tbs Apple Cider Vinegar

Heat Oil. Add onion, carrot, pepper, and garlic. Suate until soft. Add cumin, chipotle powder, and Oregano and cook one minute. Add Chipotle Pepper, water, Bay Leafs, Spelt, Rice and bring to  boil. Then lower heat and Simmer for 1-2 hours, until beans are tender. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Remove Chipotle Pepper and Bay leaf before serving.

To serve, we squeezed each bowl with a little more orange juice, lots of Greek Yogurt (to help with the spiciness), fresh cilantro, and diced Avocado.

Enjoy!

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Gourmet Tomato Soup With Gluten Free Flat Bread

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. olive oil
4 tsp. minced garlic
1 cup coarsely chopped leeks
4 pounds chopped tomatoes (or canned)
3 1/2 cups vegetables stock
1 1/2 cups white wine
1 7-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 Bay Leaves
2 tbsp. fresh thyme leaves, or 2 tsp. dried
6 tbsp. tomato paste
1/3 cup coconut Milk

Saute Leeks and garlic in oil. Add the rest of the ingredients,
 except for coconut milk.
Bring to boil, then down to a simmer for 15-20 minutes. Stir in Coconut milk and
continue to simmer until flavors have blended. Add Salt and pepper, garnish with
parsley, and serve.


Gluten Free Flat Bread
Recipe from Whole Life Nutrition.

I followed the recipe, used a little buckwheat for the rice and left out the baking
powder. It made for a nice flat bread!! I used it the next day for pizza!

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Vegetable Tomato Soup

Yum! Perfect for a rainy day!

This was perfect with my newly made wheat thins crackers.

picture credit runswithspatula

1 Tbl Olive Oil

1 Large Yellow Onion, chopped

4 Stalks Celery, chopped

3 medium carrots chopped

1/2 Cup Sherry Wine

2 Cans Vegetable Broth

1 Can Cannelli Beans, rinsed and drained

2 bay leaves

2 tsp Cumin

1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning

1/2 tsp Kosher Salt

1) Cook onion, celery, and carrot in large stock pot with oil. Cook until soft. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to boil. Simmer about 30 minutes. Check seasonings. 

Top with prepared pesto or cilantro as garnish if you like.

Serve with Rolls or Home Made Wheat Thins!!

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New Year Goals -Simple Resolutions

So hopefully after the month of January we are all back on the eating track. I do good... until February - with two birthdays and V day, its NOT EASY! 

I thought I would compile a little list of simple rejuvenating tips.

• DRINK WATER (ONLY WATER) - especially right when you wake up. Adding a squeeze of lemon is even better
• Change up your workout routine! Try different types of cardo and take at least a couple days a week to do resistance (weight) training.
•  Eat on smaller plates!! This makes smaller portion sizes a lot easier. Try to refrain from snacking off the kids plates too! (that's my BIGGEST problem!)
• Stand more often, sit less!
• Use fruit or veggie purees. Replace butter, oil, and sugar with pumpkin, banana, sweet potato, applesauce, or prune puree. 
• Drink more herbal tea Gum (I'm obsessed with extra dessert delights mint chocolate chip!!) and curve snack cravings!
• Sleep is crucial. Good luck on that - I'm always tired.  :)
• Put aside time each week for you! Work on crafts, blog, or pinterest (this can be addicting though!)
• Eat Less meat. If this is hard for you - opt for one day a week you will try it out!
• Substitute Reduced-fat Greek fat yogurt. I replace mayo and Sour Cream all the time with this stuff!
• Eat Breakfast!! Whole grains or even a boiled egg with protein helps regulate your metabolism for the day. 
• Start dinner with fresh fruit or salad FIRST!! And try to drink a full glass of water before dinner. This helps you slow down at dinner time. 
• Eat sitting down and try to have scheduled 'family' dinner time each night.
• Focus on more WHOLE Foods! Fresh Fresh Fresh and LESS processed! (if there are a ton of ingredients in the label - AVOID!)

Make a big batch of soup if you are tempted at snack or lunch time. Its the perfect thing to grab in a hurry. Or consider making salad in a jar (I love this idea-  haven't done it yet, but want to!)

My friend gave me the recipe to this soup. I LOVE LOVE it! Its perfect taste between squash and tomato and the quinoa adds a bunch of healthy benefits and protein!!

                            Tomato Butternut Soup

1 butternut squash

1-2 T olive oil

1 onion, chopped

4 stalk celery, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

2-4 carrots

2 large cans diced tomatos

2 C. Broth or water

½ tsp dried basil

¼ tsp dried oregano

¼ tsp pepper

½ tsp salt

1 cup cooked quinoa

Bake butternut squash at 400 degrees for 30-40 min, until tender. Cook quinoa.

Chop veggies. Saute vegetables in olive oil until onion is soft. Add tomatoes, water and seasonings. Cover and cook for 20 min. Add squash, then puree soup in blender. Add quinoa. Garnish with 1 tsp of fat free greek yogurt and chopped spinach.

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Curried Red Lentil Soup

This recipe was shown to me while I was on a weekend getaway with some girlfriends. :) 

It's divine 

- and don't skimp on the fresh lemon juice or avo at the end!! (That's what makes it!)

From Mormanvegetarian.com

Ingredients:

2 C Red Lentils

8 C water or Broth

2 small onions

4 or 5 cloves garlic

2-3 Carrots - diced

2-3 stalks Celery - diced

1-2 small Zuchinni

2 tsp Paprika

2 tsp Cumin

2 tsp Turmeric

Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

Avocado

Fresh Lemon wedges

Directions:

1- Rinse the lentils. Arne't they gorgeous? Place water/broth in pot with lentils. Bring to boil, and then down to simmer. Cook until tender. About 20 minutes. Season with S&P

 2- Chop the onions and Garlic. Add a little Olive Oil to saute pan and saute onion and garlic about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the veggies. Cook until soft. Add the spices to the veggies.  

 3. Add the cooked veggies to the lentils. Serve in bowls squeezed with fresh Lemon Juice. Slice fresh Acovado on top and Plain Greek Yogurt!

You WILL NOT be disappointed!!

 ENJOY!

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Broccoli Potato Soup

All I can say is - WOW - Total Comfort Food!

Easy, and the whole family loved it!

Found on one of my fav 'crafty' websites HERE

I omitted the bacon and did use a little bit of butter to mesh with the flour.

(I used whole wheat flour).

We ate this with our uber healthy parmesan bread, which is bread sprinkled with a little brewers yeast and garlic salt. And toasted in the broiler.YUM!

ENJOY!

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Better Than Minestrone

Awwww - I love, love, love a good Minestrone Soup! I can never deny my ultimate Fav - Rachael Ray's Green Minestrone - but this one comes darn close!

Full of beans, tomatoes, and TONS of Veggies!

You can substitute LEAN ground turkey, Mornigstar Farms Veggie Crumbles, or just leave sausage out all together.

Found on a friends awesome, yummy food blog!

Check it out HERE

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More Corn Soup

I have made 3-4 different kinds of corn soup in the past month. CRAZY! I know.

But the produce co-op (amazing!) which I am involved in always gives us corn,

so I have to find creative ways to use it. (and why make the same recipe twice? haha)

I really liked this recipe! Probably not as tasty as this one, but faster and easier.

I think it would make a great lunch or snack!

After I took this picture, I realized I forgot the tomatoes and just added them on top.

I also added some cilantro and avocado. (not called for in recipe)

You can get the recipe HERE.

For a vegan option, use almondmilk in place of milk, and veggie broth instead of chicken broth.

ENJOY!

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Hubbies Fav! - Roasted Corn Chowder

I have never heard my Husband rave so much about a dinner!

And it was just a soup!

Crazy! I will have to make this again for sure!

I forgot to take a picture (this one is from nakedbeet.com)

I took the recipe from our favorite special recipe book called "Steamboat Entertains."

It's not a healthy cookbook, so I altered! I will put my changes in bold.

Soup:

3 ears of corn

1 Tbl Butter (I used a little chicken stock instead)

1/2 C Onion, diced

2-3 Garlic Cloves

1 C Dry White Wine (I am pretty sure you can substitute apple juice if you want)

2 1/2 C Chicken Stock

1 C Heavy Cream ( I used low fat evaporated milk)

Salt and Pepper

Smoked Chile Cream:

1/2 C sour Cream ( I used low fat plain greek yogurt)

1-2 Tbl Seeded chopped Chipotle Chilies in adobo sauce (canned) (go easy, I put way to much in - they are spicy)

1 tsp fresh Lime Juice

Salt and Pepper

Directions:

1)Roast corn on grill (or broil turning every 5 mintues) until slightly blackened on all sides. Set aside to cool and then cut off all corn.

2) Place butter, olive oil, or chicken stock in pan and saute onion and garlic (I also added a little Anaheim peppers or you could use green chillies, just for a little kick). About 4 minutes

3) Add corn kernels and wine. Simmer for 10-12 minutes until wine is almost evaportaed.

4) Add stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.

5) Add cream or evaporated milk, cook on LOW heat for about 15 mintues. Until it has thickened slightly.

6) Puree half the soup in blender, return to saucepan and add Salt and Pepper.

7)For cream, just combine all ingredients in blender.

To Serve:

-Stir in a tbl or so of Chipotle Cream into the soup.

-We topped it with diced avocado and green onions! SO GOOD!!!!!

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Cilantro Lentil Soup

This soup is a Gem! People will think you brought home take out!

The flavors are so simple, yet amazing. If you are looking for a different soup to spice up your menus, this one is it for sure. Totally easy and full of healthy benefits! They are made with lentils, which are a legume. Many vegetarians use them for protein. They contain tons of fiber, with little calories. For more info read HERE.

Photo from http://newyork.seriouseats.com

Ingredients:

1 Cup Dried Lentils

2 Garlic Cloves, peeled, chopped

3 C water, or Veggie broth

1 Tbl Olive Oil

1 Onion, peeled, diced

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp curry powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

3/4 C Tomato Paste

4 C Water, or Veggie Broth (or chicken broth)

1 Tbl fresh Lemon Juice

2 Potatoes, baked, un-peeled, and quartered

1 1/2 Tbl Fresh Cilantro loosely chopped

Directions:

1) Wash Lentils and cook with one garlic clove in 3 Cups of water or broth. Until liquid is absorbed. (about 25 minutes)

2) In a 2-quart pot. Sauté Onion and Garlic Clove in Oil. Until soft. Add spices and tomato paste. Mix well.

3) Add remaining 4 Cups of water or Broth and Lemon Juice. Bring to Boil. Remove from heat.

4) Work in batches and place soup, lentils, (I wish I had reserved some to add in at the end, it depends on what texture you want), potatoes, and cilantro into blender. Blend until smooth.

Enjoy immediately - you could use Low Fat Greek yogurt as a sour cream topping!

(Recipe from Vita-mix cookbook)

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Green Minestrone (by Rachael Ray)

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this soup! Just ask my family, this is one of the few meals that I repeat. Full of unique and healthy things like chickpeas and spinach! I use Whole Wheat Orzo Pasta (this picture shows a different type of pasta). If you want to change things up a bit and make something different, this is it! Try it, you won't be sorry.

2 T EVOO

8 Cups of Low Sodium Chicken Broth

4 slices of Pancetta (I never have used this, I use cooked shredded chicken or canned chicken)

1 medium onion

2 Ribs Celery, Chopped

2 Large Cloves Garlic

1 Bay Leaf

1 Medium Zucchini, cut into half moon shapes

S & P

1 Can white Beans

1 Can Garbanzo Beans

1 C mini Pasta ( I like Orzo)

½ lb. Green Beans cut into 1 in pieces

10 oz. Spinach

½ C Parmesan cheese

12-16 leaves of Fresh Basil

Directions:

Heat a soup pot over medium high heat. Add oil and pancetta or prosciutto. (or skip this step if you are using cooked chicken) Saute 2 minutes and add onions, celery, garlic, zucchini and bay leaf to the pot. Season vegetables with salt and pepper, to your taste. Saute vegetables 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add white beans, garbanzo beans, cooked or canned chicken, and chicken broth to the pot. Cover soup and bring to a boil. Add pasta and green beans to the soup and cook 8 minutes, or until pasta is just tender. Stir in spinach to wilt, 1 minute. Stir in grated cheese and ladle soup into bowls. Top soup with torn or shredded basil or chopped parsley.

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