Sunday, February 3, 2013

Soup

There are some great ways to get more veggies and fruit into your diet.

Smoothies have been a nutrient powerhouse for Jeff and I for the past few weeks.  He uses several blends of frozen fruit and some fresh spinach.  I use mostly fresh foods with a little frozen.  I like to use unsweetened kefir and add in a banana, a cup of blueberries, 2 handfuls of spinach or kale, frozen peaches, frozen cherries.  I also add in a tablespoon of coconut oil.  This will actually sustain me until about 11:00.

For lunch, I've been hitting a local grocery store that has a great salad bar.  Fresh spinach, raw broccoli, cauliflower, shredded carrots, hard boiled egg, celery, cucumbers, sunflower seeds.  Indulge in some ranch dressing or go for the ginger vinaigrette I keep at work.

But smoothies and salads can get a little... repetitious.

Sunday, I wanted soup.  I've been ordering soup in restaurants - after asking questions or doing online research ahead of time.  Fire Roasted Veggie Soup at McAlister's is a great choice.  I look for broth based, loaded with veggies, limited on pasta (or I eat around most of the pasta).

I just made a big pot of soup, had some for dinner, and am eager to have it for lunch this week.

I used 32 oz of chicken stock, 4 cups of water, 3 tb of onion base for my broth.

Then I added in about 1 cup of a whole grain medley I got at Target.  It has brown rice, rye, bulgur, red quinoa, wheat, wild rice.

I let that simmer for a bit.  And then I stopped measuring anything.  I added in a bunch of leftover chicken.  I added in cut up baby carrots.  I added a can of tomatoes with chilies.  I drained and added a can of black beans.  Throughout all the steps, my soup simmered for about 2 hours.

I got a bowl.  Whenever I make soup, it ends up being heavy on the ingredients and light on the broth - which is fine with me.  I ladeled up some soup and added in a small handful of fresh baby spinach and stirred it into the hot soup.  Then I cut up some fresh cilantro all over the top.

It was delicious.  And I got spinach, carrots, tomato, chicken, and cilantro.

Soup for you!

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1 comment:

Unknown said...

I have a weight watchers taco soup recipe on my blog (www.chaosandcraziness.com) Oh my goodness...it's awesome and really low cal. It's easy to make quickly, which is one of my favorite things about it! I love soup!