Fall has fell

How refreshing is the weather this morning?  To be one of the first to welcome fall, I made a hearty and healthy soup for lunch this week.  I found this recipe off one of the thousands of blogs I read, but I can't for the life of me remember which one to give them credit.  What they don't know, can't hurt 'em, right?

I've been trying to "get out of the box" lately and try flavor combos that I've never done before.  This week's experiment is sweet potato and black beans.  This combo is pretty common on restaurant menus, but I've always passed it up for something else.  I made the soup last night and tried it out.  It is the perfect way to welcome in stick to you ribs fall dishes!  Even my husband liked it.  He described it as chili without the meat...I'd like to think it's a little more culinary advanced than that.  But from my chili-worshiping husband it was a big vote of confidence in this soup.

The soup is meatless of course, but has tons of fiber and protein from the black beans, along with vitamins and minerals from the sweet potatoes.  Be careful when adding in additional salt.  You might not even need to with the sodium already in the cans of Rotel tomatoes, and some in the vegetable broth.  Taste it before you toss any extra in.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 roasted red pepper, chopped (you can use jarred)
2 cans low sodium vegetable broth (15 oz. size)
2 cups water
3 cans low sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
3 cans diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
Dash of red pepper flakes
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:
1. In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil. Add in the onion and cook until tender. Add in the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes.

2. Stir in the sweet potato and roasted red pepper. Cook for 5 minutes.

Make sure all the sweet potatoes are cubed the same size. 
Its important so they all cook in the same amount of time.

3. Add in the broth, water, black beans, and tomatoes. Stir well.

4. Add the chili powder, cumin, and red pepper flakes. Stir and toss in the cilantro. Stir again. Let the soup simmer on medium low for 30 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are soft.



I pluck the leaves from the cilantro and use kitchen shears to snip the leaves to the desired dice.

5. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot.

You can top this soup a thousand different ways as you would any other southwestern soup.  Crushed tortilla chips, cheese, avocado slices, and sour cream (or Greek yogurt or us healthy eaters) are all great add-ins.  If you are watching your calories like me just be mindful to watch the amount of add-ins, you also add in additional fat and calories with each.

Who wouldn't want this hearty, warm bowl on a cool fall day?  Enjoy!

Working on my fitness

I was seriously slacking on my fitness last week!  Now, Monday morning rolls around and I feel like a tub of blubber.  This week, I'm getting back on my game, so expect some healthy posts out of me.  To bump up my vegetables I've been trying to use some different things and greens I've never used before.  Its good experimenting.  Let me share what I've found so far, kale.

I bought a bundle of kale at the grocery.  At the check out line, the lady had to ask me what was in the produce bag to ring it up.  Really?  It occurred to me that if the woman at the grocery store had never even seen Kale then most of us have never cooked with it either.

Even I admit it's kind of intimidating to cook Greens that you have never had before. I only recently started using kale in as many recipes as possible.  Before that, I was just like the grocery check out lady; I couldn't identify it if I had to. 

Let me tell you a little about why you should incorporate kale into your diet.  Kale is considered to be a highly nutritious vegetable with powerful antioxidant properties; is also considered to be anti-inflammatory.

It is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium.
Kale, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane (particularly when chopped or minced), a chemical believed to have potent anti-cancer properties.  Who couldn't use some anit-cancer properties in their diet, right?

Alright, alright...you get the message and you go buy some.  What to do now?  Wash the leaves up and let them dry well in the sink or on kitchen towel.  There is a thick stalk that runs up the center of the leaf you need to remove before cooking.

To remove, just take your knife and cut along each side of the stalk like so...

Now your cooking...there are tons of recipes online for Kale.  You can see I used it in a my "Chicken less Chicken Tortilla Soup".  I've also used it in place of spinach in some recipes.  Use your imagination. 

Over the weekend I used the bunch that I bought in another dish similar to my "Vino Lo Mein" concoction.  I used kale, broccoli, and red peppers along with the same white wine-lemon sauce as the original recipe. 

I cut the kale into ribbons so it would twirl nicely around my fork with my whole wheat noodles.  Here are some photos along the chopping and stir-fry process of the kale and other vegetables.

Kale is on the right, cut into ribbons.
Other veggies cut into bit size pieces for quick stir-frying.

To retain the most vitamins in Kale, cook it the least amount of time possible.
I cooked the broccoli and red peppers until almost done before adding in kale.

You can see Kale turn a darker hue of green once cooked.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.  I would love to hear how others inappropriate it into meals!

Soup Kitchen

I seem to be stuck on making soups for lunch lately, huh?  This weeks lunch is a super healthy homemade soup I adapted from Mrs. Paula Deen.  She used Chicken broth (ick, trust me, once you use vegetable stock, chicken stocks and broths will gross you out), so I adapted it to a vegetarian version by using Vegetable Stock instead.  Also added in some red pepper flakes for heat, and topped the soup with feta cheese for a natural salty bite at the end.

This dish is much more tasty than salty, over-processed, canned soup varieties.  Nearly pure vegetables.  Its filling and delicious.

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

2 Large Red Bell Peppers, seeded and cut into strips
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 cup chopped Onion
4 cloves of garlic, minced
10 medium fresh from the garden, or on-the-vine tomatoes from store
1 cup Vegetable stock
1-2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar

Topping: Feta Cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 450.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spray the foil with non-stick cooking spray. Arrange peppers on prepared sheet pan in a single layer.  Bake 15 minutes or until tender and browned.

Meanwhile, in a dutch oven or large soup pot heat the oil over medium high heat.  Add onion and garlic, and saute 5 minutes or until onions are tender and transparent.  Add chopped tomatoes, and saute until softened, about 5-10 minutes.  In the container of a blender, add tomato mixture, peppers and chicken broth; process in batches, until smooth.  Return soup to Dutch oven.  Add salt, basil, oregano, and peppers.  Stir in balsamic vinegar.  Heat until desired temperature to serve.

Top with a little bit of feta cheese, if desired.

Note: If you have never put hot liquids in a blender before, beware.  Only fill blender half-way full. The hot liquids will expand some when blended.

This soup is a perfect example of Michael Pollan's Food Rule, number 14:

"Eat foods made from ingredients you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature." 

Today's soup? Check!

Meatless Monday

My husband is such a great sport. Even though he teases me every chance he gets about my new pescetarian lifestyle (vegetarian with eating fish a couple times a week) he’s been very forgiving of me at dinner time when I cook my crazy concoctions. I somehow convinced him to do a meatless Monday dinner with me. Of course I promised I would be cooking something so yummy he wouldn’t miss the meat. No pressure, right?


What to cook, what to cook....A few months back I saw a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis on her Food Network show, Everyday Italian and made a note of it in my phone. This last weekend after catching a re-run of the show I knew I had to give this recipe a try.

It did not disappoint! It’s a Vegetable Bolognese sauce and you will not miss one meat morsel out of this pasta feast. It’s so healthy! Loaded with chopped carrots, red pepper and onions with fresh herbs it’s a must try. Trust me this is a dish your family will love. There is about 15 minutes of prep work before you start. You have to get the veggies finely diced with a food processor. But I loved that I didn’t have to do all the chop work in the dish. God Bless the Food Processor!

I did have to change one thing, the porcini mushrooms.  Of course, my Kroger didn't have porcini mushrooms. Boo. So I used 5 oz of Shiitake Mushrooms and about 3oz of Baby Bellas.  Since I didn't have the left over porcini mushroom broth to use, I used the same amount it called for of Vegetable Stock.

Here is a link to the dish:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/rigatoni-with-vegetable-bolognese-recipe/index.html

Some of my pics along the cooking process.

Vegetables, tomato paste, wine, and vegetable stock, cooked down and ready to add the mascarpone cheese.

Starting to mix in the cheese.  It gave the sauce the most gorgeous blush orange color.

Adding in my Rigatoni directly from my pasta pot with a slotted spoon.  Adding some of the pasta water will thin out the sauce a bit.  If the sauce is already the consistency you want it, you can drain off the pasta well before mixing.

Finished product.  Now does this look good or what?

Amanda tested. Husband approved.

In case you were wondering how I arrived at this pescetarian diet over the vegetarian diet lemme explain. 

It was a combo of two things really, feeling a little sluggish from lack of protein and sushi.  I noticed my time at the gym was a struggle on the days where I was strictly vegetarian.  I added in some Salmon and other fish and it fixed the problem.  So I have fish about three-four times a week to supplement the lack of protein. I know there are very creative ways to get protein in your diet without adding the fish, but with out a Whole Foods or at least a Publix around here it's too much of a challenge for me to worry with. 

The other thing that made me go back to fish, my love of SUSHI. I can't quit. Don't ask me to.  But I do try and make sushi choices that contain sustainable fish.  Doin my part, people. Doin my part...

I  know what your thinking. NO, I don't miss meat one bit.  I don't even crave it.  Which is opposite of how I thought I would be. 

That said, this is the weekend we have all been waiting for....FOOTBALL!  Which also brings on, TAILGATE FOOD.  I will be partaking in Nuttin But Wings Hot Wings.  It will be interesting to see how I feel after falling off the veggie wagon. 

I'll be sure and fill you in Monday morning on all the good tailgate food I had over the weekend and how it felt to eat chicken.

One last thing,

Sammie Night

Day 1 of weekday vegetarianism in the books! No cravings to speak of, but I was a little sluggish at the gym yesterday afternoon. It could be just a case of the "Monday's at the Gym" however.

As you saw yesterday for lunch I had the Tortilla Soup. Dinner this week will be a challenge because I have to feed my meat eating husband also. Monday's solution? Sammie night.

My sandwich wasn't all my own idea. I saw on an episode this weekend of Grill It with Bobby Flay a tasty looking vegetarian sub. He used grilled eggplant, roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella and garlic mayo to make a long sub on a French baguette.  I "Amanda-ized" mine by putting in my own favorite non-meat sandwich ingredients: Portobello mushrooms, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and spinach, OH MY!

I had a chicken breast to grill for my husband to make his sandwich a carnivore’s delight so I grilled my portabellas along side after giving them a few minutes in a quick marinate.

My Kroger store didn't have whole Portobello’s so I had to go with a pre-sliced pack of them. (*sigh*, Kroger loves to derail my culinary train). I placed the mushrooms into a dish with some low sodium soy sauce, olive oil, and fresh pepper. Let the mushrooms sit for about 10-15 minutes. Mushrooms are like chicken in the carnivore world; they take on whatever flavors you add to them nicely. Portobello’s soak up marinates like a sponge.

After the soaked up all the flavor, I grilled for about 10 minutes over medium high heat, turning every few minutes. I used a grill pan to ensure they no tasty morsels would fall through the grill grates.

On to the bread. I used a multigrain baguette from Kroger and cut it into 4 equal parts; using two of those for our dinner last night. I know, I know, the waste!  But what is a household of two to do?  Those who cook for a two person household can relate to the frustration of extra food going to waste.  I’m optimistic I can use the other two parts another night this week.

*Does my talk of bread have you cringing at the thought of all those calories and carbs?  Use this tip: Take your fingers and run them up the inside cavity of the bread to hollow it out. This leaves two shells, better for sandwich stuffing and you save anywhere from 50-75 calories by scooping out the center of the loaf and trashing it. 

Hollowed out bread=LOWER CAOLIRES

After grilling the mushrooms and toasting the bread a bit on the grill I put my Vegetarian Sammie all together; topping it with two slices of fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes and a handful of spinach. No mayo needed here! The mushrooms pack a flavor punch with the soy sauce and olive oil.

I added a side of microwave steamer (frozen kind) vegetables to my plate and Sammie night is complete.

Note: If you struggle like I do to make sure you aren't ripping off you husband at dinner time with your food experiments, keep a few things in mind.  Do side items that both of you will eat in the same meal.  Last night my husband had a can of Bush's Baked Beans that I doctored up a bit (he loves them) and the same frozen vegetables as I did. The only way I had to alter my meal prep for him was to grill his chicken breast for his sandwich.

Make it easy on yourself to stick to your special diet (or vegetarian work-weeks, in my case) by planning meals that won't cause you to have to cook two meals at one time. Plus, you will end up feeling short-changed if you prepare a fatty carnivore feast for the Hubby while you nosh on spinach and rice cakes.

Chicken-less Chicken Tortilla Soup

Last week, my boss was talking about a big pot of chicken tortilla soup her son was munching on while we were on our business trip. Having not much else to think about in our meetings but food, it started to plant a seed in my mind. I wanted to work on a vegetarian version. I'm not crazy about bland shredded chicken to begin with so the thought of parting with chicken in my soup was not heartbreaking to me. I started working on MY recipe in my head. Sunday I brought my creation to life.


But first, a little background. I've been reading a ton of blogs, books and articles lately about our meat industry and factory farming. It's alarming! I can't believe how uninformed we are about the things we are putting into our own body. I could go on, but I'll sit that soap box aside for a later post. I've decided that I would experiment with becoming a work week (Monday-Friday) Vegetarian; of the lacto-ovo variety (still eating dairy and eggs). I am too much of a people pleaser to be a full-time vegetarian. I would never want my family to, nor would they, change our Thanksgiving menu on my Vegetarian needs. I'm a southern girl, and you don't go messing with Mama's cooking! Same applies for going to friends houses and out to eat, I don't want to inconvenience anyone. If meat is on the menu or I want meat, I'm going to have it. But for a while, and if only during this one week alone, I'm going Vegetarian baby!

So, my soup was created for my lunch this week. This pot will last all week, even after sharing a bowl with my neighbor. If you are looking for a spicy, healthy option for Tortilla soup then I've got a recipe for you, my friend.

Disclaimer: I cook on a "chop and drop" and "eyeballing measurements" method. Don't get too caught up in my measurements. Alter ingredients and measurements to your taste buds.

Chickenless Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 Softball size sweet yellow onion; chopped

3-4 big cloves of garlic; minced

1 can of fire roasted diced tomatoes

3 vine ripe tomatoes; chopped

1 can tomato sauce

4-5 chopped Chipotle peppers in Adobo Sauce*

(*can kind found on in Mexican food section of your grocery)

1 carton of Vegetable Stock

1-2 cups water

1 package of extra firm tofu

1 bunch of fresh kale

Cumin

Kosher Salt/Fresh Pepper; to taste

1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves; chopped

Wash up all your produce and get a large cutting board situated next to a big Dutch oven or pot.  Start with a tablespoon or so of Olive Oil in the pot and chop and dump in your onion and garlic.  Saute until tender and translucent.  From there dump in all your tomatoes, Chipotle peppers, stock and water.  Bring mixture to a boil.  Meanwhile, rinse and pat dry the tofu.  Cut into small cubes.  Heat a non-stick skillet with a little cooking spray over medium high heat.  Saute tofu cubes, a single layer at a time until they start to brown up on all side.  Scoop tofu into pot and return to a boil.  Add in all seasoning and cilantro leaves.  Let simmer covered for 30-45 minutes.  Taste for salt or any other additional needed spices about half way through.

Ladle soup into bowls and top with whatever toppings you like.  I did, 1/2 of 1/2 of an avocado, vegan shredded cheese (which was surprisingly good) and crushed up blue corn tortilla chips.

I had leftover soup for lunch today.  Think it's even better the second day!  Enjoy.

-Amanda