Lean Green

As you guys know by now, I LOVE to purée my soups and now I have a new recipe that's springy and bright. It's a cinch and hardly requires any ingredients so it's cheap cheap cheap! The picture I took is sort of dark but it has a rich green color and the sour cream adds that creamy texture. If you are into presentation, swirl a bit of real butter in it at the end so it looks glossy.

Creamy Zucchini Soup

• 1/2 small onion, quartered
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 small zucchini skin on cut in large chunks
• 32 oz fat free chicken stock
• 2 tbsp reduced fat sour cream
• salt
• pepper

In a medium pot, saute onion, garlic and zucchini in about a table spoon of olive oil until almost transparent. Add the stock and cook on medium heat.

Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover, and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat. If you have an immersion blender, add the sour cream, pinch of salt and pepper and purée until smooth. I used my food processor and did it in batches. Blenders work just as well.

Garnish with parmesan and there you have it, the world's easiest soup and Trevor couldn't get enough of it!

Easy Breezy Pasta

As busy as I am, I ALWAYS make time to serve my man dinner. At the beginning of our marriage, I fell back on what I called my "staple dinners"...I could always count on them and they were the easiest recipes ever. My most common one was pasta and sauce from a jar. HO HUM! My newest goal as a cooking wife was to STOP serving my husband the same meal every Thursday. I have been very adventurous but now more than ever. Since, we moved to Florida, I decided to fill my time up as much as possible with whatever I can. This is my attempt at making Med School more manageable to get through...Enough of my home life, let's talk about what I have begun doing. I want a larger box of tools to pull from. I NEED those easy recipes every now and then so I have found one in particular worth sharing. Aside from my obsession with all things Giada, I have picked up a few new recipes. This one is so easy but looks and tastes so gourmet!

Rigatoni with Almond Bread Crumbs

Ingredients

1 pound rigatoni pasta
3 cups purchased garlic-flavored croutons, (about 5 ounces)
1/4 cup slivered almonds (about 1 ounce), toasted
1 cup julienned roasted red bell peppers
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta into a large bowl.
Place the croutons and the almonds in a food processor. Pulse until it becomes the texture of bread crumbs. Add the crouton and almond mixture to the hot pasta. Add the peppers and the olive oil. Toss to combine and serve.


Now, I would have garnished it with my new basil plant, but it died over the break when I was out of town. Anyone have any advice for my pale-green thumb? How do you keep this fragile herb alive while out of town??? Thanks!

Pesto Presto!

I am absolutely in LOVE with pesto. However, it is kind of expensive and goes bad fast. So I used it across the week. First, I pulled out that frozen pizza crust (see earlier post) and spread it as my sauce. I added a fresh sliced heirloom tomato and some mozzarella cheese and that's all there was to it. Then I spread it on wraps and such for extra flavor. My favorite use of it was in my white bean soup recipe. It is warming up so some people might avoid soups but the white beans keep it springy in my opinion.

White Bean Pesto Soup

5 garlic cloves sliced
Pinch of red pepper flakes
2 cans white canellini beans drained
3 cups chicken stock
3 tbs pesto
Shredded Parmesan

Saute the garlic in olive oil and red pepper flakes.
Add beans and 1/2 cup water. Stir in pesto and chicken broth. Simmer until thickened. Add the chicken broth. Simmer until heated through.

Now you have some more freedom here if you want to add pizazz. You can add some veggies or kalamata olives chopped. I just put some of the mixture into the blender because I prefer my white bean soups pureed. It makes it feel heartier to me. I garnished it with a bit more Parmesan, a drizzle of olive oil and a few basil leaves.

It's quick and very gourmet! Enjoy!

A Twist on Taco Night

Tacos and Texas go hand in hand. Chili is a favorable second. So I set them up together on a blind date...of course, they got married in my kitchen and the rest is history. Here's how to do it:

Turkey Chili Taco Soup

WW Points+: 5 pts
Serving size is about 1 1/2 cups


1.3 lbs 99% lean ground turkey
1 medium onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
10 oz can rotel tomatoes with green chilies
15 oz canned or frozen corn, drained
15 oz kidney beans, drained
8 oz tomato sauce
16 oz fat free refried beans
1 packet taco seasoning (you can use 40& less sodium)
2 1/2 cups fat free low sodium chicken broth

In a large pot, brown turkey on medium heat, breaking up with a spoon as it cooks. When cooked through, add onions and pepper and cook 2-3 minutes. Add tomatoes, corn, beans, tomato sauce, refried beans, taco seasoning and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and simmer about 10-15 minutes.

I topped mine with fat free sour cream, two slices of jalapenos and some cilantro.

Now I know the refried beans sound strange, but trust me on this one. It thickens up the soup and is a lot better than masa flour or cornstarch since it adds flavor and no carby starches.

It's so hearty, healthy and warm. A great way to finish it off is with a Beano enhanced desert. :)