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. :)

His vs. Hers

Hello friends! Today I'm talking about PIZZA! I have often discussed the pizza battle with my friends. It seems we are constantly struggling with it because, the men in our lives ALWAYS fall back on pizza. I know that if I put Trevor in charge of dinner, we would have pizza every time. It is one of those foods that can rack up the daily calories in an instant. I don't know many who have the self control to eat just ONE slice.

Here is what I have decided to do for myself...I made a His and Her pizza tonight. Trevor's consisted of the traditional Baboli thin crust. It comes packaged and is usually on an end cap whenever I have found it. I also buy the Baboli pizza sauce. It comes with three packets so it lasts a good while. I buy low-fat shredded mozzarella, pepperoni and jalapenos. We have a huge discrepancy on pizza toppings so it only makes since to make my OWN. I was so tired of trying to tailor my section of the pizza to my liking.

My pizza was as follows: Right next to Trevor's packaged crust, I found the Whole Wheat and much smaller crusts I was looking for. My package comes with two crusts so I froze the extra. Now for the pizza sauce. Traditional pizza sauce is higher in sugar than regular old canned tomato sauce. I know this sounds boring but I jazzed it up with Italian seasoning blend. YUM! Then, here it comes like Jaw's fin skimming the water, the cheese! Our figure's worst enemy. I tend to form a mountain with it on my pizza, however, after calculating the points/guilt, I perfectly measured out a 1/4 of a cup. Now this may sound like nothing for a whole pizza, but my later ingredients will foil the scarcity of cheese. I then proceeded to form a new mountain of all my favorite veggies: an heirloom tomato diced, artichoke diced, baby bella mushrooms and olives! My pizza was overflowing with 0 point goodness. I barely sprinkled the veggies with some good parmesan so they didn't feel lonely. I didn't miss the meat, I didn't miss the sauce nor the overflow of cheese. I could eat and entire half of the pizza for 6 points! I foiled up the rest for lunch tomorrow!

Now, I have one more secret weapon for you to try...it seems so simple but make a loaded salad with a fat free dressing while it bakes. This will fill you up more than you know so that two slices become a little more difficult to eat. Bon Appetit!!!

HERBivores Rejoice!

After discussing the topic of herbs with my mom, I thought it would be wise to blog about our conclusions about the green stuff. Fresh herbs can completely transform a meal from ho-hum to wow! Especially when preparing those diets foods that lack some oomph! (sp?)
However, I have always been so reluctant to buy them. For one, they are expensive and you NEVER use all of it. Sometimes I feel like pruning the bushels it's sold in and fighting with the cashier, Father of the Bride Style. I have come to the conclusion that you MUST plan your every move for the week. I bought dill for the first time. It feels like such a random herb, but it went with my delicious Orzo Salad. See yesterdays post for details. I also had to plan out a few other recipes so that my dill purchase wasn't a complete waste. I decided to make a delicious Tzatziki Sauce to accompany all of my veggies and sandwiches for the week. It's a great substitute for Mayo, which can get boring, and it makes for an awesome addition to my cardboard flavored rice cakes. I eat them because they are only 1 WW point. Yay! The recipe for my Tzatziki is below.
Back to the Herb discussion...Barefoot Contessa showed me a great little trick to make that giant bushel of cilantro last. She recommends chopping it up and putting it into an ice cube tray. Whenever my recipe calls for cilantro I can just visit the freezer instead of my wallet. I'll let you know how that works out. Mom found a much simpler solution. She discovered bouillon style cilantro to use in your Tex-Mex soups. She said you can find it in the Hispanic section of any grocery store. I'll keep an eye out mom! :) Anyways, buying fresh herbs doesn't have to be remorseful if you just plan ahead and discover new ways to preserve them.



And yes, those are Texas shaped cilantro cubes! Nothing goes better than Texas and cilantro!

Tzatziki Sauce

1/2 cup of Low-Fat Plain Greek Yogurt or Low-fat Plain Yogurt
1/2 cup peeled and seeded cucumbers chopped fine
1/2 tsp of lemon zest
2 table spoons chopped dill
pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper

P.S. The longer it sits in the fridge the better it tastes! :)

Blog Revamp

I have come to the realization that I do not have an exciting enough life to blog about it. I don't have a baby to gush about, I don't have any masterful pieces of art to post, nor do I do much of anything. I work. A lot. I go to school most Saturdays and no one on earth wants to hear about the monotony of my life. Don't get me wrong... I am blessed to the Nth degree but feel too far removed from my surroundings to blog about them.
However, there is one thing that I think about almost as much as I think about Trevor, and that my friends is food. It inspires me, it is therapeutic and by golly it's the one thing I am confident enough to talk about on the internet. I came out of the womb asking for food, no... more like screaming for food. I love trying new things and exploring the flavors within every culture. Since I am momentarily tied down to Florida, I must experience all walks of life through my cooking. The flavors I have learned to experience in my married life have been full of hits and misses. I have a lot of misses and what better instance to write about than the time I blew up my kitchen when experiencing the cast iron for the first time..eh, I am sure you have all heard that story via my status updates. Along with my love for food has come the ever reluctant weight gain. I have battled it since senior year of high school when I stopped running 9 miles a day. Hence, I have learned a healthy way of cooking for both myself and my husband. He does not eat as strictly as I do so I have learned to modify his meal to be a bit heartier. I think that I might be able to help others with my ounce of food knowledge be it cooking for two or cooking lighter. I cook an eclectic mix of South Beach and Weight Watchers. This is simply because these are the ONLY two diets that have worked for me in the past 8 years of yo-yo dieting.
Friends and family, you will now log onto my blog to experience my cooking journey as I explore new meals that are healthier and tastier than ever. With all that said, I must tell you about the most amazing recipe that I have marinating in the fridge for when Trevor gets home. It's an orzo salad that will accompany my WW chicken piccata. I will make a lemon butter and caper sauce for Trevor's and a lighter version sauce for my chicken. Instead of real butter, I will use a butter substitute like Smart Balance. Here is the recipe for the orzo salad. This recipe hails from Barefoot Contessa, I just added half the oil and substituted her feta for reduced fat goat cheese. It's also good with roasted shrimp as an entree. MMM MMM.



Orzo Salad
Ingredients

* Kosher salt
* Good olive oil
* 1/2 pound orzo pasta (rice-shaped pasta)
* 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 lemons)
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 1/2 cup minced scallions, white and green parts
* 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
* 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
* 1/2 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and medium-diced
* 1/4 cup small-diced red onion
* 1 oz light feta cheese or goat cheese

Directions

Fill a large pot with water, add 1 tablespoon of salt and a splash of oil, and bring the water to a boil. Add the orzo and simmer for 9 to 11 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it's cooked al dente. Drain and pour into a large bowl. Whisk together the lemon juice, 1/2 cup olive oil, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Pour over the hot pasta and stir well.


Add the scallions, dill, parsley, cucumber, onion, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper to the orzo. Toss well. Add the feta and stir carefully. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour to allow the flavors to blend, or refrigerate overnight. If refrigerated, taste again for seasonings and bring back to room temperature before serving.

Enjoy!!