Thursday, November 10, 2011

I Love Soup - I do!  Honestly I could eat soup every day. A couple days ago I was going through my recipe box and in the corner of the cupboard I found a not so little stack of recipes I’d taken out of magazines or had found on line and I discovered several new soup recipes I haven’t tried yet. I’m forever cutting out recipes when I see something that looks quick and tasty. I’m hoping to try out several new ones over the next few days so I’m starting with Cream of Vegetable Soup which sounded easy to make and it only has 75 calories per serving! I’m thankful my hubby is always up for trying new things. He loves to cook so that’s a plus as well. This Cream of Vegetable Soup was very easy to make. In fact, I started chopping the veggies and then I had to run into town so he finished it up for us. When I got back home it was ready and waiting. J It has such light fresh flavor to it.  He had also made a new bruschetta recipe that is AMAZING! Seriously – amazing! Dwight travels a lot with his job and whenever I can I like to go along.  His meetings and conferences are usually held at fancy-shmancy places that we wouldn’t typically go to ourselves. But my favorite part about those trips is going to wonderful restaurants. The atmosphere and the food are wonderful. This bruschetta recipe tastes exactly like we had in St Louis a few years ago. It’s definitely going to be on our favorites list.
CREAM OF VEGETABLE SOUP
2/3 cups sliced carrots
½ cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic – minced
3 cups chicken broth --- or vegetable broth  (I used chicken broth)
2 cups cabbage –shredded ( I used the precut coleslaw mix. Saves time! )
½ cup frozen green beans
1 Tbsp tomato paste
½ tsp dried basil
¼ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp Italian seasoning
½ cup zucchini – diced  (any kind of squash would work)
½ cup milk (you can use almond milk)
Salt and pepper to taste
Spray large pot with Pam cooking spray. Saute carrots, onion, and garlic over low heat until softened, approx 5 min. (If you find it is scorching add a little broth.) Add broth, cabbage, beans, tomato paste, basil, oregano, and salt & pepper and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in squash and cook another 3-4 minutes. After the vegetables are cooked,  puree them and return mixture to pot. Add the milk and heat; Do Not Boil.  Serve immediately.
* Makes 4, 1 cup servings (I doubled this when I made it and it made a bunch! We had lots of leftovers)

BRUSCHETTA
3 Roma tomato (or any tomato that is typically less juicy)- diced small
½ small red onion – diced small
2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
¼ cup Plus 2 Tbsp Red wine vinegar
½ cup fresh packed basil leaves – thinly sliced. (If you use dried basil use a scant Tbsp)
Salt and pepper to taste
½ inch slices of ciabbata bread – (Any harder/heavier bread would work)
1.     Put the tomatoes, onion, garlic, vinegar, ¼ cup olive oil, salt and pepper, and the basil in bowl and stir to combine. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow flavors to meld.
2.     Heat a grill pan (or skillet) over high heat. Grill the bread on each side until slightly charred, approx 30 seconds each side. Remove bread from grill and brush the tops with the remaining 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Mound the bread with the tomato mixture and some of the juices. Serve immediately.

 I hope your CHALLENGE is going well for you!! There’s only a couple days left!!! You Can Do This!! 
My Day:
BREAKFAST: Oatmeal, raisins, brown sugar and cinnamon
AM SNACK – Almonds and green tea
LUNCH – Leftover Cream of Vegetable Soup
SUPPER – Minestrone Soup  (another new recipe – I’ll let you know how it turns out!)

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