Tomato Basil Soup

Tomato Basil Soup

I guess it was about that time of year again – the time to get sick. Ask anyone in my family – I am not a good sick person. I whine, I beg for sympathy, I act like I am at deaths door. One thing I did NOT want to do in my weakened state was cook. Good thing for me my husband makes the best tomato basil soup and grilled cheese ever. I kid you not. I used to be a member of the Church of Le Madeline and I thought their soup was worthy of robbing a bank. No. If my husband had made this soup for me earlier in our relationship this whole marriage thing would have happened  a lot sooner. I can already feel my strength coming back….

Ingredients:

1 can whole peeled tomatoes
2-3T tomato paste
2 stalks of celery chopped
2 medium carrots chopped
1 whole yellow onion chopped
4 cloves of garlic chopped
1 cup basil leaves chopped
4 cups chicken/veggie stock
2T balsamic vinegar
4T heavy cream

Alls you needs

In a big stock pot (this stuff is going to splat while cooking and we blend in the pot so use a high wall pot like one you use to cook pasta) heat the pot on high and saute the onions until they start to pick up color. Add the garlic, carrots and celery and let that saute until it starts to soften. Add the tomato paste and cook until the tomato paste starts to really pick up color and smells yummy. Add the canned tomatoes, basil and chicken stock and bring it up to a boil.

Soon.....soon

Reduce the heat so that it keeps a steady simmer. Let that go for about 45 minutes. Using an immersion blender or using your food processor or blender, puree until it is very smooth.

wrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Our soup is very hearty and thick but if you want it thinner add some more stock.

Once everything is the consistency you want, stir in the vinegar and cream (feel free to add more or less of either but this is the combination we love). Then BOOM you’re done! I would put the soup in serving bowls and cook your grilled cheese while those cool down to less than the temperature of the surface of the sun.

TA-DA

I threw the receipt out (woops) but what is a big ticket item in here? NOTHING. This total batch makes about 6-8 servings depending on your bowl size. Well my Nyquil is kicking in…..until next time!

Mini Breakfast Frittatas

Lately the hardest part of eating healthy for me has been at breakfast. I am by no means a morning person. I would rather stay in bed as long as possible and then rush to get out of the door by 7:45. This does not leave a lot of room for breakfast. Cereal, oatmeal and fruit tend to have me starving by 10 am. I also must admit to living across the street from Rudy’s I would sometimes grab some breakfast tacos in a pinch. All of these are not working and I know I need to eat something to kick start my metabolism but also something that I can make ahead of time and just grab on my way out the door. For Valentine’s Day my parents gave me the new South Beach Diet cookbook and I found this little gem in here. Plus I had most of the ingredients in my apartment so it was cheap to boot!

Ingredients:
1 10 oz package of frozen green beans
4 sun-dried tomato halves (I use the dry packed – not the oil packed)
1 bunch of green onions cut into slivers
1 t Italian herb blend
1 1/4 c egg beaters (I used all whites)
3/4 c mozzarella cheese (I used shredded fat free)

Heat the oven to 350. Spray a muffin tin with Pam. Put the green beans in the strainer portion of a salad spinner (if you don’t have a salad spinner try and get as much of the moisture out) and spray hot water on the beans to thaw them. Once all of the moisture has been removed, add the beans and tomatoes to a blender. Pulse quickly until everything is chopped. Add the herbs and eggs and mix shortly until everything is combined. Pour the mixture into each muffin tin 2/3 of the way full.

fresh out of the blender

Top each tin off with some of the finely sliced green onion and a small amount of the cheese.

Green onion on top

With cheese

Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean in the center.

 

fresh out of the oven

You can serve these warm or at room temperature. Room temperature eggs kind of freak me out so I usually zap them in the microwave for 30 seconds. I put 2 frittatas in suran wrap and leave them in the fridge until each morning. A serving of 2 frittatas has 88 calories, 4g of fat, 10 g of protein, 6 g of carbs and 2 g of fiber. Not a bad way to start off the day compared to 234 calories and 10 g of fat in 1 breakfast taco. Ga-ross.

As far as cost goes all I needed to buy was egg whites, green onion, green beans and cheese. I made 11 frittatas in this batch, I will probably add more egg next time, but that makes a total of 5 1/2 servings. My total grocery bill was $7.70 and the cost for each serving is $1.40. Cheaper than any fast food breakfast out there!

A mean green breakfast

Mushroom barley soup

Today the “arctic blast” hit Texas and it is FREEEEZING! So of course we turned to some home style soup. I had not had mushroom barley soup before so I took a stab at it. This is great for people who don’t know many techniques or have much time. Here is what you will need:

1 yellow onion finely chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic minced

2 carrots cut into pieces

2 celery stalks cut into small pieces

1 box of mushrooms sliced

2 boxes of low sodium vegetable stock

1 cup of barley

2 bay leaves

fresh thyme

To start, you can cook the barley the night before. Boil 4 cups of water and add 1 cup of barley covered at a low/medium simmer for 35-40 minutes until the barley is soft. I like the barley to be aldente so 35 minutes was enough for me. Drain the barley and set aside.

In a pot, heat up some olive oil and saute the onion and garlic until the onion just starts to become translucent. Add the carrot and celery and stir until the carrots start to soften – about 3-5 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and cook until they start to soften. Add the veggie stock and bring it back to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Add in the barley and cook for another 5 minutes and serve!

I promise to take better photos next time....

Serving size was 1 1/2 cups in our Le Creuset soup bowls = 5 total servings for this entire recipe – great for freezing leftovers!