I am swapping the sugary sweet holiday baked goods in for some veggie packed recipes. Well, at least one veggie packed recipe. I woke up January 1st with a craving for breakfast. I whipped up a batch of these Banana Flax Pancakes.
I forget how easy and satisfying these guys are!
The BOY and I spent my last day of winter vacation laying low, and watching some college football. Despite finishing my antibiotic, I am still nowhere near 100%. This definitely frustrates me (who wants to be sick for over a week?), and I just don’t have my usual energy levels. So I took advantage of my last day home finishing my third book this break, Emily Giffin’s Where We Belong (which in my opinion is her best book to date!) and cooking up some food for the week ahead.
We did make one trip out of the house to the grocery store to stock up on some fresh produce for the week. Since my soup pot was out and clean after NYE dinner, I figured some veggie soup was in order. I haven’t made a plain veggie soup in some time. Mostly, because my Mom makes some wonderful soups and is always happy to supply me with her leftovers.
I know that I have commented before on my huge soup pot. It was a gift to me along with some lessons in soup making when my Mom and our friend Beth came to visit me in Memphis a little over 5 years ago.
Beth makes some wonderful soups, and it was with her in mind that I picked up some cabbage along with all my other veggies for this Healthy New Year Soup.
I think once you’ve made a few veggie soups, you get a feel for what veggies to add, when to add them, and what spices work best. Needless to say, I ‘m not there yet!
So I just sorta winged it, chopping up veggies and sprinkling in spices to create this veggie packed soup. The outcome was a thick and hearty soup guaranteed to keep you warm in a winter chill and help you get started with your healthy new year. However, this doesn’t make it easy to write out a recipe. I’m not quite positive what I did, if it is typical of making soup, but I know the results worked. I will do my best to share the recipe but feel free to add in any thoughts or suggestions (I mean you Beth!)
This soup freezes well, so I know that I am well stocked with healthy options for the next few weeks (unless you want some soup and in which case I am happy to share). Sadly, I downed tonight’s dinner without getting a better photo of my colorful concoction. What can I say…after my first day back at work, I was starving when I walked in the door.
So I overcompensated by taking plenty of pictures of tomorrow’s lunch! I must say that it was tough to get up today. When my alarm went off at 6am, I had NO idea what the noise was (I hadn’t heard it in 2 weeks). Even my car seemed a little perturbed to be up and at ‘em before the sun. But it was nice to be back at work catching up with my friends after the break. This means that my posts might be a little less frequent as I adjust to the work/life balance and for right now I am done writing because I started book number four, Eat & Run (Thanks Brittany for the suggestion), and I am eager to get back to it.
Healthy New Year Soup
Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
10 stalks of celery, chopped
1 package of mushrooms, chopped
1 head of cabbage, chopped
6 carrots, pealed and chopped
4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
6 cups of water
1 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes, drained
Sea Salt (to taste)
Seasonings (I used a mix of basil, garlic, and a veggie mix)
1 bag frozen green beans
1 bag frozen zucchini (fresh if you can find it, but it didn’t look good)
Optional: Add your favorite seasonal veggies and sub in frozen as needed! Other ideas include okra, corn, peppers, beans, etc.
Directions
Spray the bottom of a large soup pot with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Add in onion and garlic. Stir until soft and fragrant (about 5 minutes or so). Add in celery, mushrooms, and cabbage.
Stir often as flavors begin to blend and veggies soften (another 7-8 minutes).
Add in veggie broth, water, spices, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil (this takes time with a huge pot).
Add in frozen veggies (whatever you want, but I chose beans and zucchini…okra is good too!) and simmer for 2-3 hours.
Freeze in air tight containers and you’ll be set for the winter!
What healthy recipes are you staring the year with?
