Quick Lunch: Sweet Salad and Soup

Salad nutritional breakdown

Today was another snow day which is crazy. It's not supposed to stick around until tomorrow, but it was nice having another work from home in my pajamas day. It's always dangerous to hang around the house all day though because there's the temptation to snack on things laying around the house. I did really well today and landed under 1300 calories with the help of my delicious lunch! I hunted for things I had around the house (including some of Wendy's pomegranate vinaigrette that I need to find in a store or online somewhere so I don't have to keep the leftover packets like a hoarder). I came up with two cups of organic baby greens, half a granny smith apple, 1/8 cup of craisins, 1/8 cup of goat cheese crumbles, and that packet of pomegranate vinaigrette. I ate it with a cup of jarred tomato basil soup and it was fantastic.

I also have to give a shout out to La Madeleine. Not only do I love their fat free Caesar dressing, they just came out with a low fat version of their tomato basil soup. That soup is pretty much the only reason I ever go to La Madeleine, but with the regular version, a cup has 340 calories and 32 grams of fat, so I would definitely have to save it for a special treat. The low fat version that they also sell in jars is 150 calories and 11 grams of fat for a cup, so I am thrilled. The best part? It tastes just as good as the regular fat version! They sell them online, and if you order some, you might as well pick up some of the Caesar dressing as well.

The Best Recipe Ever: 5 Ingredient Taco Chili

I can't believe it's taken me this long to write a post about one of my favorite recipes ever: my five ingredient slow cooker taco chili. I think it took me longer to type the name of it than it did to make it this morning.

Yield: 4 servings (The pictures are from my mini-crockpot, so I just halved the recipe, I put the half cans of beans in the freezer to use next time I want some yummy chili!)

Ingredients:
1 bag of frozen Morningstar Farms Meal Starter Crumbles, 12 oz (or if you want to use a pound of beef or turkey, that's fine, just brown it first)
2 cans diced tomatoes, you can use the ones with chiles or green peppers, but do not use Rotel
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can chili/red kidney beans with gravy
1 packet of taco seasoning mix

Preparation:
1. Dump everything in your crockpot, give it a stir, and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. That's it!

You can top this with cheese, low fat sour cream, tortilla strips, fritos, put it over a baked potato...pretty much whatever you want. You can also add other canned veggies, like a can of corn or some chopped onions and bell peppers, even some jalapeños. Like I said: Best. Recipe. Ever.

Pantry Palette: Black Bean Soup

I left work this afternoon with a dry cough and was looking in the pantry to find something I could throw together that would be easy and soothing for my sore throat. I came up with this super easy black bean soup recipe, and it's made exclusively from things you can keep in your pantry for those sick days when you're tempted to just get chinese food or a pizza delivered because there's nothing good in the fridge.

This recipe took about 25 minutes from opening the first can to dividing out the portions.

Yield: 4 servings (1 1/2 to 2 cups each)

Ingredients:
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cups salsa (I used Safeway Select Southwest Salsa)
2 15 oz cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can low fat refried black beans
1 15 oz can fat free low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1/8 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder (optional)
Garnishes: sour cream, cilantro, lime juice, green onions, tortilla strips...(These are not included in the calorie count to the left!)


Preparation:
1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add the salsa and cook for four minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add all other ingredients except the garnishes, bring to a simmer for five minutes.
4. Top with desired garnishes (I used the juice of 1/2 lime, chopped cilantro, and green onions) and serve.

I do have to show some love for one of my favorite kitchen tools of all time, my lemon/lime juicer, pictured below. It's awesome!!

Ravioli Minestrone

This is another new recipe I've adapted from a Taste of Home recipe. My version uses carrots and green beans as vegetables, but you can throw in whatever veggies you want (I think zucchini, corn, and cabbage would all work perfectly). Total time was about 25 minutes, but I did use a lot of canned and frozen ingredients as shortcuts. I portioned this at 3 HUGE servings, but if you were eating something else with it (a salad, for example) you could easily get 4 servings out of this!

Yield: 3 giant bowls, enough for an entrée portion.


Ingredients:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 cups frozen bell pepper mix, thawed and diced

1/2 cup diced onion (NOTE: If you can find the onion and bell pepper mix at the store, that will work too. just use 2 cups of that.)

1/4 teaspoon crushed crushed red pepper, or to taste (I used a packet from the last time I ordered a pizza and it was the perfect amount.)

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes, fire-roasted if available

1 15 oz can vegetable broth

1 1/2 cups hot water

1 tsp dried basil

1 15 oz can sliced carrots, drained

1 15 oz can cut green beans, drained

6 to 9 oz fresh or frozen cheese (or meat) ravioli

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. 
2. Add peppers and onions and crushed red pepper (if using) and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. You can also add some minced garlic (about 2 cloves) here if you'd like, I'm not a big garlic fan so I chose not to add it. 
3. Add tomatoes, broth, water, and basil; bring to a rolling boil over high heat. 
4. Add ravioli and cook for 3 minutes less than the package directions. 
5. Add carrots and green beans; return to a boil. Cook until the vegetables are tender if using fresh, or about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

I love it! A note on the ravioli - I used a small sized ravioli in the freezer section, Rosetto's brand. I chose this because each serving size is 13 ravioli, and I used 33 ravioli in the soup (so I could have 11 ravioli in each bowl). Portion the ravioli based on how the soup will be eaten (an appetizer, a side course, or the main course).