Tuscan Vegetable Soup

Tuscan Vegetable Soup
Recipe from The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger

Ingredients
One 15.5 oz can cannellini beans
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp salt, more to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper, more to taste
4 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
One 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, with their juices
2 oz baby spinach leaves, chopped
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

In a small bowl, mash half the beans with a masher or the back of a spoon and set aside.
Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, zucchini, garlic, thyme, sage, salt, and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.
Add the broth and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add the mashed and whole beans and the spinach leaves and cook until the spinach is wilted, about 3 minutes more.
Serve topped with the Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Add a nice salad:


And a Brazil Butt Lift:


A long hot shower

and

A good book

And you're ready for bed, no guilt!!

Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Feels good.

Confessions and Turkey Meatball Soup

A bit of a confession: I try to update my quote of the day from Invisionaria every day, but I couldn't bring myself to do it today. My last facebook status was: "The early bird gets the worm. The late bird gets 3 extra hours of sleep in a nice comfy bed with 1000 thread count sheets and a big fluffy pillow." And I have to admit, I really prefer to be the late bird. What is so good about mornings? When tortured to get up that early, I spend the whole time in a bit of a daze, probably still in stage 1 sleep which you can be while awake, drinking coffee to try to rid myself from the groggies. Finally afternoon comes and I feel normal. Dare I say, peppy even at times. The only only thing I do like to do in the mornings is shop, because then it's not so crowded. But then I can come home and nap. :o) Aren't naps glorious! So back to the quote of the day, this is it. I'm sorry for not updating it today. "If you want your dreams to come true, you must not oversleep." — Unknown

Clearly written by a morning person. If that's true, oh dear, I'm in trouble.

I pushed back my GRE date so now I have no excuses, it's time to get fit. I signed myself up for a 5K which is going to be January 16th. Some people may be wondering to themselves aloud why there are no cupcake recipes in my blog with cupcakes in the title. Well my new friend that's because I'm trying to get fit, which means cupcakes have to sit in waiting to be made for the moment. Tonight I made soup, here's the recipe! Courtesy of Taste of Home Healthy Cooking magazine.

Turkey Meatball Soup

2 egg whites, beaten

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
4 tsp Italian seasoning, divided

1 lb lean ground turkey

3 medium carrots, sliced

3 celery ribs, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbsp olive oil

3 cans reduced sodium chicken broth

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 cup small pasta

1. In a small bowl, combine the egg whites, bread crumbs, cheese, and 2 tsp Italian seasoning. Add turkey and mix well. Shape into 3/4 in. balls. Place on a baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 15 minutes or until no longer pink.

2. Meanwhile, saute the carrots, celery, and garlic in oil until tender. Add the broth, pepper, and remaining Italian seasoning. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in pasta and cook 10-12 minutes longer, or until vegetables and pasta are tender. Stir in meatballs and heat through.

1 cup is 258 calories

Here I was carrying a bowl over to the window to take a picture. One recommendation I have for you, don't sneeze while carrying a bowl of soup. It was quite acrobatic as I first tried to hold it in and then realized nope, it's coming! And attempted to cover my mouth while trying not to jerk the bowl and send soup sailing across the kitchen. Luckily, mouth got covered and no soup lost to my hopeful dog. Then wouldn't you know it! I went to sample, while soup was half way to my waiting mouth, my dog barked. He doesn't do that often so of course I was startled and my hand jerked. Soup didn't make it to said waiting mouth but once again, by some miracle, no soup lost! Amazing indeed! Next time I'm going to make something that is going to be plated because I noticed everything I've made so far has been in a bowl.