Healthy Salmon Soup with your Blender

I really enjoy eating a blended salmon soup.  It's really quick and easy to make yourself a healthy soup.  Here's what to do:


Put 1/2-3/4 cup of water in a saucepan.  Cook a vegetable in the water....some choices are summer squash, zucchini, spinach, kale, collard greens, butternut squash.  Cook until greens are wilted or veggies are soft. (You'll want 3 large handfuls of greens or a whole summer squash.  You'll need less of a winter squash.  Just eyeball it.)

Meanwhile in a blender add:

between 1 tsp. and 1 T. of oil (coconut or olive)
up to 1 T. tomato paste (I open a can and freeze it like this)
seasonings to taste-salt, pepper, nutritional yeast
choose a flavor profile...italian seasoning or curry for instance
if you like it spicy add some cayenne or red pepper flake

When the greens or squash are cooked add them to the blender and pulse for slightly chunky consistency.  (I use a towel to cover the blender to protect myself from hot liquids.)

Pour into soup bowl and add a packet of salmon (I get mine at Walmart by the tuna-fish.)

Optionally you can add about 1/2 cup of quinoa or brown rice.

Enjoy!

(If you don't like to use the packet salmon you can cook a thawed salmon fillet with your vegetables.  I find they are sometimes fishy, so I prefer the packets.)

My favorite version

Summer squash, 1 T. EVOO, salt, pepper, nutritional yeast, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, oregano, packet of salmon and 1/2 cup quinoa.

Review and Giveaway-Keep Crockin' AND Crock On

I have some confessions to make:  I love crock pots, but I don't use mine (I have 3) nearly enough. Secondly, I am terrible at getting real meals on the table in the weeks leading up to Christmas. This year is going to be different.  I have 2 fabulous crock pot cookbooks to keep our bellies full for the entire holiday season AND I am going to giveaway a bundle that includes a beautiful pdf of each cookbook thanks to the generosity of author and friend Stacy at Stacy Makes Cents...so now your bellies can be full of yummy goodness too!

Keep Crockin': A Poorganic Slow Cooker Cookbook is her newest release, just published on November 25. (Read what it means to be poorganic.) I was fortunate enough to get a copy of this book several weeks ago and I have tried several of the recipes....and liked them all so far.

This book contains 55 new recipes with easy to follow instructions and Stacy's witty quotes throughout. The book is entertaining, the pages are beautiful and the recipes are delicious.  You can't ask for much more in a cookbook.

She has released the recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala and it is seriously easy and yummy.  I made this last week (using chicken breasts) and I will definitely be putting this on my December menu!

Some of the recipes I have tried so far:

Loaded Butternut Squash Soup --Big yum factor here...loved this.

Hamburger Stew- Delicious

Sweet and Spicy Boston Butt- Great

Italian Casserole- Fabulous...really, really liked this

Chicken Tikka Masala-Super Delish.  I served mine over cauli-rice.  Kids had regular rice.

Sweet Bacon Green Beans- sweet and bacon?  Need I say more?

and the recipe I tested for the book-Almond Flour Brownies

Here is what I said about this recipe:

"Moist, delicious and gobbled up in no time. My family loved these and I love having the option of making brownies in the crockpot. Highly recommend you make these today!"

Did you even know you could make brownies in a crockpot?  I had no idea...and these are great!

Keep Crockin' is available as a download, for Kindle or Nook for $8 and $12 for a physical book.



Stacy's first cookbook, Crock On is a semi-whole foods cookbook with  40 recipes like:

• Deluxe Potato Soup
• Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes
• Chicken Tetrazzini
• Pineapple Pork Loin
• Pizza Potatoes
• Upside Down Apple Pie
• Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Lava cake

go here to see all of the other mouth watering recipes!


There are 40 recipes and you can try Cheesy Sausage Potatoes to get a taste of what's inside.

You can purchase as a digital download, for Kindle or Nook for ONLY $5 and $12 for a physical book.


Stacy also has an affiliate program...so check it out!

You can find Stacy all over the internet and I recommend you do!  First you should follow her @ Stacy Makes Cents, then Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Now for the giveaway which I am running until this weekend so enter NOW!

The winner is Julie N!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Creamy Vegetable Soup

When I joined Weight Watchers, I received a booklet with a 0 points plus vegetable soup.  Recently I started making it "my own". I call it Creamy Vegetable soup.  You can make this "your own" by using veggies you like.

Chop a small onion and 2 carrots, saute in a non-stick pan.  Add 1/2 a head of chopped cabbage and a clove or two of garlic.   After the carrots and onions start to soften, add a carton of chicken broth, a large can of crushed tomatoes, a small can of diced tomatoes, about a cup of frozen spinach (or fresh if you have it).  I sometimes add some kale too.  Then add a diced zucchini.  Season with 1 tsp. basil, 1/2 tsp. each oregano and salt...(or whatever you like)
Simmer for about 20 minutes covered.

Now my favorite part. I put some soup in a Magic Bullet with 1 wedge of Light Laughing Cow cheese.  I like to use Queso Fresco and Chipotle. YUM! (You could just use regular cream cheese or nothing at all if you prefer.)

 I usually add more soup to the puree so I have chunks of veggies in my creamy soup.  I count this as 1 point plus.

The puree is kind of green but it IS yummy.

Of course you can just eat the soup as is, no need to puree.  This soup carried me through the entire summer and now through the winter because it's low (or 0) points and filling.

Link up to this week's Try a New Recipe at Home to 4 Kiddos

Taking Inventory

As part of my Goal Planning for this week I listed clean out the freezer, take inventory and make a list of meals (to make with what I have on hand).  I originally only planned to do the freezers but I ended up taking an inventory of almost everything I have in the house.  It's pretty overwhelming actually.  I was going to post the list of what I have and what I am going to make but it was just too long. So, I think I'll share my list of upcoming meals.  I do have a short grocery list of items that I'll need to complete a few of these meals.  (It's kind of embarrassing to admit how much I have on hand but I'm very thankful that the Lord has blessed us so abundantly.)

Grilled London Broil, Tangy Green Bean casserole or maybe this
Grilled Chicken, Grilled Asparagus, Pasta salad
Very Veggie Lasagna
Homemade pizza
Spicy Noodle Edamame Salad
Corn Chowder
BBQ Hash
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Chicken Tetrazzini
Country Chicken Pot Pie (probably served over toast rather than in a pie crust)
Stir Fry Beef and Broccoli with Rice
Hamburgers and Chips
BBQ Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken
French Toast and bacon
Tuna Noodle Casserole
Hotdogs
Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
Zucchini Garden Chowder

Red, White and Blueberry Muffins
PB & J scones
Lemon Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins
Zucchini Bread

I will need to purchase eggs, milk, toasted sesame oil, potatoes, BBQ sauce (unless I make some with ketchup and spices), Thai sweet chili sauce, fresh broccoli, frozen mixed vegetables.  I might need to buy more mozzarella cheese too.  I have other foods on hand...crackers, chips, ice cream, ingredients for cookies and bread, cold cereal, popcorn, yogurt, oatmeal etc.

There are a few items on this list that I won't eat because they are either too high in calories or I don't know what the calorie count is and I have plenty of things on hand that I can eat instead.

What's For Dinner? Freezer Cooking

Don't you hate figuring out what to cook each night? I have 2 strategies to help with this.  One is stocking my freezer with meals and the second is meal planning.  Over the years I have done a lot of this but not really consistently so that I would say I was a "once a month" cook.

 There have been a lot of good meat sales lately so I took advantage of it and made a few nice meals which will be helpful on busy days.  I made a meal plan for the next 3 weeks which will likely be stretched to 4 weeks with leftover nights and things that come up that I didn't think of.

This is what I have in the freezer:

Breakfast Ideas

Ever since I was little I didn't like cottage cheese.  I hadn't even tasted it in years.  Last week I was making a crustless quiche with cottage cheese in it and decided I should give it a try again.  I was surprised to find that I do like it!  This morning I remembered that I had seen a recipe for a breakfast of cottage cheese and flax seed but of course did not remember where.  So, I googled it and found a recipe for Cottage Cheese Power Breakfast with Flaxseed.  It is a fairly easy breakfast that isn't loaded with sugar and should be filling enough to get me through the morning.  I think I might try substituting Barlean's strawberry Omega swirl flaxseed oil in place of the blueberries and ground flaxseeds next time.

I am always looking for good breakfast ideas.  A bowl of cereal just doesn't cut it.  What are your favorite breakfast ideas?

Update:  I tried the cottage cheese and Barlean's but it wasn't good at all.