Chunky Vegetable Soup

This recipe comes from the blog Simply Sissom and it is very, very, good and very, very, healthy. I look forward to checking out more recipes from this blog!

• 1 TBS extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 3 medium parsnips (or carrots) (I used carrots because that's what I had on hand)
• 1 bell pepper (I prefer red)
• 2 cups of sweet potato, peeled and chopped (I used butternut squash)
• 1 zucchini, chopped into half moons
• 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 4 cups of chicken broth (Vegan- use vegetable broth) (I used vegetable broth)
• 3/4 t paprika
• 1/4 t garlic powder
• 1/2 t oregano
• 1/4 t onion powder
• 1/2 t basil
• 1/4 t thyme
• 1/8 t pepper
• 1/4 t sea salt
• 1/8 t white pepper
• additional Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 Bay leaf
• 4 cups of baby spinach
• 1 can of black beans, rinsed (optional)
• 
  

Cook onion and garlic in olive oil for about 5 minutes, add all ingredients except beans and spinach. 

Simmer 20 minutes until vegetables are tender.

Add beans and spinach.

Soup Spice Blend

• 2 TBS of smoked paprika
• 1 TBS garlic powder
• 1 TBS dried oregano
• 1 TBS onion powder
• 1 TBS dried basil
• 2 tsp. thyme
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp fine-grain sea salt
• 1 tsp. white pepper

Fruit Water

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Losing Weight - What I Ate Today

Breakfast

This doesn't look particularly pretty, but it was tasty and very filling. So filling that I could not drink all of it.

1/2 frozen banana

@ 1 cup frozen chopped fruit (peach, mango, grapes, strawberries)

a few fresh blueberries

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/4 cup rolled oats

1 tbs wheat germ

1 tbs ground flaxseed

water to thin

makes 16 ounces

tomorrow I will split it and put half away for the next day

Lunch

1/2 cup brown rice (cooked plain)

topped with one cup of the following mixture:

collard greens (16 oz bag)

black beans (canned)

chopped tomatoes (canned)

yellow apple

Dinner

I indulged by having the corn.

I couldn't resist, it was so fresh and sweet.

Grilled chicken marinated in Italian dressing

one piece corn on the cob

salad drizzled with a little Italian dressing

yellow squash microwaved with rosemary and thyme

Snacks

red grapes

almonds

one cheese stick

one oreo

No Ben and Jerry's tonight.

*this does not completely follow DASH

Losing Weight, at least trying to

Who - me
What - lose weight
Where - everywhere
When - NOW
Why - I won't divulge all of it now, but one reason is because I turned 50.
How - well, now, this is what this post is all about!

So this is what I am doing right now - I am sure my plans will change around as I go, but one thing will stay the same: WATCHING THE CARBS

Breakfast

• fruit, usually strawberries and blueberries, sometimes with almonds, sometimes with some Fiber One cereal (at least until I run out of it). 
• smoothie. I have a huge bag of frozen fruit. my best smoothie so far has been frozen fruit (including half of a frozen banana) and unsweetened almond milk.
• eggs
• half of a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese

Lunch

• sandwich on a whole grain sandwich thin with lots of veggies (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, sprouts, green pepper)
• salad
• beans, veggies and rice (no sauce if I have tomatoes)
• fruit

Dinner

• meat (grilled)
• salad
• whole grain pasta
• vegetables

Snacks

• fruit
• lettuce, cucumbers, radishes
• one large spoonful of Ben and Jerry's ice cream
• two or three doritos

I don't eat all of those things every day, that is just a list of choices I have made so far. Here is what I have planned for tomorrow:

Breakfast: smoothie

Lunch: brown rice, black beans, tomatoes, collard greens, apple

Dinner: green salad with grilled marinated chicken and zucchini and a little dressing

Snack: grapes and almonds, one large spoonful of Ben & Jerry's pistachio ice cream

I am trying to have healthy carbs in two meals, so I may try adding rolled oats and flax seed in the smoothie. Some days I crave more carbs, and I am trying to let my body tell me what it needs, so on those days I will have carbs with all three meals.

How is it working? I have lost 14 pounds in two and a half weeks. *Note: a lot of that weight is water, and a lot of it may be attributed to a new diuretic that I am taking, however, my current diet may eliminate the need for the diuretic (I haven't taken it in the last two days and haven't had a problem) and besides that, it feels great to get rid of all of that water!

Vegetarian Bean Soup

The name of this soup, love this, is

Oh! Good! Soup!

(This is not the soup I made, but it looks a lot like it. Photo courtesy of Betty Crocker.)

and comes from the book Fix It and Forget It Lightly on page 194.  I did change it a little, and would like to change it more the next time I make it, and there will be a next time!

This is a healthy soup, and does not call for a lot of seasonings, nor does it have any meat or bouillon, so at first taste I thought it was a little bland, but after a few bites the natural flavors of the ingredients come out, and your tongue begins to appreciate the taste. Having said that, the original recipe calls for hot sauce, but next time I will replace the hot sauce with some salsa. Other than that, and the fact that I did not choose low sodium canned tomatoes, I wouldn't change a thing, unless I do, like maybe adding some thyme.

2 cups mixed, dried beans

2 1/2 quarts water

1 large onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

28 oz can diced tomatoes

red bell pepper, chopped

1/2 cup chopped celery

juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

several drops hot sauce @ 1 C salsa

1 cup brown rice, uncooked

1 cup assorted small pasta, cooked (I did not have room for this, and don't think it is necessary, perhaps because my bean mix had some barley in it)

Soak beans 2-6 hours overnight, drain

place beans in slow cooker

cover with 2 1/2 quarts water

cover and cook on high 2 hours

add all remaining ingredients (except pasta, if you are using it)

add water to cover if needed

cook on high 4-6 hours, low 8-10

Instead of having just bread and butter with this, I made a cheese quesadilla. All of the cheese kind of counteracts the healthy aspect of the soup though.

Honey Grilled Chicken Breasts

photo source

This recipe comes from Spark People and was pretty tasty.

Marinade:

1/4 C orange juice (this called for fresh, I used Florida's Natural that comes in a carton)

3 T honey

2 T fresh lemon juice (I did use fresh this time)

2 T soy sauce (I used low sodium because of my water retention issues)

1 T peeled and minced fresh ginger (I used 1/8 t ground ginger)

1 T minced garlic

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste (threw in some ground pepper only)

stir above ingredients together and marinate 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

Grill until done

What I liked:

I am not going to lie, it is an adjustment to get used to the lack of salt, but this recipe was tasty even without it.  Of course there was some sodium provided by the soy sauce; as I posted earlier, even low sodium soy sauce is loaded with sodium.

Because there is no oil in this marinade, there was no flare up on the grill, and the chicken browned nicely.

Enough juice came off the chicken that it helped flavor the rice that I served with it.

About the rice and getting used to low/no sodium:

I thought I would beat salt at it's own game. I sauteed a mixture of brown and white rice in a teaspoon of olive oil with some very finely chopped onion (to fool my kid). Then I poured in the water and shredded a carrot and threw that in, covered and cooked for 35 minutes.  Blah, it was tasteless.  But then I got used to it, and kind of mixed my zucchini in with it. And it was passable.

See here is the thing. I have two more weeks on my diuretic, and then I have to see if I can control the water retention on my own with diet. Now I do not think that I took in a ridiculous amount of sodium before, at least not compared to everyone I know. So I suspect that my body is a bit inefficient at filtering the sodium. And I suspect that I will have to be pretty strict to be able to stay off medication. So I would rather not add sodium to foods and learn to live without it and let my taste buds adjust.

I am also a simple kind of gal. A very busy simple kind of gal. There is so much swimming around in my head at any given moment that I don't need any more crammed in there kind of gal. I bought one DASH diet cookbook, but I need SIMPLE EASY NO MORE THAN 5 INGREDIENTS kind of recipes. So, if I can learn to enjoy a plain rice, perhaps cooked with a vegetable or two thrown in, I will be very happy.

So I am not dismissing my rice recipe. Perhaps it is me that needs to be adjusted.