Rosemary Pumpkin Soup

Please excuse my absence! I had strep and then the holidays hit. We all know how that goes, not a spare minute. I did cook, lots, but I didn't have time to prep, take photos, calculate calories and post it to the blog. I ended up making a couple of cheese balls, roasted veggies, and a cranberry orange cheesecake with gingersnap crust. Since we are finally getting some cold weather down here, I wanted to share a new favorite cold weather dish of mine, Rosemary Pumpkin Soup. I normally buy a pumpkin and roast it, but for this recipe I used two cans of pumpkin instead. This is a very hearty and filling soup, perfect for cold fall and winter nights.

Ingredients:

1 diced onion

3 large cloves of garlic - minced

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of flour
1 teaspoon of paprika

1/2 teaspoon of salt

3-4 sprigs of fresh rosemary

2 cans of pumpkin

32 oz of chicken or vegetable broth

1. Saute onions in pot until translucent on medium/high heat

2. Stir in Paprika and salt

3. Saute garlic (approximately 30 seconds)

4. Stir in flour

5. Add broth, pumpkin, and rosemary

6. Bring to light boil and then bring down to simmer

7. Take off heat & blend (immersion blender or regular blender)

8. Salt to taste and serve

I garnished mine with croutons and fresh rosemary.

Nutritional Information

This recipe easily has 4 servings, each serving has approximately:

126 calories

 4 grams of fat

1 gram of protein

Variations -
Roasted pumpkin instead of canned pumpkin
Preheat oven to 350 F
Quarter pumpkin & de-seed
Lightly brush with olive oil & lightly salt
Place on baking sheet
Roast in oven for 30-45 minutes until tender

Chipotle Pumpkin Soup
Saute a bell pepper with the onions and trade the paprika for chipotle seasoning

Roasted Dill Lemon Chickpeas

 Fantastic news for me! My kitchen is fully operational! I am still lacking groceries, but I was too excited not to cook something.

Every once and a while, I will make a batch of roasted chickpeas and snack on them all week. They are great hot or cold and you can make them in so many different ways. As I mentioned, I am lacking groceries, so I used some of the things I had laying around.

Ingredients:

2 cans of garbanzo beans

1/4 of an onion

1 juiced lemon

2 tablespoon olive oil

4 sprigs of fresh dill or approximately 3 tablespoons of dill

Salt to taste

Any additional spices you would like

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Rinse and drain garbanzo beans (make sure beans are dry)

3. Mince onion

4. Shred dill

5. Mix beans, onions, and half of the dill

6. Drizzle the olive oil and lemon juice

7. Mix well

8. Salt to taste (& any other spices you would like)

9. Stick in the oven for 20 - 30 minutes - until golden brown
10. Mix in the remaining dill

Enjoy!

Nutritional information

6 Servings

166 calories

 55 fat calories

7 grams of fat

7 grams of protein

Mediterranean Inspired Kidney Bean Salad

Good news, my kitchen is almost done! Everything is in working order except for the disposal, oven and stove! After absent-mindedly grocery shopping to restock the kitchen, I came home and decided to make one of my favorite go-to dishes, kidney bean salad. When I was at the store, I just bought a few basics and veggies to hold me over until my kitchen was complete. I normally prefer red onion in this dish, but all I bought was yellow, so I substituted. This salad is delicious and makes a great lunch. I love the lemon and parsley, it always reminds me of tabouli.

Ingredients

3 cans of kidney beans
1 red bell pepper - diced
1 yellow bell pepper - diced
1/2 red onion - diced
1 small bunch of parsley - chopped

2 lemons - juiced

1 tbs olive oil

salt to taste

1. Start off with draining and rinsing the kidney beans, then toss them in a bowl or tupperware.

2. Mix in your diced bell peppers, onion, and parsley. 

3. Drizzle the olive oil and mix well.

4. Add desired amount of lemon. I love lemon so I will use two or more lemons.

5. Salt to taste.

This recipe is extremely easy and very hard to mess up. You can always add and subtract ingredients, its all up to your preference. When I am making a big batch for a party I will add orange and green bell peppers to make it really colorful. It really doesn't matter what color bell peppers you use. I also add fresh minced garlic sometimes.

Kidney bean salad + tzatziki + crackers + hummus + carrots = my typical lunch

Nutritional Information:
This recipe has approximately 10 servings (the picture above is a little more than half of a serving)
Per serving (approximately 120 grams)
128 calories
1.4 grams of fat
3 grams of protein

Confessions

I have a confession to make. I did not choose the best time to start a food blog because, I have no kitchen, it kills me. The good news is that I may have a kitchen by the end of the day! I highly doubt everything will be in working order, but I will have my appliances! I am hoping for everything to be finished by next week. Normally, not being able to cook would kill me, I like home cooked meals, I take leftovers to lunch everyday. It is not often that I eat a lot of processed food, and being without a kitchen has left me with no choice. It has been probably 3-4 months with no kitchen. As I mentioned, I am not a big processed food fan, but I do make exceptions, even when I do have a kitchen.

One of my favorite go to prepared meals is Amy's. Amy's is a family owned business and all of their meals are vegetarian made with mostly (95%) organic ingredients. If you read their ingredient label practically everything is organic. They are not USDA Organic certified but they are certified organic by Quality Assurance International.

 Cheese Tamale Verde

The calorie & fat count on this is high compared to their other products, but it is delicious and compared to other options, I am doing great.

Chili & Cornbread

I also love their Chil & Cornbread meal. I was not to crazy about trying this one, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is really good. One thing that I miss eating since cutting out meat is chili and this hit the spot. The cornbread is slightly sweet and the chili has a great flavor.



Amy's also makes a variety of other very delicious meals, soups and snacks. You should really check them out: Amy's 

Hopefully, I will have a kitchen soon so that I can post my own delicious meals, but I can tell you that I will still eat Amy's when I just don't feel like cooking.

Food For Thought

 One should eat to live, not live to eat. 

 ~Cicero, Rhetoricorum LV

This is crap. Of course I eat to live. I choose my meals on what will benefit me the most, but I also live to eat. I know this sounds unhealthy, but hear me out. Food is life. The are so many wonderful flavors and textures to appreciate. I am not talking about stuffing your face, but really taking the time to appreciate your meal. Savor every bite.