Pumpkin Curry Soup

It’s beginning to look a lot like….Pre-Christmas?

recipe courtesy of Amanda at Free Coconut Recipes

Yep, it’s only October but the stores already have the decorations up.  I get confused about what holiday comes next.  That must be why I have pumpkin on the brain.  And don’t wait until Thanksgiving to make this – any cold day will do! 

One of the ladies at work makes her version of Pumpkin Curry Soup and brings it in her crockpot along with a loaf of fresh bread.  Heavenly! 

This recipe was submitted to Free Coconut Recipes by Amanda in Hot Springs, CA – thanks Amanda!  She also took the lovely picture.  I have shaky hands so I prefer to use other people’s pictures so you don’t get nauseated looking at them!

Pumpkin Curry Soup

makes 4 servings

recipe courtesy of www.freecoconutrecipes.com

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 teaspoon powdered ginger

1 teaspoon ground cumin or cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

4 finely minced garlic cloves

3 1/2 cups pumpkin puree

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups unsweetened coconut milk

Salt to taste

Minced cilantro for garnish and flavor

Heat the oil in a heavy soup pan, medium-low heat.

Add the curry, ginger, cumin and red pepper flakes.

Stir for a couple of minutes while the seasonings roast and become fragrant. Do not walk away - they can burn in a flash and you will have to start over. Add the garlic and stir for a moment. Do not let the garlic brown. The flavor will overpower this delicate soup if you do.

Pour the chicken broth into the spice mixture and stir well. Loosen anything that may be sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Add the pumpkin puree into the pot, and mix very well.  Try using an immersion blender or carefully combine in a large blender.

Warm the coconut milk separately and then add to the blended pumpkin mixture. Season with sea salt according to your own taste.

Serve with a sprinkling of finely minced cilantro on the top. The green of the cilantro sparkles against the orange hue of the soup. It also adds a subtle earthy quality.

Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia

photo courtesy of Rachael Ray

Five ingredients and 15 minutes to make this dish.  Thanks to my Facebook ladies for sharing this Rachael Ray recipe.

Don’t be shy!   Feel free to give this some BAM! (aha, mixing my Food Network stars) by tossing in some pepper or cayenne or whatever floats your boat (get it? fishing puns)….

I always read the comments section of an online recipe to get ideas that others have tried and I always learn something.  Remember where you heard that and later you'll thank me!

Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia

makes 4 servings 

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons paprika

1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley or Italian seasoning

4  tilapia fillets, thawed (about 1 pound total)

Extra virgin olive oil

1  lemon, cut into wedges

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a shallow dish, combine the cheese with the paprika and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the fish with olive oil and dredge in the cheese mixture, press gently to help the cheese cling to the fish.

Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake until the fish is opaque in the thickest part, 10 to 12 minutes.   If you like it a tad more brown and crispy, put it under the broiler for a few minutes to finish it off.

Serve the fish with the lemon wedges.

Blender Eggs (Bleggs)

Sometimes I make my eggs 'pancake style'
this version is with flax meal

 
My Bubba calls these ‘Grinch eggs’ and he won’t even try them!  This would be fun to make for your kids and you can call it ‘green eggs and ham’ and you can get a lot of veggies into them this way. 

 There’s really no set and special recipe for this, I was messing around with my NutriBullet and decided to try this out.  And since I have eggs for breakfast pretty much every day (I love ‘em) this was a quick and easy way to get lots of healthy boosters into my breakfast.  If you don’t have flax seeds, use chia or whatever you have on hand.  This is also a good way to sneak boosters like Spirulina into your own food – very healthy and great benefits!

My favorite way to eat them is with Greek yogurt and avocado on top.  Oh yes, and a nice grind of Himalayan pink sea salt is really good too!

Share ideas!  Leave a comment below with some ideas of what YOU would put in your bleggs…

 

Blender Eggs (Bleggs)

makes 1 large serving

2 eggs
handful of green veggies or a mix of them - like spinach, broccoli, kale, etc.

this one is spinach with chia seed gel

1 teaspoon of Spirulina or maca powder, whatever you’ve got
1-2 tablespoons of chia or flax seeds
toppings:  Greek yogurt, salsa, avocado, whatever sounds good to you
 

Add ingredients to blender, blend for about 30 seconds or until smooth.

Melt butter in skillet, pour in the egg mixture and cook the way you like them.

Serve with toppings (healthy, of course) of your choice.

Chocolaty Frosty

This is another recipe from Satisfying Eats, a terrific blog with grain-free recipes, which are perfect for Stage 1.  Check it out and you'll find lots of great things to try!

Now THIS is a summer treat that I bet you've been missing!  Who doesn't totally love a Chocolate Frosty from you-know-where?  Well now you can make your own without the guilt AND if you follow the link back to the Satisfying Eats site, you'll also see you're saving yourself loads of chemicals and harmful additives by making it yourself. 

 

Don't forget you can make it dairy free by substituting coconut milk for the heavy whipping cream.  

Be sure to keep frozen almond milk in ice cube trays on hand or you'll have to wait several hours until you can make this!  If you'd rather have strawberry flavor, try substituting 2-3 strawberries in place of the cocoa powder.

 

Chocolaty Frosty

recipe courtesy of Satisfying Eats
makes 1-10 oz Serving

 

8-9 cubes of frozen unsweetened almond milk

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream or coconut milk

3 servings Stevia or sweetener to taste

2 1/2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Add a ingredients to blender or Ninja. 

Blend for 30-60 seconds until smooth, pour into glass.

Enjoy!

Run and hide from any other people that are hanging around your house this summer...

Now enjoy!!

  

 

Skinny Shrimp Salsa

Today’s recipe just screamed ‘SUMMER’ at me.  It’s such an easy and neat idea yet one that hadn’t occurred to me.  This recipe is courtesy of Gina’s Skinny Recipes, her website is www.skinnytaste.com.  It’s mostly geared towards Weight Watchers recipes but you can find a lot of P10-worthy recipes there too.

Shrimp, tomatoes, cilantro, red onion and lime are combined to create a zesty protein rich salsa. Bring this to a party and watch it disappear!

This shrimp salsa is low-fat, gluten-free and perfect for low-carb diets, but you can switch it up and add black beans to boost the fiber, or roasted corn to add a touch of sweetness, and even avocado to add some healthy fats. Add more jalapeño to make it spicier and adjust the lime, cilantro and salt to suit your taste. You see where I'm going with this.... the possibilities are endless!

 

photo courtesy of www.skinnytaste.com

Skinny Shrimp Salsa

Recipe courtesy of Gina’s Skinny Recipes
makes 8 servings

16 oz. cooked peeled shrimp, diced fine

4 vine ripe tomatoes, diced fine
6 tablespoons red onion, finely diced
3 tablespoons jalapenos, diced fine
    (more or less to taste)
2 tablespoons minced cilantro
2 limes, juice of (or more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Combine diced onions, tomatoes, salt and lime juice in a non-reactive bowl and let it sit about 5 minutes. Combine the remaining ingredients in a large bowl, taste for salt and adjust as needed. Refrigerate and let the flavors combine at least an hour before serving.

Zucchini Soup

‘Oh wait a minute’ you say…’it’s too dang hot to have soup…besides you already posted a bunch of soups back in the wintertime!’

But hold on a second now – this soup can be served hot or COLD…chilled…nice and cool and ready to go when you get home from a long tough day at work.  And it’s vegetable!  So it’s perfect, right?  Well, Bubba would probably call it ‘Grinch Soup’.

So let’s get started…

Zucchini Soup

makes 4 servings

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 pound zucchini

2 cups chicken broth

marjoram: either 1/2 teaspoon dried or 1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup half-and-half (chilled version only)

Using a grater, coarsely shred the zucchini with the peel still on.

In a heavy pot, heat the oil over medium heat.  Sauté the onion and garlic about 4 minutes.  Add the zucchini and sauté for another minute.  Stir in the broth and marjoram.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

If you have an immersion (stick type) blender, go ahead and blend up the soup in the pot.  If not, then carefully pour or ladle the soup in two separate batches into the food processor or the blender and spin it until it’s nice and smooth.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To serve hot, return the soup to the pan and warm it up, then serve in bowls or mugs (I like to have hot soup in mugs).

To serve chilled – put the soup in a container, cover, and put in the fridge for at least an hour.  When ready to serve, whisk the nicely chilled half-and-half into the nicely chilled soup and enjoy.  (Do I really need to tell you to put it into a bowl and serve?   I mean really, are you going to stand at the counter with a straw and go to town straight from the Tupperware?)  

For those of you who are overwhelmed by the growth of zucchini (Jeri) you could make large batches of this and freeze it so you could enjoy this any time of year.

Nori Wraps

Now remember - Don't knock it until you've tried it...so if you haven't tried nori or you just look at it and go 'eeeeuuuuuwwww' just hear me out...SIT!  Thank you so much.

2 full sheets of nori

Nori, a paper-thin sheet of a roasted and dehydrated seaweed, is used primarily in Japanese cuisine. It commonly serves as a wrapper for sushi rolls. It may also be crumbled for use as a topping or garnish, imparting a sweet but salty taste to dishes. 

However, there's no law that you have to use nori for only Japanese food and certainly no law that it can only be wrapped around rice and raw fish so let's talk nori...

First of all, nori is not a grab and go sort of item.  Once it is wrapped and starts to get moist, it will get a little chewy so wrap and eat one at a time.  Same goes for the cut rolls, try not to let them sit.  Be sure to store nori in a dry place or it will lose its crisp texture.  

Now I wrap EVERYTHING in nori.  And it's darn good.  It's got a nice salty 'snap' to it that I really enjoy.  I will sometimes just eat a sheet of it for funsies.  I keep a package of it on my kitchen table for when the need a fix (of NORI, thank you very much).

• For breakfast I like eggs and avocado wrapped in nori.
• At lunch I might mix up tuna or salmon and cream cheese and cucumbers, or avocado and greens and wrap that in nori.
• For a quick light dinner I have been known to wrap cooked chicken or lunchmeat, cooked veggies and hummus in nori.
• A light lovely dessert is sliced strawberries and cream cheese wrapped in nori.

To review - some things you could wrap in nori and snack on:

Avocado

Carrots, cut into strips

Cucumber, cut into strips

Fresh salad greens

Beans

Eggs, scrambled or hard baked

Cooked sliced chicken, steak or nitrate free lunchmeat or sausages

Shrimp, Tuna or Salmon

Veggies, roasted or grilled

Fruits - sliced strawberries or apples, raspberries, banana

Cream cheese

Hummus

Greek yogurt or sour cream

Almond butter
Rawtella

Here's the 'official' instructions on how to wrap these up, but hey, sometimes I just give it the good ole college try, it looks funny but tastes good anyway.  So don't stress about getting it perfect unless your Japanese mother-in-law is coming over.  (Don't laugh - I actually have one of those!)

Hand Rolls

makes 1 serving

1/2 sheet nori and ingredients to fill it

 

Place nori horizontally in front of you (landscape), smooth shiny side down.  Place other ingredients on the left half of the nori, diagonally (bottom in lower left corner, top in middle top of nori). Take a dab of filling and place it in the upper right corner.

To roll – pick up nori and hold heavy end in left hand, empty end towards you.  Grab bottom left corner and pull it up and to the right WHILE curling the fingers of your left hand towards that corner.  Squeeze gently to firm up roll and use dab of water to seal.

Cut Rolls

makes 1 serving

1 sheet nori and ingredients to fill it

Place nori horizontally in front of you (landscape), smooth shiny side down.  Place other ingredients across the bottom of the sheet. 

Roll tightly, moisten the empty edge and press to seal.  Use a sharp moist knife to cut into pieces.

Spring Green Saag

Continuing on our 'Indian food' theme this week, one of my favorite veggies cooked Indian style is spinach.  If Popeye was my husband he would be thrilled at how much we have spinach at our house.  Bubba certainly doesn't mind but the Kid does....so pooey on her!

I borrowed this recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie.  She has a great blog with healthy dessert recipes and once in a while, a non-dessert recipe.  This side dish was quick and delicious and to be honest, I could have eaten the entire dish it all by myself and called it dinner.  I used Greek yogurt and it gave the dish a great tangy flavor.

I served this along with Chicken Tandoori (will post Friday), and although they have very similar ingredients, the dishes complemented each other rather than copied each other.

Print this recipe:  Spring-Green Saag

Spring-Green Saag

Spring-Green Saag

serves four as a side dish

1 package frozen spinach, thawed (10-12 oz.)

1 medium onion or 1/2 large onion, chopped

2 teaspoons curry powder

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt (or more if desired)

1/4 teaspoon dry ginger (or 1 teaspoon fresh)

1 teaspoon olive oil (or more if desired)

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup yogurt, depending on desired creaminess

Wring out the spinach in a (preferably green) dishcloth until dry.

Add onion and oil to a hot pan. Sauté 3 minutes, or until it begins to brown.

Stir in the garlic, curry, and ginger, and sauté for another minute. Then add the spinach, as well as 2 tablespoons water. Cook another minute, or until most of the water has absorbed.

Remove from heat and stir in yogurt, as well as 1/4 cup water (or non-dairy milk). You can also add a little coriander and turmeric, if desired, for more flavor.

Spring-Green Saag and Chicken Tandoori

Black Bean Soup

Let's end our week of warm veggie soups with this lovely easy recipe...

This warm thick hearty soup was just perfect on a cold day.  It was really easy to make and very filling and it makes a lot.  I loved coming in the door and having dinner all set to go!

It’s a crockpot recipe but I think you could just put this together and simmer on the back of the stove all day and still have a great meal. 

Black Bean Soup

makes several servings

3 cans black beans (undrained)

1 can diced tomatoes (undrained)

2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

16 oz frozen vegetables

1 cup salsa

1 teaspoon lime juice

garlic salt

toppings: sour cream/Greek yogurt, cheddar cheese, additional salsa

Empty the beans and tomatoes into the crockpot - do not rinse or drain the beans.

Mix in the vegetables and broth.

Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 5 hours, the longer it cooks the better it tastes.

Before serving, use an immersion blender (or carefully pour small batches into blender) and puree until smooth.

Stir in salsa and lime juice.  Season to taste with garlic salt.

Serve hot with toppings of your choice.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Let's continue warming ourselves up with lovely veggie soups this week.  Best of all, you can put the soup into a freezer bag, seal tightly and freeze for future use.  Just zap and sip!

Every single time I make Cream of Broccoli soup I look at it and say ‘I’m not gonna like this’ – but I always do!  I guess it’s not so purty as you’re making it but it turns out great.

So yes, you suppose correctly.  Pretty much any kind of vegetable can be made into soup, there is more or less a basic pattern to it but they all taste great.  And to make really great soup you do need some way to puree it; either with an immersion blender (also called a stick blender) or a regular blender, but the regular blender is more of a hassle.

For those of you who are a certain age group, you will be required to sing along with Dana Carvey - …choppin’ broccoleeeeeee…choppin’ broccoliiiiiii, -  during the cutting of the vegetables.

I also secretly chopped up some zucchini and threw it in with the onions because I needed to cook it soon and because the Kid doesn’t like it – what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.  Since you’re going to puree it, you could sneak all kinds of stuff in there.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

serves 4-6

1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, chopped

16 oz broccoli florets, fresh (or frozen and thawed)

1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese

4 cups chicken or veggie broth

1/2 cup milk or cream or half & half

2 tbsp sour cream

salt and pepper

In a large soup pot, melt butter and olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add onion and cook three minutes until soft, add the garlic.

While onions are cooking, roughly chop up the broccoli and throw into the pot, and sauté in the onions and butter for a few minutes.

Add the broth, cover and simmer.  For fresh broccoli, cook about 10-15 minutes and for thawed broccoli, cook about 3-5 minutes.

Stir in the milk, cheese and sour cream into the pot and puree until smooth.  If you like your soup a bit thicker, combine 2 tablespoons of water and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in a separate dish and mix into the soup until thickened.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve with a little dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese if you’d like to appear all fancy and gourmet.

1/2 cup of soup = 1 vegetable serving and 1/4 fat serving, don't you think?

Print the recipe:  Cream of Broccoli Soup

Butternut Squash Soup

Is it just me or do you HATE eating salads when it's freezing outside?  Losing weight has made me cold all the time so this week, let's review some WARM COZY VEGGIE SOUPS....aaaaahhhhh that sounds so warm and filling....

This soup was so delicious that the three of us ended up eating it all in one sitting.

I have labeled this as 'easy' but the peeling and cutting up of the butternut squash was a pain.  If you are in a hurry you might want to buy it frozen, (as long as it doesn't have preservatives and stuff added to it) or find it already cut up in the produce section.

Next time I make it I might experiment with roasting it or putting it in the crockpot to soften it up.  Has anyone else tried that?

This soup would be great on all Stages of P10.

Simple Butternut Squash Soup

serves 4-6

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 onion, peeled and chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 lbs butternut squash, peeled and diced

3 cups vegetable or chicken stock or broth

salt and freshly ground pepper

parsley for garnishing

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan and gently saute the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes.

Add the squash and stock and stir well, bring to a boil.  Lower the heat, cover and simmer for about 25 minutes or until the squash is soft.

Blend the soup with an immersion blender or carefully transfer to a blender and puree until smooth.   If soup is too thick, thin with more broth or add a splash of cream or milk.

Season to taste and serve hot.

We enjoyed this garnished with Parmesan cheese and toasted hulled sunflower seeds.

1/2 cup of soup = 1 veggie serving

Print this recipe:  Butternut Squash Soup

Grilled Portobello Pizza

This week let's talk PIZZA....pizza is one of my triggers.  I can't resist it, and don't tell anyone else, but back in the days of my first marriage when I hated life and loved cheese, I would order a Pizza Hut small six-cheese pizza and eat it myself....talk about a food coma! 
Of course now I love life and still love cheese but I don't get it from Pizza Hut.

Let's start off our Monday with an easy way to get your pizza fix - completely vegetarian!

Today's recipe is courtesy of Cindy Elder - she is an experimenting machine!  She's always throwing stuff together and coming up with neat ideas.  I LOVE this one!  And like she says, you can change it up any way you'd like and come up with your own version of...

Grilled Portobello Pizza

makes 1 serving

recipe courtesy of Cindy Elder

Try this pizza different ways - Asian, Italian, Mexican, curry, chicken...endless possibilities. Like the potato topper phase years ago!

1 portabello mushroom

1 cup assorted veggies, chopped

1/2 tablespoon butter

Garlic powder or other seasonings

1 tablespoon cheese, grated

Wash mushroom and remove stem. Put in the oven under the broiler, at high (but not highest) heat, and let it cook on both sides.

Meanwhile, sauté veggies in butter, (to your taste; I used red onion, bell pepper, zucchini, and later added chopped tomato) seasoned as you'd like (I used garlic powder) for about 5-6 minutes.

Remove mushroom from oven, turn upside down, carefully spoon veggies on top (inside the cap); return to oven and heat for another 5 minutes or so.

Add grated cheese and return to oven until cheese is melted. 

Chocolate Chiapioca Pudding

Let's continue with this week's 'Ideas with Chia' - here a dessert you'll love!

I loves me some chocolate pudding and I'm also interested in using chia seeds so I was eager to try this recipe.  I have a mixer at home and I'll use it at the drop of a hat so I did a cheater version and put everything in the mixer bowl and just turned it on every five minutes until it was ready.

I can't really tell you how much sweetener to use - it's a Jersey thing...no, but really, it's personal preference.  And I kept adding agave and it just didn't taste right, so I added some Truvia and that did it for me.  Wait until it thickens up a little and add the sweetener, mix, taste and then see what more you'd like to do. 

OH - and guess what else?  I had this after dinner one night and I had energy to get up and go - so out I went grocery shopping - and I also did a lot more chores around the house that night than I usually would so this will give you some 'get up and go'.   Best of all, the Kid, who continually mocks my chia gel ate a big bowl of this and thought it was tapioca - so neener neener on her!

One morning I had forgotten to make a new batch of chia gel for my smoothie so I plopped in some of this pudding instead and it worked just fine!  Pudding Smoothie, anyone?


It tastes better than it looks!



PS:  Isn't 'chiapioca' a cute word!  I can't take credit for it though, I got that from Robert on the WB Facebook site. 

Chocolate “Chiapioca” Pudding

makes 4 servings

adapted from Maria's Delicious and Nutritious Journal

3/4 cup chia seeds

2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk

    (or use plain almond milk and add a little more vanilla extract)

 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

pinch of salt

sweetener of your choice (agave nectar, Stevia or Truvia) to taste



In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together and then let the pudding set up for a few minutes.

Stir the pudding every five minutes.

After sitting for 20 minutes the chia seeds will thicken up and it resembles tapioca pudding.

Print the recipe:  Chocolate Chiapioca Pudding

Chi-Asian Salmon

Let's continue with an entree we can make this week to go with our 'Ideas with Chia'...

Normally Bubba doesn't care for salmon so I've been racking my brain to find something so deliciously Asian that he can't help but like it.  I also took the liberty of removing the skin from his piece of salmon and turned out that was most of the problem right there, just couldn't appreciate a nice crispy piece of salmon skin.  So, if someone at your table is complaining, try removing the skin and see if that helps them (it's a texture thing).

This was just a great quick and easy dinner and while the salmon was marinating I roasted some broccoli to go with it.  I almost thought about making Tamari Broccoli but even I managed to realize that was a bit overboard.  Balance, balance, balance people!

Oh, and coconut sugar is my new favorite thing BECAUSE it's pretty much the brown sugar substitute of the P10 party!  So I gotta say you do want to use coconut sugar instead of just any sweetener 'cause you wanna get that awesome brown sugar/tamari thing going on.

Or, you could serve this nummy piece of fish over a bed of cool crisp greens and add a sliced avocado.  Shoot, now I gotta go make this again so I can try that....

Chi-Asian Salmon

4 pieces of salmon, about 6 oz each (or one large fillet if you prefer)

3 tablespoons coconut sugar

2 tablespoons tamari

1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

1 teaspoon chia seeds

In a small bowl mix the sugar, tamari and rice vinegar.

Pour the mixture into a ziplock bag and place the salmon in the bag. Marinate the salmon for 20 minutes.   (this would be a good time to start some veggies roasting in the oven).

Turn the oven on to the broil setting. Cover a baking sheet with foil and put the salmon skin side down on the foil.

For the smaller pieces, broil for about 8 minutes;

for the large whole filet, broil for about 15 minutes or until the fish is thoroughly cooked and flakes easily on a fork.

Sprinkle the salmon with chia seeds and serve.