Before I go any further, last post I promised a nice addition to a Sunday breakfast that's tasty and easy to throw together - a Fruit and Yogurt Parfait. It's a twist on the photo on the Bran Buds package, but I didn't notice that until I'd made them a couple of times.
Fruit and Yogurt Parfait
1/3 cup Vanilla Flavoured Greek Yogurt
2 tbsp. Bran Buds Cereal
1 large Strawberry, hulled and quartered
8 Blueberries
1/2 oz. Pineapple in chunks
1 tsp. Pumpkin Seeds
Spoon the fruit into a small bowl. Spoon the yogurt over that and add the cereal and pumpkin seeds on top. Makes 1 serving. Pretty simple, but a nice addition of calcium and fruit to a Sunday morning breakfast that might not have much of either one.
Nutritional Value per 1 serving:
146 Calories, 1.7 grams Fat, 3.3 mg Cholesterol, 26.4 grams Carbohydrate, 6.5 grams Fibre, 7.8 grams Protein
One of our Christmas gifts was the Fitbit Aria Scale to go with the activity monitoring wristbands and the online log. This is the 'no, you can't cheat any more on your weight' scale that is connected wirelessly to your computer. After creating your personal ID and connecting to your Fitbit account, it gives a very nice and LARGE digital readout of your weight (to the 10th of a pound) and your body fat percentage. YIKES!!! And it synchronizes directly to your account. So far, we've determined that it's best to weigh ourselves in the middle of the week, so any odd excesses from the weekend have melted off and the reading is more accurate to our average weights, and makes it easier to look at the progress line on our accounts. So now we have one more reason to keep up the lower fat, higher protein diet.
This time, I'd like to share a recipe for a soup I made from the remnants of a veggie tray. In the winter the selection seems to shrink to a group of raw foods that, while extremely good for us, aren't everybody's favourites: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and celery. They may not be too appetizing in the raw form, but they make a fantastic base for any kind of soup. This one is a take on French Onion Soup with a cheesy crouton on top.
Vegetable Soup with Cheese Crouton
1/2 Onion, chopped
1 cup Celery, chopped
1 cup Carrots, chopped
1 cup Broccoli, chopped
1 cup Cauliflower, chopped
4 cups Low Sodium Beef or Vegetable Stock
4 cups Water
1 Bay Leaf
1 tbsp Tomato Paste
Salt & Pepper to taste
6 Slices French Baguette Bread, drizzled with olive oil
3 Slices Cheese - Swiss or Havarti, halved to fit the bagette
Start the onion, celery and carrots in a pot in about 1 tbsp canola or olive oil. Sweat them for one or two minutes. Add the broccoli, cauliflower and tomato paste and stir to coat. Cook for another minute, stirring to keep the tomato from sticking to the pot. Add the stock, water, bay leaf and seasonings. Cook for about 45 minutes until the vegetables are softened, adjusting seasoning as you go, a little at a time.
In the meantime, cut the baguette into 3/4"to 1" slices, place on a sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil. Broil until the slices just start to brown, then top with the cheese slices and set back under the broiler until the cheese has melted. To serve, ladle into bowls and top with a crouton. Recipe makes about 5 good sized servings.
Nutritional Info per 1 Serving:
239 Calories, 6.4 grams Fat, 25.3 mg Cholesterol, 29.4 grams Carbohydrate, 3.8 grams Fibre, 13.5 grams Protein
There are so many variations on this soup that I could go on for hours. And the good thing of it is that, even if you add chicken or beef pieces and make a heartier version, it is still low in fat. And if you don't have any cheese you need to use up, you can dispense with the crouton all together and save some fat and carbs!
Back to regular posts this week. I'm even going to throw in a few restaurant meals. It is quite amazing what you can find with a little research on a restaurant chain website!
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