Spicy Kale Soup

This is one of those recipes that The Honey calls "chick food".  He doesn't like split pea soup, either.  Or any soup that is pureed.  Or green.  What can I say - this is the man that loves Sloppy Joe sandwiches, remember?  However, the one time I convinced him to eat it for dinner, he admitted that it was surprisingly (he was surprised - not me!) tasty.  It may not sound like much of a testimonial, but it's the one I'm most proud of because it was the hardest to earn.

Although this soup looks remarkably like split pea soup, trust me when I tell you it tastes nothing like it.  It's a great blend of vegetables, including a couple of potatoes to make it creamy when it's pureed.  And the kale adds some great flavor to it, though I must admit that I'm not a big fan of kale by itself.  Add in your red pepper flakes and sour cream and you have a delicious bowl of tasty goodness that has a little kick to it.  And as an added bonus, has less than half the calories of a bowl of split pea soup.


Spicy Kale Soup
(Yields about 7 1-1/2 c. servings, about 100 calories each)

4 c. chicken broth
2 potatoes, peeled
2 carrots
1 large onion
2 crowns broccoli
1 bell pepper, red or green
1 bunch kale (about 6-7 leaves)
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt/pepper to taste
1/2 tsp. celery salt
1/2 tsp. thyme
pinch of red pepper flakes
3/4 c. light sour cream

Pour chicken broth into a large soup pot (with a lid) and place over medium heat.  Chop or slice all of the vegetables except the kale as desired and add to the pot.  You don't have to make it look too pretty because you'll be pureeing the soup, but remember you want the veggies to cook quickly, so be sure to chop the tougher vegetables, such as the carrots, into thin slices to they'll cook faster.

While vegetables are simmering, wash kale and separate the leafy part from the woody stem.

Chop the leafy part.

Add to the pot on top of the other vegetables.  This should fill your pot up significantly.  Do not try to stir it in just yet.

Put the lid on the pot and simmer for about 10-15 minutes.  See how much prettier it looks?

Now you can stir it in.  Add the minced garlic and salt/pepper.

Continue simmering veggies another 30-45 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender.

Now it's time to puree the soup.  I don't have a nice big food processor, but my blender works just fine.  I have to do about half at a time.

Puree for about 45-60 seconds, or until soup is smooth.

Return pureed soup to the pot and add red pepper flakes, celery salt, and thyme. Continue simmering over medium-low heat.

I'm kind of a baby when it comes to spicy things, so I just add a pinch of the red pepper flakes - maybe 1/4 teaspoon?  If you like hot, feel free to jump it up a notch and add more. You can also add the red pepper flakes BEFORE you puree it to release the spicy in the red pepper a little more intensely.  I did that once.  Never again.  I'm a wimp, remember?

Then stir in your sour cream.

When you don't see the creamy swirls any more you know it's mixed well and ready to eat.

If desired, add some cooked sausage to your bowl just before serving.

Meatball Soup

This recipe is one of those I stumbled onto by accident.  About 4 years ago a friend of mine, Sophia, offered to become my "lifestyle" coach and teach me how to live healthy.  With her help, I also lost 115 pounds.  Then two years ago I got pregnant with my son, Handsome Man.  While I was pregnant I lost my habit of daily exercise and healthy eating.  I've been struggling to regain my healthy habits for the past year.  Ironically, it's not as easy when I'm a SAHM instead of a working one!  Although I haven't regained the 115 pounds, I've been carrying around an extra 40.  Way too much, in my opinion.

So I sacrificed my pride and I contacted my friend again because I really need the extra support to stay on task.  (For the record, she's now become a professional lifestyle coach and of course I'm going to give her a free plug on this blog.  Check out her website and my "before/after" pictures if you're interested!)

As part of her plan, I have been focusing on eating lots of yummy non-starchy vegetable to help me break my sugar addiction.  I modified one of her existing recipes to make a vegetable soup with chili seasonings.  When I ate it I'd supplement my meal with different types of proteins, usually leftover turkey.  (We have it, and we need to eat it - why not?)

So what was the accident?  I was making spaghetti and meatballs for the family the other night, and rather than eat the carb-filled pasta I opted to heat up a bowl of my chili veggie soup and toss in a few of the meatballs for my protein.  Surprisingly, the heavenly angels sang.  Over a bowl of vegetable soup.  With cabbage in it.  I don't know why, I don't know how, but I am loving this soup!

Meatball Soup
(The basic vegetable soup is very, very low calorie - like maybe 50 calories per bowl.  The actual calories per bowl will depend on how many meatballs you use and what they are made of!)

1 small head cabbage, chopped
4 c. chicken broth
1 yellow squash, diced
1 crown of broccoli, chopped
1 onion, diced
2 cloves minced garlic
1 can Italian-style diced tomatoes
1 can regular diced tomatoes
1 can green beans, drained
1 Tbsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. chili powder
Salt to taste
Meatballs (turkey or beef - your choice!)

This recipe doesn't need much instruction from me, but for those of you not used to working with raw heads of cabbage, here's how I cut it for the soup.

First, I chop off the 4 sides and the top, discarding the main stem in the middle.

Then I dice those sections of cabbage like so:

Toss them in the pot with the other ingredients (except the meatballs!), mix it up, and you're good to go.

Simmer this pot of veggies on the stove for about 30-45 minutes, or until the cabbage is nice and tender.  It should look something like this:

You can then do one of two things.  I choose to store the soup like this and the heat up a bowl for me when I'm going to eat it.  I know that no one else in my family will enjoy it, and The Honey has flat refused to eat cooked cabbage so I don't even bother drying to fix it for dinner.  So after I heat up my bowl of soup I also heat up a few meatballs, squeeze the excess grease out of them, cut them up, and throw them into my bowl of soup.

However, if you're making this for a family meal and you think there's a good chance there won't be many leftovers, you can go ahead and cut up and toss in your meatballs.  I like to have 3-4 meatballs per bowl, and this recipe likely makes about 8 servings so I'd toss in about 2-3 dozen meatballs for the whole pot.  Either way, it is some kind of good!

Fajita Soup

This recipe was given to me by one of my blog readers, former high school classmate, and new blogging buddy, Barbara. She has some great ideas in the kitchen, which I look forward to being able to share with you all.

I also have two confessions to make. First, I have had this recipe since October 10th and am just now getting around to trying it. There's a couple ingredients in this soup that I don't normally keep around the house (Ro-tel tomatoes) and Bush's Chili Beans. I kept forgetting to add them to my grocery list. The second confession is that I never did remember the chili beans. I didn't have the recipe with me, and all I could think about were the Ro-tel tomatoes. So, I substituted a can of red kidney beans and added about a teaspoon of chili powder to the pot.

Caution: This is a spicy soup. If you really aren't into spicy and you want to try this, I recommend subbing the Cilantro Lime Ro-tel tomatoes for the extra-mild. That way you still get the Mexican flavor without all the heat. If you like it just spicy enough to make your nose run (like me), than this is the perfect soup for you.

Barbara's Fajita Soup

2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can black beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can Rotel tomatoes (Mexican flavor with lime & cilantro)
2 cups frozen peppers and onion mix
1 packet fajita seasoning
1 tsp. chili powder
Extra water

To get started, I assembled all my canned goods and seasonings.

Then I dumped my canned beans into a colander in the sink. I don't all that thick juicy stuff in the canned beans, so I rinsed them well and added them to the crock pot.

I also dumped in the corn (drained), both cans of tomatoes, the packet of fajita seasoning and the chili powder.

Then I added my frozen bell pepper and onion mix and enough water to make a nice soup. I have a large crock pot, and I filled it about 2 inches shy of the rim.

Lastly I added the cooked, shredded chicken and mixed it up nice.
(Tip from Barbara: Buy the rotisserie chickens at the store when they go on sale at night. Pull the meat off and separate into 2 or 3 bags and freeze. Then you already have cooked, shredded chicken in the freezer and ready to use.)

I actually started this in the crock about 10:00 in the morning, but I forgot to turn it on until about 12:00. It cooked about 5 1/2 hours on low and was still great for dinner! We served it with a dollop of light sour cream. The Honey also added a handful of shredded cheddar. It was fabulous, Barbara - thanks for sharing!

Barley Vegetable Soup

Welcome to my life.

Sometimes I feel like I just can't make anyone happy at mealtimes. Okay, so that's a slight exaggeration, but I really, really get tired of fighting with my kids at meals. I know they don't like most soups. But I'm not living off Chicken-less Noodle Soup my whole life - and I'm not letting them, either.

Fortunately for me, I do have one someone on my side most of the time - The Honey. He likes almost everything I cook, and will only look askance if I have done something like... puree a vegetable soup. Although I like it creamy with red pepper flakes, to him it's not soup if it doesn't have chunks in it. So we eat lots of chunky vegetable soups, much to the dismay of Horse Lover and The Monkey. I make them bread so they won't go to bed hungry, and maybe one day they'll learn to love the veggies like I do...

This particular soup was very tasty. It's not got any thickeners in it (like corn starch or flour) so if you like a good, runny soup broth, this will hit the spot. However, it does have barley in it and I can't even begin to tell you where to buy barley if you don't already have it. I got mine years ago from someone who was moving and couldn't take her food storage with her. Perhaps a health food store? If you know, feel free to comment with suggestions!


Barley Vegetable Soup
(I didn't measure the yield on this recipe, but the entire pot is about 675 calories and I'm guessing that you would get about 6 adult servings - that comes out to 112 calories/bowl.)

4 c. beef broth
1/2 c. barley
1 c. vegetable juice (like V-8)
1 stalk celery
1 medium onion
1 zucchini
1/2 green bell pepper
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 c. fresh cilantro
1 tsp. thyme
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Optional: 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

This recipe isn't going to need much in the way of pictures for the "how to" part of it. I mean, really. You're throwing veggies in a pot and cooking it till they're done. Rocket science, right? However, if you've never seen barley before, I'm going to educate you.

Here is what it looks like uncooked and hard. Nothing amazing, just another grain...

And here is what it looks like after it has simmered for about 30 minutes in beef broth. It's much more appetizing, don't you think?

As I already alluded, you start cooking this soup by simmering the barley by itself in the beef broth. In case you haven't guessed, barley takes longer to cook than the vegetables, so I like to get it out of the way before adding my other veggies. Once the barley has expanded and gotten tender, go ahead and toss in all the other ingredients. Cover and simmer until veggies are desired tenderness,

Chicken-less Noodle Soup

This winter I have decided that my family is having a soup night every week. I love, love, love soup. For many reasons - not the least of which is because it can be inexpensive to make. Soup can also be low in calories yet extremely tasty. This is good, because 9 times out of 10 we're having rolls with our soup and breads are not so low-calorie.

Another reason I love soup is because I can hide things in it that my kids (and husband!) won't normally eat. For example: cauliflower. No one in this house besides me and Handsome Man will touch the stuff. Or so they think (insert evil laugh here).

This past week we had all been oh-so-sick and I was just starting to feel better. It was cold and rainy and the perfect day for soup. When I announced this to Horse Lover and The Monkey, they started to complain. Being the sweet, tender-loving mother than I am, I informed them that we were going to have soup often throughout the winter and they had better learn to like it or plan on going hungry. However, I did let them choose what kind of soup I would make. They voted for just plain old chicken noodle. You know, the kind with no actual chicken or vegetables in it. So I agreed with one condition: all chicken noodle soups must have celery in it, but I told them that they could pick it out. Little did they know the celery was just a cover-up for my real plan... cauliflower.

The secret to hiding cauliflower in soup is to steam it and then puree it before adding it to the broth. I just so happened to have a head of cauliflower on hand that I got in my produce co-op about a month ago. It really needed be used. And the end result? No one - not even The Honey - realized there was any vegetables in the soup at all other than celery. The kids loved it - especially Handsome Man. And yes, he went straight from the high chair to the bathtub after this meal...


Chicken-less Noodle Soup
(Makes approximately five 1-1/2 c. servings. 115 calories per serving.)

4 c. chicken broth
2 stalks celery
1 large clove of garlic, minced or pressed
1 Tbsp. dehydrated onion flakes
1/3 head of cauliflower
1/2 c. water (or more if needed)
2 c. dry egg noodles

In a medium or large saucepan combine chicken broth, celery, garlic, and onion flakes. Simmer over medium heat till the celery is tender.

While the celery is cooking, cut up 1/3 of a head of cauliflower into florets. Steam in the microwave for about 4-5 minutes or until very tender. This should make about 2 cups of cooked cauliflower.

Puree the cauliflower in a food processor or blender until smooth. Add the water if necessary. I have a Sunbeam food processor (kind of like a Magic Bullet) that I used to make baby food for Handsome Man. I do most of my purees in this, and I always need to add extra water. I had to do the cauliflower two batches and I added about 1/4 c. of extra water to each batch. If you need to add more or less, it doesn't really matter. This is soup, remember. The important thing is to make sure there are no chunks of cauliflower left in recognizable condition. Kids rarely taste anything in their food that they can't see. But let them see a tiny speck of something they don't like and you'd think it was the only ingredient in there!

By now your celery should be pretty tender, so add the pureed cauliflower to the pot of soup.

See how nicely it mixes in? And it's a great thickener, too! No cornstarch needed for this recipe.

About 20 minutes prior to serving, add 2 cups of dry egg noodles to the pot of broth. Continue cooking until noodles are tender.

Vegetable Chili

My whole life I have thought of chili being nothing but meat and beans. In fact, I was being daring and rebellious when I made meatless chili and hoped The Honey wouldn't notice there wasn't chunks of ground beef in it! All that changed this week.

I was making some black bean chili for dinner and thought to myself, "Self, what would happen if you chopped up some carrot and celery and added it to the pot?" And then I started to think about what would actually happen. For starters, the overall calories per serving would go down. Beans are a healthier way to fill out a pot of chili (since meat is so dang pricey) because they are high in fiber and lower in fat. However a 1/2 c. of cooked beans has about 110 calories. Compare that to 1/2 c. of most veggies which has about 10-15 calories. Big difference, right?

So I started chopping. The big risk I was taking was whether the Peanut Gallery would be content to eat chili with something in it other than the usual fare. I half hoped that the veggies would cook down mushy enough to be unrecognizable. No such luck, but it didn't matter. It was some of the best-tasting chili I have ever made, and a definite keeper!

Vegetable Chili
(Makes about six 1-1/2 cup servings of 230 calories each. Keep in mind that if you add cheese and/or sour cream to your chili this will add to the overall calorie count of the bowl!)

3 c. cooked black beans (this is 1/2 lb. of black beans if you cook them yourself, and if you use canned, it's about 2 cans, rinsed and drained.)
2 c. water
3/4 lb. lean ground beef or turkey, rinsed and drained
1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes
1 c. diced carrot (about 1 large)
1 c. chopped celery (about 2 stalks)
1/2 c. diced green bell pepper
1 Tbsp. dehydrated onion flakes
2 Tbsp. paprika
2 Tbsp. chili powder
Salt/pepper to taste
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt/pepper to taste

In a large soup pan over medium heat, combine beans, water, meat, and diced tomatoes. Start chopping the veggies while the soup is heating up.

Add the celery and carrot to the pan. Don't add the bell pepper yet because it won't need as long to cook as the crunchier veggies. Simmer or gently boil over medium heat for about 20 to minutes.

Once the carrot is just about tender enough, add the bell pepper and seasonings, and simmer another 10 to 15 minutes. Like all chili and most soups, this dish is better the longer it can sit. However, we ate ours and thoroughly enjoyed it about an hour after I started cooking it.

For the kids: Since my kids aren't big chili eaters (understandable since they don't like ground beef or black beans), I add a good bit of shredded cheese and sour cream to their small bowl of chili and serve it as a "dip" with corn chips for dinner.

Creamy Vegetable Stew

Oh, if I could but make this picture look as good as this stew tasted! It would have helped if I hadn't taken the picture on my lovely green counter top, but done is done and you'll just have to take my word for it until you try this stew yourself. And trust me. It's worth it!

Not only is this soup inexpensive to make, it's also low-calorie! I was actually surprised by just how low-calorie when I counted it up this morning. It's a thick, creamy, rich-tasting soup that just satisfies your hunger on a cold, rainy Sunday (which is when I made it). Serve this soup with a grain, like White-Wheat French Bread, and you've also go yourself a complete protein in one meal.

Make ahead tip: I have eaten this soup fresh the day I made it, as well as reheated the next day for lunch. This is even better the next day, so if you need a quick meal, make some of this the night before. Just stick it in the fridge overnight and reheat it for supper the next day. Or, if you prefer, just cook the veggies in broth in advance and refrigerate. Reheat and finish preparing just before serving.


Creamy Vegetable Stew
(150 calories per 1-1/2 cup serving. Makes about 5 servings.)

4 c. chicken broth (1 box)
1 large carrot, diced
3 small red potatoes, diced
2 stalks of celery
2-3 c. frozen cut green beans
2 Tbsp dried minced onion
(i.e. dehydrated onion flakes)
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tsp. Nature's Seasons (or Salt/Pepper to taste)
1/4 tsp. dried basil, crushed
2-3 Tbsp. corn starch, dissolved in cold water
1 c. light sour cream

Pour chicken broth into a large soup pan and place over medium heat. Peel and chop potatoes and carrot. Trim and slice celery. Add to chicken broth and simmer for about 5 -10 minutes.


Add frozen green beans, Nature's Seasons, and basil. Continue cooking until all vegetables have reached desired tenderness.


Spoon corn starch into a small bowl or measuring cup. The more corn starch you use, the thicker it will be. Add enough cold water to dissolve cornstarch and pour into simmering pot while stirring.

Add light sour cream, and continue cooking a few more minutes until stew has reached desired thickness. If stew is too thick, add a little water. If not thick enough, dissolve a little more cornstarch into some cold water, add, and simmer another 2 minutes.

Quick and East Meatless Chili

This recipe is so easy there aren't any even "how to" pictures to include! What you see in this picture is all there is to it. 4 cans, 2 spices, and one packet of ranch seasoning mix.

As are most good "quick and easy" recipes, it was born out of desperation. I didn't have any meat defrosted for dinner and we were short on leftovers that I could grab and reheat. The funny part of it is that The Honey didn't even notice there wasn't any meat in it!

Quick & Easy Meatless Chili

1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can corn (drained)
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp paprika
1 packet ranch dressing mix
Garnish with shredded cheddar and/or light sour cream

Combine ingredients in a medium or large pot. DO NOT drain the beans or tomatoes, only the corn. Cook through until heated completely and garnish with sour cream and/or shredded cheese just before serving. Serve to the kids with tortilla chips!

Chicken Noodle Soup

After all my recent tasty-but-not-that-good-for-you recipe posts, I decided it was high time I got back to the good old basic foods. Tonight for dinner we had some homemade chicken noodle soup with broccoli. (I have also made this with peas or diced carrot if preferred.) This recipe makes about 4 servings, so double it if you're making a large pot.

Chicken Noodle Soup

1/2 medium onion

2-3 stalks celery

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 large chicken breast

6 oz wide egg noodles

2 Tbsp corn starch

1 1/2 tsp chicken bullion

Sprinkling of crushed bay leaves

Salt/pepper to taste

1 c. chopped fresh broccoli florets

2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Fill a large saucepan about half full of water (about a quart). Cut onion and celery into large chunks and add to pot with the chicken. Add garlic and simmer over medium-high heat for about 15-20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken and set aside. With a slotted spoon, remove the celery and onionfrom the water and discard. Chop or shred the chicken and return to saucepan. Add additional water until the saucepan is half full again. Add egg noodles and return to medium-high heat. Mix corn starch with a little cold water and stir until smooth. Add to pot with crushed bay leaves and salt/pepper and gently boil for about 5 minutes. Add broccoli and continue cooking until noodles and broccoli are done (about 10 minutes). Turn off heat and add grated parmesan cheese. Mix well and serve.