Tag Archives: Broth

Gingered Carrot Soup

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IMG_0348

Inspired by my zucchini soup experiments a few weeks ago, I decided to try something a little different.  As I walked through the produce isle at the grocery store, I picked up a bag of peeled baby carrots which I like to snack on during the week.  I looked down and saw a 2 lb bag of large carrots and it hit me… Carrot Soup!!  Not only was it insanely easy to make, its very good and, of course, nutritious.
Ingredients: 
  • 2 lb bag of carrots peeled and diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic peeled and smashed
  • vegetable or chicken broth
  • water
  • ¼ tsp ground ginger
  • ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 oz softened cheese.
Directions:
  1. Place diced carrots in soup pot along with garlic cloves just cover tops of carrots with broth.
  2. Bring to low simmer and cook covered until carrots are soft.
  3. As broth evaporates during the cooking process, continue to replace evaporated broth only to cover carrots.
  4. Once cooked, take immersion blender and blend carrots in the pot.
  5. Add water to create desired thickness.  I added approximately 1 cup to mine.
  6. Add cheese and spices and blend again.
Voila!  Delish!
I was so proud of the way it turned out that I called my mother and asked her to come over for a taste.  The following is the dialogue from that lovely conversation:
Mom: Ooh, spicy. Very good, but don’t eat too much of this. (as she puts another spoonful in her mouth)

Me: Why? It’s healthy. 

Mom: (pointing to my face) It’s going to make you turn orange!
Me: (shaking my head and smirking)
Mom: (smiling now but trying to be serious) Fine! Don’t listen to your mother.

Healthy Fast Food?!… Weeknight Necessities

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bowl of black beans

So, in my house we eat pretty healthily. That doesn’t mean, however, that we don’t eat really delicious, crave-able food. Most people associate eating “healthily” with eating very small portions of non-fat and tasteless food. We don’t believe in eating stuff we don’t like just ‘cause its healthy and we CERTAINLY don’t believe in starving ourselves ‘cause we LOVE to eat. We just like to eat food that makes our mouths water AND leaves us feeling good afterwards.

This often calls for a little creativity on our parts to alter recipes to fit our lifestyle. Some people may find substituting certain things a sacrifice but, once you make a commitment to eating healthy and delicious, you’ll find that the substitutions will be less of a sacrifice and just your taste buds’ preference. In an egg salad sandwich I made over the weekend, for instance, we substituted the mayo with olive oil and it turned out even more amazing than the Starbuck’s version we were trying to imitate! (mayo makes me want to yack)

Time is also of the essence in this household. Ain’t nobody got time to be making dinners from scratch every night. After coming home from work, going for a quick run and showering, the four of us are usually ravenous and ready to turn to cannibalism…. So, if we don’t put something on the table quick, its gonna to get ugly.

We’ve come up with a few go-to quick-fix meals that we like to make throughout the week. I’ll be sharing these with you, of course, and would love your feedback on other quick, delicious and healthy meals you fix for your families throughout the week.
Being that I’m half Cuban, the first recipe of our weeknight repertoire that I must share with you is my Black Beans and Rice. This very easy recipe is requested of me ALL THE TIME by my boyfriend’s youngest daughter. (She says she likes “Cristy’s Cuban Spices” which totally cracks me up.) Having eaten black beans a million times growing up, I was pretty amazed at how authentic tasting these are. I have discovered that I have a serious talent for doctoring-up canned vegetables. Who knew?!

black bean ingredients

Ingredients:

2 cans of low sodium, canned black beans
2 cups of low sodium chicken broth
1 small white onion (any kind of onion will do)
4-6 small sweet peppers
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. ground cumin (this is key)
1 envelope of Sazon Goya powder with saffron

black beans cooking

Directions:

Pour contents of both cans in a sauce pan or small pot and add the chicken broth. While you wait for that to come to a simmer, finely mince the onions and peppers and add along with the bay leaves and about a teaspoon each of the spices and the envelope of Sazon Goya. Simmer covered on low until the vegetables are soft.

Serve with white rice, of course! I’ll have a tutorial on cooking the perfect white rice soon (its an art)!

bowl of black beans