Healthy and Delicious Vegetable Soup

So, this past weekend I went up to Prescott and then Flagstaff to spend some time with my parents and to go skiing with my Dad. I hadn't gone skiing since I was very little so it was definitely interesting... I got up at 6 am (which is SO early for me... closer to my usual bedtime than the time I usually wake up!) and we got to the Flagstaff Snowbowl around 8. I was pretty unsure of my abilities and was basically downright terrified for the first bit. I could only go across the slope in an ever-so-slight decline (as opposed to going vertically down the slope) at a snail pace... and I was on the bunny hill (which toddlers were learning on!). BUT, we took a two hour lesson from 10-12 and it helped so much! I fell a few times, but after a couple tries I was able to stop myself, turn, speed up and slow down, and actually go down the slope in the direction intended. After the lesson, I was able to go down the entirety of the hill easily and even rode the ski lift to one of the higher starting points and managed to ski from there as well!

Unfortunately during the first half of the day I stupidly forgot to put on sunscreen... even though it was just a few morning hours, my face got SCORCHED! Having never really skied before I didn't know snow sunburn was such a serious thing. Basically you get double sunburn from the sun reflecting off the bright white snow. Anyways, by the next day my face was bright pink (aside from a few attractive pale sections from my hat... ugh) and blistered! The blisters turned to scabs and now for the past couple days my face has been dry, tight, flaky, and still bright red. I can't WAIT for it to heal and for my face to go back to normal. Working the counter at Brooklyn on Sunday and Monday was NOT fun.

That was really the only low of my weekend... the rest of the (short) time was spent with my aunt and uncle in Flagstaff and my parents in Prescott. I don't have the opportunity to come home all that often, but it's nice when I do because it's kind of like being a teenager again. I can sleep in my old (pink) room with all my old things, sit on an actual couch (not a futon!) and watch an actual tv (not a laptop!), and eat from a fridge full of food I didn't have to pay for (or cook!). The last thing is particularly nice because my parents eat very healthfully... and they have the money and skillz to do it right and make it super delicious!  I try to be very health conscious down here in Tucson, but it's expensive.. and between cooking from scratch every day (on top of school, work, and everything else), researching recipes, and meticulously calculating, counting, and recording calories... it is work. When I can open a fridge and have a ton of fresh, healthy stuff already there ready to eat, it makes me happy.

And that's where this vegetable soup comes in. My mom made some last week from a recipe loosely based on the 7 day diet 'wonder soup' (oh gee, another crash diet that has you eat practically no calories in order to lose 10 pounds in a week- miraculous!). This version bulks up the veggies, adds spices, vegetable broth, and tomatoes (and V8, if you like) for flavoring, and comes with no hyperbolic weight loss claims! At 60 calories a cup though, it doesn't really need to.

I ate this with a simple soup for lunch 2 of the 3 days I was out of town... it probably would have been 3 for 3 but I spent one of the days on the slopes! It is SO yummy and filling. I liked it so much that today, 3 days after being back in Tucson, I whipped up a batch for dinner tonight and lunch for the next few days. It was so easy too. If you're looking for a simple, low calorie, nutritious meal you can eat throughout the week, definitely try this one out! It's the perfect thing alongside a salad or sandwich.

I was going to take pictures while I was making this to go with the recipe... I took a picture of the veggies sauteing... and then put my camera down and forgot about it. Oops. I do have a picture of the finished product before I had it at my parents' house.

Simple Vegetable Soup 
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 large yellow onion, diced
2 large carrots, diced
2 large celery stalks, diced
1 large green bell pepper, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp  fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (omit if you do not like heat)
1 box (4 cups) vegetable broth (I used Safeway O Organics brand)
1 14.5 oz can diced italian stewed tomatoes (regular Safeway brand)
1/2 head cabbage, roughly chopped
2 cups baby spinach
4 cups water (or v8, if desired)

1. Heat olive oil in large pot.
2. Add onion, carrots, celery, and bell pepper. Sautee 5 minutes, or until slightly softened.
3. Add salt, pepper, spices, and garlic. Continue to cook until veggies begin to brown.
4. Add vegetable broth and tomatoes. Bring to a boil.
5. Add cabbage. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until beginning to soften.
6. Add spinach. Stir to incorporate until spinach has fully wilted.
7. Add water and/or v8 and boil to reach desired broth:veggie ratio. Taste and adjust  seasonings.

That's it!

This recipe (made with water) makes about 9.5 cups with a 1 cup serving equaling about 60 calories.
The total calories for the recipe is only 557! Crazy, right? It will be about 200 more if you use 4 cups of v8 as opposed to water... so then it would be about 80 calories a cup. Still fantastic.

The salad is a mix of spinach, arugula, and kale with cucumber, carrot, cherry tomatoes, onion, celery, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice for dressing.

20 in my 20th: Make Ina Garten's Mac n Cheese

Back in May of 2011, a few days after I turned 20, I had the idea to make a list of 20 things I wanted to do in my 20th year. I did a handful and blogged about them, and then I stopped blogging when life got crazy. I actually still did a few more before my 21st birthday last May though, about half in total. I even have pictures, I just never blogged about it. So, over the next few weeks I'm going to be posting a few 20 in my 20ths that never got their rightful post back when I did them.

#15. Make this mac and cheese

I wanted to make this mac and cheese ever since I saw the Barefoot Contessa episode where Ina Garten makes it. I only have three distinct memories of Ina Garten. An episode of BC where she put a tbsp of butter inside each hamburger patty,  the episode of 30 rock where Liz Lemon fantasizes about Ina inviting over for a bruschetta and a bottle of white wine, and the episode in which she made this macaroni and cheese.

Ina's recipes are always kind of over-the-top decadent, but where Paula Dean's zealous misuse of butter seems startling and unwarranted, Ina is so sweet and soft-spoken that all your calorie woes are easily forgotten.

Enter this mac and cheese.

It has a full pound each of pasta and cheese, a quart of whole milk, sherry, and yeah, a sh*tload of butter. But it also has mushrooms, so.. yeah.

I made this probably like a year ago and it was a. expensive (10 dollars for 3 oz of truffle butter, not to mention the 12 oz of gruyere....) b. time consuming (shopping for all the obscure ingredients, chopping a pound of mushrooms, etc) and c. one of the best thing's I've EVER cooked or tasted. I seriously remember the night I made it, sitting at home by myself with a plate of it in front of me and marveling at how out of this world amazing it was. It was quite a moment. I haven't made it since... mostly because it's hard for me to ever justify making mac and cheese (even though it's one of my favorite things to cook), let alone one that will set me back 60$. But IF the right time should arise again... say for a holiday, or if I could somehow get people to pay me for it... I would gladly do so.

This recipe is pretty much copied and pasted from foodnetwork.com, just with some of my pictures added. I made no variations to the recipe when I made it.

Also forgive the quality of these photos... they were taken in my old, old apartment complex (Lantana). I have since lived in two different homes, both of which have much better lighting. better pretty much everything actually.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Good olive oil
1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms
1/2 pound cremini mushrooms

3 tablespoons cream sherry
Kosher salt
1 pound pasta, such as cavatappi
3 ounces white truffle butter (recommended: D'Artagnan)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 quart whole milk, scalded
12 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (4 cups)
8 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, grated (2 1/2 to 3 cups)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
1 1/2 cups fresh white bread crumbs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Remove caps from mushrooms and slice into 1/4-1/2 inch slices. (I sliced mine 1/2 inch but found that some of the bigger shiitake pieces were a little overwhelming and difficult to eat)

that's a lot of mushrooms..

 Heat the butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large (12-inch) saute pan, add the mushrooms, and cook over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, until they are tender. Add the sherry and continue to saute for a few more minutes, until the sherry is absorbed. Set aside. (I did this in two batches. seriously, sooo many mushrooms)

doesn't look that appetizing... but just the mushrooms cooked in butter, olive oil, and sherry were so yummy

 Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a splash of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Add the pasta and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until al dente. Drain well.

Meanwhile, melt the truffle butter in a large (4-quart) saucepan and whisk in the flour.

Cook for 2 minutes over low heat, stirring constantly with a whisk. Slowly whisk in the hot milk and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the white sauce is thickened and creamy. Off the heat, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, 1 1/2 tablespoons salt, the pepper, and nutmeg.

Combine the pasta, sauce, and mushrooms in a large bowl and pour them into a 10 by 13 by 2-inch baking dish.

Place the garlic and parsley in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse until they're minced. Add the bread crumbs and pulse to combine. Sprinkle the crumbs over the pasta and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the sauce is bubbly and the crumbs are golden brown. Serve hot. 

I have no idea why I didn't take a picture of it actually served. Hm. Anyways... This was crazy decadent, delicious, and hands down the best mac and cheese I've ever made or eaten. Glad I got the important things done in my 20th year ;)

Love,

Em