4-Minute Broccoli “Cheeze” Soup

The yummy soup in my last post was adapated from the following video!

However, I did not include potato flakes in mine. I knew I was forgetting something at the store!

This also reminds me how much I want to do a vlog! Wouldn’t that be fun?

 

You know you want to dance to that theme song.

More recipes coming! Being out of school and all, I can post like… everyday! We’re gunna have so much fun.

Coming up:

• Coffee drinks in my Vita!
• Larabar review (no seriously, I’m gunna finish it this time!)
• A SUMMER GIVEAWAY! ❤

 

Anything you would like to see me make in my Vitamix?

I need a vacation.

Hi bloggings!

I’m so excited because Operation Overstock is coming to an end! I feel like I have saved a lot of money because I have only been buying produce and making due with some of the random items I have found in my cupboard on my journey. I have picked up a few thing other than produce though such as tofu, tofu, and more tofu. I’m not sure what my problem is but I am loving tofu lately! Honestly, this wasn’t as hard as I thought. I have been so busy lately that I just haven’t had time to go shopping anyway. I might stop by the store on my way home from school to pick up a few things and to see what’s on sale.

For example, this yogurt.

I love you Kroger, but I am starting to think you are silly! Really, you are going to mark down soy yogurt that is usually 1.50, to 49 cents when it doesn’t even expire for another 8 days. I’m not sure if you are looking at your calendar correctly, but I wont tell, carry on.

Oh and not to mention this poor can of Amy’s soup that must have fallen off the shelf and got a wittle dent. I’ll take it! Thanks again!

Anyway, saving money (and time!) is really not all that hard. I am basically juggling 3 jobs right now and going to school full-time while I maintain time for me like going to the gym and spending time with other important people.

For example, the last few days have looked like this:

Wake up. Eat. Go to Zumba. Come home. Shower. Prep lunch for when I get home. Go to School. Pretend like I’m learning Algebra. Go home. Finish making lunch. Eat. Make diner to take to work. Go to work for 8 hours. Come home. Blog. Sleep. Wake up, hello Thursday. Shower. Eat. Make snacks for school. Go to school for 6 hours. Fail that test I didn’t study for. Go home. Go to the post office. Meet one friend for lunch. Eat. Meet one friend at the gym. Work out while you spend time together. Starbucks. Go to boyfriend’s cause he complains that he doesn’t see me enough. Eat. Go home. Try to catch up on the Goog Reader. Go to sleep. Wake up, Hello Friday. Go to work for 8 hours. Come home. Shower. Go out to eat. Hang out with bf. Sleep. Hello, Saturday. Bake my little heart out for the Farmer’s Market. Blog. Go to work for 8 hours. That’s all I got so far.

I need a vacation.

If you could go anywhere right now for a low-stress vacation where would you go?

I would really like to be on a beach right now with my boyfriend far away. I think we both need vacations.

btw, Picky Nicky is having an awesome giveaway that I would really like to win. 🙂

Hello again winter…

I really didn’t miss you but I did enjoy my day off from school, so thanks anyway!

Yesterday morning I totally thought I could drive in this 8 inches of snow we got, HA! I woke up early for Zumba and realized that I probably won’t make it in my little car. Lucky for me, I have a super nice daddy that drove me to Zumba at 6AM because Big Boy (he goes there for coffee with his friends EVERY morning) was not open yet. So, I was really happy to get my Zumba fix in, I’ve been craving it. Zumba and strength training is about the only exercises I have been doing lately cause of this stupid whether that makes me feel crappy. I need a warm nature walk…

But, I’ve been keeping warm with lots of soup! My favorite so far being this broccoli cheddar soup, it’s sooo yummy! I’ll post the recipe later if I have time.

But for now, I just got out of work and I have to go to class in a few hours. I will be taking my first test in psyc! Ahhh I’m nervous. I am NOT a test person. I’m also finding out that I’m not really a math person either. I missed one day of stupid math and now I’m so behind! 😦

What is your favorite soup?

Winter Warm Foods

Ahh, my last week off before I go back for my second semester of my freshman year of college! This weather has been so crazy lately! First it was a snow storm, then it was 40 degrees and rain, then the sun was shinning,

and now, its freezing! 😦

Ahh Michigan, you always keep me on my toes!

That’s ok though, I’ve been keeping warm with my lentil soup 🙂

Not to mention a  H U G E  batch of veggie chili that will probably last me all winter long:

Score! This is a huge time saver! Always make big batches of soup and freeze it for later. This will come in handy on the one night you don’t want to make dinner!

And perhaps I’ve been eating some squirrel-style potatoes! Yumm.

Sweet potatoes, purple potatoes, and long white potatoes all roasted up and seasoned with thyme, basil, and oregano.

A   p e r f e c  t   snack.

What foods have you been eating to keep warm?

In other news, I’m totally loving my new book:

Crazy Sexy Diet

By: Kris Carr

This girl is amazing! She’s like a combo of Rory Freedman and Alicia Sliverstone yet, totally different in her own way. I don’t want to give too much away but you should really go out and get this book. She has a lot of great health and wellness tips and some great recipes at the back of the book.

Does anybody else own this book yet?

I’m so ready to get back into a regular routine. I haven’t went to the gym in over a week! My head is killing me from all of the junk I’ve ate over the holidays like cookies, chip, and SUGAR. I am in need of a green smoothie and some hard-core pilates, that’s for sure! Plus, I still haven’t tried out my new gear! Geez I’m behind! 🙂

 

New Year = New Goals

Welcome to 2011 everyone!

I loved reading your comments from my last post, I was cracking up!  The funny thing was that all of your personal fears are very similar to mine; car accidents, fire, open doors, ect. Thanks for reminding me of what I scardy cat I am guys, thanks a lot. 😛 

This new year marks my one-year anniversary of veganism (Jan. 4th to be exact…).

(I’m so excited! I have a lot more to share on this topic. I’ll probably do a post about it on Tuesday!)

Wow, so I finally followed a New Year’s Resolution? That’s great, I think this is the first time I did not give up!

Goals for 2011:

• Drink more greens (I should do this daily!)
• Try to not eat as much processed food (Chips, refined sugars, ingredients I cannot pronounce…)
• Go to church regularly (Seriously, it’s one hour a week that I feel sooo good about)
• Keep exercising regularly
• Put education first (this semester is going to be crazy but don’t give up!)

Really what this all comes down to is… Learn How To Balance My Busy Schedule!

Easier said than done though right? Any tips on balancing a busy schedule?

My number one problem: Sometimes after a long day at work I like to relax. For a long time. Like maybe 3 hours on the couch. This needs to stop! I am going to have 8 hour school days and I know it’s not going to be fun. I need to keep balanced and busy to be my best.

How was your New Year’s Day?

Did you take part in any superstitious activities? I heard that lentil are supposed to bring you good fortune if you eat them on New Year’s Day.  I know I could use some good fortune so I made some lentil soup! How about some Lentil Soup with Lemon and Garlic?

 

What’s your New Year’s Resolution?

A Food-filled Weekend

Greetings!

Hope everyone is doing great on this fabulous Tuesday and I hope you had a great weekend! I spent my entire Sunday cooking with my man. I brought over the Eat-Clean recipe book and we got to work. We made the…

Butternut squash soup

This was okay. Honestly I was not very impressed. Butternut squash soup usually doesn’t have a lot of onion or garlic in it so it taste kind of funny. I like my butternut squash soup sweet and creamy so I didn’t really expect this.

 Spilt pea soup

Again, not what I expected. This was really watery and bland. infact, now that I think of it, the only spilt pea soup I ever enjoyed was Amy’s. Yes, it was in a can! Gasp.

& Quinoa with sun-dried tomatoes

Now this was great! It had so many unique flavors and textures I can’t wait to make more. I’m glad we made a double batch because my mom can’t stop eating it; she never eats my food! We used a blend of red and white quinoa and it turned out real pretty 🙂

We also made some other things like pesto, garlic butter, hummus and roasted veggies, yum!

Random photo’s of the food being cooked:

Today:

I had a wonderful smoothie for breakfast along with some almond oats:

Smoothie: Frozen strawberries and mango in pineapple orange juice with 2 scoops of protein powder topped with pomegranate seeds

Maggie is always trying to eat my breakfast, she is so weird. Maggie also loves oatmeal but not just to eat: she claws at it as if the oatmeal is her prey. What other cat plays with oatmeal? Come on. I don’t understand lil’ mag sometimes but she is soo cute! I love her. After our breakfast she fell asleep in my laundry basket:

Night Maggers.

I went on a 3-mile nature walk and saw some cute baby deer the one time I don’t bring my camera! Grr. Don’t you just love how things work out that way? 🙂 Oh well maybe next time…

Now I am going to get started on some essay writing then hit up the gym for some Two-Class-Tuesday, woo! Tonight I plan on watching The Biggest Loser again because I think I may be hooked on it after watching it last week. The Biggest Loser is also so inspiring to watch, don’t you agree? Can you imagine being 300 pounds and working out that hard-core? I can’t. I admire each and every one of then for doing that. That’s awesome.

Do you have a favorite show you like to watch?

Lentil soup with lemon and garlic

This is fantastic. Honestly this soup is not only the best I have ever made but also the best soup I have ever ate!

Scott and I got the recipe from this book I found at Borders for $6 called, “The Ultimate Book of Vegan Cooking”

We made some adjustments and it turned out so wonderful. You should really try it!

Lentil soup with lemon and garlic:

Serves 4

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 celery sticks, chopped
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 potato, peeled and diced
• 2 cups red lentils, picked over and rinsed
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 lemons, halved
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• Tabasco sauce to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• Sea salt to taste

1. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onion and cook for 5 – 10 minutes. Stir in the celery, carrots, half the garlic and all the potato. Cook for a few minutes until beginning to soften.

2. Add the lentils and stock to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Add the bay leaves, remaining garlic and half the lemons to the pan and cook the soup for a further 10 minutes, until lentils and vegetables are tender. Remove the bay leaves. Squeeze the juice from the remaining lemons, then stir into the soup, to taste.

4. The recipe says to pour soup into a food processor or a blender and process. Scott and I thought it was mushy enough so we did not process the soup.

5. Season to taste.

6. Enjoy the best soup you’ve ever had.

Sorry no photo on this one! I did not have my camera with me 😦

Fail.

Happy Friday Everyone!

 

 I hope you had a great week, mine was pretty good. I am so sore from Pi-Yo last night, that stuff is pretty intense! I had a lot of fun in the class though because there was only one other student besides me. I love those type of classes. I’m thinking for my birthday (the 31st) I am going to ask for yoga, power yoga, pi-yo, body flow and tai chi DVDs. I am beginning to find a great interest in different yoga classes. Do you yoga? What’s your favorite type of class?

I am sad to announce that I have failed the $21 Challenge. I had three days to eat under $3 after today, it’s not going to happen. On the other hand, I am glad to announce that the new $21 challenge will start this Sunday.  I will still try to attempt to not spend over $21 a week on groceries. Yes, this means everything in my pantry is fair game! Other than last night, I honestly have not spent any money on food besides going out Monday. This week I am planning on making a lot of soups and other home-cooked meals in large quantities. I think why I failed this week was because I did not plan out my meals like I should have. I think if I plan out 4 big dishes to make next week it will be a lot easier. Also, the key to a healthy vegan diet is to plan meals a week ahead of time! Some ideas I have:

• Corn chowder
• Veggie soup
• Miso (on a budget)
• “Tuna” or “egg” salad sandwiches
• Hummus (maybe not, I’m a little burned out on this one…)
• Sushi (already have most of the stuff)
• Oatmeal
• Anything with PB

I really need to spice up my diet. I feel like the last couple weeks I have been eating the same veggies over and over. Boring! This would be a good time of year to start drinking my daily greens again. I feel so wonderful when I drink green juice, I just can’t have it for one meal by itself because then I feel sick. Green juice is bursting with all kinds of vitamins your body needs and most likely, doesn’t get enough of. I wonder if green juice could go on a $21 budget…

My favorite green juice:

• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/3 cup parsley
• 2 big handfuls of spinach
• 2 ribs celery
• 1 cucumber
• 2 apples
• tiny chuck of ginger, about the size of a penny

I use a juicer because I do not have a strong enough blender to make green smoothies. Why do nice blenders all have to be over $400? It’s a blender. I really need to invest in one though. Any suggestions???

Anyway, that’s my plan. You’ll have to excuse my random posts I tend to have from time to time. 🙂

I’m off to make some sort of soup, you’ll have to stay tuned to find out what’s cookin’ tonight!