My favorite soup

I've been making this soup since last fall...nothing better on a cold day than a bowl of hearty, healthy soup!

Here's what goes into my 'kitchen sink' soup:

3 cups Vegetable "Stock-in-a-box"
1 cup V8 Juice
1 can Great Northern Beans or Navy Beans
1 can Petite cut diced tomatoes
2 cups chopped zucchini
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup mixed frozen vegetables (corn, carrots, green beans)
1 cup green beans (frozen)
2 cups baby spinach
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Combine in a stock pot, cover, and cook until the veggies are tender. I usually let it simmer for at least 2 hours.

It will yield about 6 2-cup servings. I portion them out into 2 cup containers and freeze them.

This works out to be a 2 point meal for 2 cups. Not bad!

New recipe

I tried a new recipe this week. Brownie mix with a can of black beans! Sounds like a strange combination, doesn't it? The recipe calls for 1 box mix and 1 can of black beans. I drained and rinsed the beans and put them back into the can and filled with water. I pulverized them in my food processor and added them to the brownie mix. That's all...2 ingredients. I baked them in a 13x9" pan for the time indicated on the box.

I cut them into small pieces and served them at a family picnic last week. I wanted to see if anyone could tell what was in them and wanted more opinions other than mine and Mr. Wizard's.

The kids loved them...they ate them so fast they didn't realize they weren't your average 'brownie'!! The consistency is strange...almost 'rubbery'. Most adults admitted they were good and would eat them. Mr. Wizard did not like them at all nor did my sisters' husbands. The women in the group agreed that they would eat them this way...though there is an odd consistency.

Pre-packaged protein

I love to eat veggie wraps for lunch and sometimes I like to add a small amount of cooked, grilled chicken. So I grilled a few chicken breasts this morning and cubed them after they cooled.

I recently bought a digital food scale, so I measured out 1 oz. of the cooked chicken, which is just enough for me to add a little protein and flavor to my veggie wraps.

I bagged these 1 oz. portions into snack-size zip top bags and put them in my freezer. I take out a bag as I need it, and it thaws quickly.

Stuffed zucchini

I decided to get creative. I used 2 oz of cooked ground turkey, 1/2C tomato-basil pasta sauce, a little seasoned breadcrumbs, and mozzarella cheese; I mixed it together and filled two halves of a hollowed out zucchini. I baked it for about 40 minutes in 400 degrees. It was suprisingly good!

Angel Food cake with crushed pineapple

I heard about this recipe at my Weight Watcher meeting a few weeks ago. It is super easy to make and delicious! There are only 2 ingredients, a box of angel food cake mix (just the dry mix) and 1 can of crushed pineapple in it's own juice.
Mix thoroughly and grease a 9x13" pan (I used vegetable spray). Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Cut into 12pieces; each piece is 4 points.