Soup for you!!

[Sparkly]

There's been way too much holiday indulging at the Stinky/Sparkly household over the holiday season. So what's a new year for if not resolutions?!

My strategy: homemade vegetable soup, practically calorie-free and very filling, not to mention loaded with vitamins. I was inspired by the "cabbage soup diet." The diet looks absurd, but the idea of the soup seemed smart.

I chopped up a lot of vegetables, and threw them in a huge pot with water:

cabbage
carrots
celery
green onion
yellow onion
garlic
green peppers
green beans
mushrooms
a few handfuls of spinach leaves
canned tomatoes
basil, oregano, parsley, thyme

Let it cook an hour or so, add salt and pepper (and chicken bouillon if you want to, although I didn't).

Eat a bowl of that before lunch and dinner and believe me, your appetite will be curbed. In fact, you could eat it all through the day, any time.

(Meanwhile, Stinky used many of the same ingredients to make Manhattan clam chowder, but started with the normal method of sauteing in oil first, and included potatoes. Also very healthy, but I'm determined to get him eating the veggie soup.)

I made a huge amount and froze about half of it.

Just thought I'd share in case it seems like a good idea for anybody else out there! :hi:

[WolverineDG]

1. are the onions & bell pepper really necessary?

I can stand a white onion (chop in half, toss in pot), but bell peppers & I do not agree. At all. To the extent that should I accidentally ingest some, it's not safe to light matches for a while. ;)

dg

[Sparkly]

2. You can skip any of the ingredients.

I just threw in whatever I could think of that's low calorie, and I love pretty much all vegetables. It's based on the idea of "cabbage soup" though, and I think if peppers bother you, cabbage could, as well. I don't know if bok choy and other such cabbages act the same way?

[WolverineDG]

3. oh no, I like cabbage

:)

bell peppers, though, blech. I don't like the smell or the taste or the flavor they give the rest of the food, on top of the other problems they cause.

for New Years, I made black eyed peas, with green beans, cilantro, nopalitos (cactus), garlic, onion, & tomatoes. Yum!

dg