Soupy Sundays- Mexican Chicken Soup

As the days get colder, the soup needs to get hotter.... right???
Let me share with you a hot and delicious soup with flavours and ingredients from south of the border- Mexico.

This soup is adapted from a Glow (the Shopper's Drug Mart Magazine) issue from last year. It has fresh flavours and nice warm, earthy flavours. A perfect winter soup combination.

Mexican Turkey Soup

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 glove of garlic- minced
1 large carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 796ml can diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp dried cumin
1/4 tsp dried coriander
1/8 tsp of chili powder (or more!)
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 1/2 cups cooked and shredded chicken
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Juice from 1 lime
1 avocado, chopped

Before I even got started, I had to get some chicken all cooked up and shredded. So here's my quick and awesome trick....

Some delicious sea salt blend. A lovely present from my friend Roshni. Look, it even comes with it's own little scoop.

 Some sea salt, some herbs, some spices...

All you need to do is place your chicken breasts in a pan, rub a little olive oil on them and them sprinkle with the sea salt blend. Cook at 400 for about 25 minutes. Done! Cool them and shred them with forks. (You'll only need about 2, but keep the rest in the fridges for leftovers to add to salads and stirfries during the week).

Now here are the directions for this lovely soup.

Directions:
Heat oil in a large pot and sauté garlic, onion, carrot and celery until they start to soften, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, spices and chicken broth, while stirring. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Add corn, chicken and continue to simmer for 4 minutes. Divide among bowls.

 Nice.... but wait....

 Top with cilantro, avocado and lime juice.

This makes 8, 1 cup servings. Here's the nutrition per serving:
216 calories, 9 g fat, 5 g fibre, 14 g protein

Served with some oven-toasted chili spiced tortillas cut into wedges.

Christmas Baking Time- Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

I love Christmas Baking time. It brings me joy, knowing I will be sharing these goodies with family and friends. This year, as in previous years, I will be focusing on healthier ingredients. This recipe fulfills my goals, it contains: oatmeal, walnuts and cranberries. I brought them to a pot luck Christmas party and they were a hit! 

 

 

Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

(adapted from http://happyhourprojects.com/holiday-baking-cranberry-walnut-oatmeal-cookies/)

Ingredients

•2 sticks (1 cup) softened

•1 c. sugar ( I used 1/2 cup)

•1 c. brown sugar

•2 eggs

•1 tsp. vanilla

•2 c. flour

•3 c. quick cook oats

•1 tsp. baking soda

•1 tsp. salt

•½ tsp. cinnamon

•1 c. dried cranberries

•1 c. chopped walnuts

Instructions

1.Preheat oven to 375F.

2.Cream together butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla.

3.In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda and oats.

4.Stir your oat mixture into your wet ingredients a little at a time until well-blended.

5.Stir in cranberries and walnuts.

6.Drop by tablespoons onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. (About the size of a walnut.)

7.Bake for 8-10 minutes. Baking times will always vary with your altitude and weather pressure, so keep a close eye on new recipes to find the ideal baking time for your oven! Less cooking time will yield a softer and chewier cookie – if you prefer your cookies more crunchy, try baking them on the longer side.

 

To make them nice, round even shapes, I used a small ice cream scooper to portion them out.

This recipe yields 4 dozen cookies.

 

Modern Sweet Potato Stew

I love those Looney Spoons Girls, Janet and Greta Podleski. Any time I need to add a healthy, nutritious and tasty meal to my repertoire, I turn to their cookbooks and I am always impressed with the impressive flavour. It's all about the fresh herbs and spices. Have a look at my latest!

The names for these recipes crack me up! Check below...

One Flew over the Couscous Nest

(adapted from Crazy Plates: Low-Fat Food So Good, You'll Swear It's Bad for You by Janet and Greta Podleski)

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

1 tbsp ground gingerroot

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup each chopped onions and chopped red bell pepper

1 tsp each ground coriander and curry powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 c chicken broth

3 c peeled, cubed sweet potatoes

1 c couscous

2 tbsp orange juice concentrate

3/4 c light coconut milk

2 tbsp each cornstarch and chopped fresh cilantro

Heat olive oil and add chicken, ginger and garlic. Cook and stir until chicken is no longer pink (Since I used cooked chicken, I just sauteed the garlic and ginger with the onions). Add onions and pepper and cook 3 minutes. Stir in spices and cook for 1 more minute.

Gorgeous Sweet Potatoes ... the star of the show!

Add broth and sweet potatoes. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover and simmer until potatoes are tender.

Meanwhile, prepare couscous per directions, but add orange juice concentrate to couscous before adding water. ( I used quinoa, but you could use any grain you enjoy).

Combine coconut milk and cornstarch until smooth. 

Add to chicken and veggies along with cilantro. Increase heat and cook until thickened.

Serve over fluffed up grain of your choice. Now go an create your own magic in your cold winter kitchen!

Delicious Rustic Plum Tarte

This was such a delicious and awesome desert, I just had to share. I am tagging it as a 'healthy alternative' because it contains so much fresh fruit and has half the crust of a traditional pie. This Rustic Plum Tarte is so beautiful to present at any celebration and you could fill it with any type of hard fruit like peaches, apples, pears... you get the picture.

I was visiting some blogs I follow and stumbled upon this picture... So I had to simply bring it to my next dinner party.

Rustic Plum Galette

(adapted from http://madebygirl.blogspot.ca/2013/09/food-rustic-plum-galette.html)

Serves 6

Crust Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, chilled and diced

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup ice water

1 egg

sanding sugar, optional

Filling Ingredients:

1 pound plums, sliced thin

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  To make the crust, combine the flour and sugar into a food processor.  Add the diced butter and pulse until mixture resembles course meal.  Slowly add the egg yolks and ice water and pulse until combined.  Pour mixture into plastic wrap, form into a ball and let chill for at least one hour in the refrigerator.  Meanwhile make the filling - add the plums, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar and a pinch of salt and stir to combine.  Once the crust has been chilled, roll-out onto a floured surface.

Roll into a circle and arrange the plums in the center of the crust allowing for about 2 inches of overhang.  Once filling as been assembled, close the galette by folding the sides in.  Beat the remaining egg and brush onto crust and sprinkle with sanding sugar.  Bake for 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream or ice cream.

The galette crust...

The plums in their spices...

Assemble...

Fold up and bake...

And present....Yum!

Good for You Chocolate Banana Souffles

Looks decadent right... and it's made mostly with bananas and cocoa powder!

On a cold Fall evening, I felt like I needed some warm, chocolaty comfort. But sticking to my guidelines of healthy eating, I set out to find a healthy alternative. I visited one of my favourite websites for healthy eating- www.skinnytaste.com.  Look what I found! Absolutely delicious AND nutritious.

Chocolate Banana Soufflés

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/12/chocolate-banana-souffles.html

Ingredients:

    2 ripe medium bananas, mashed

    2 tsp cornstarch

    1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

    1 tsp vanilla extract

    2 large egg whites

    3 tbsp sugar

    cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat over to 400F. Coat 4, 6 oz ramekins with butter flavored cooking spray. Place on a baking sheet.

 

In a medium bowl, mash bananas and vanilla together. Sift cornstarch and cocoa powder over bananas and stir well.

In another medium bowl, beat egg whites with sugar until they form soft peaks. Fold 1/3 of egg whites into banana mixture. When incorporated, fold in the rest of the egg whites. Spoon mixture into ramekins.

Wipe the top 1/4 inch “collar” of the ramekin to remove any excess batter so that the souffle will rise straight and place ramekins on a baking sheet. 

Bake at 400°F for 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

Et voila! You do have to eat it immediately warm from the oven. Here's the nutrition info:
Calories: 131.2 • Fat: 3.6 g • Carb: 23.5 g • Fibre: 3.2 g • Protein: 4.8 g

Ok, seriously, have you even seen a desert with so much fibre and protein!

No-Fry Fries

I had heard about Gwyneth's fries and I saw this post through the SELF website. So I thought I would try them out. No-Fry Fries!

They were delicious! But I am afraid I used white potatoes so they didn't come out as crispy. I love the crispy ones, it's probably also a result of the fact that I can't cut all the fries small and evenly so they all cook properly. Nevertheless, the family LOVES them!

No-Fry Fries 
adapted from (http://www.self.com/fooddiet/recipes/2011/05/no-fry-fries)

Recipe courtesy of My Father’s Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family & Togetherness by Gwyneth Paltrow

INGREDIENTS

2 large russet potatoes (2/3 lb each), peeled

2 tablespoons olive oil

3/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt 

PREPARATION

Heat oven to 450°. Cut potatoes in half horizontally; cut each half into 1/3-inch-thick fries and place in a bowl of cold water.

 Remove from water and dry thoroughly. Toss with oil and sprinkle with salt. 

Place fries on a cookie sheet. Roast until browned and cooked through, turning occasionally, 25 minutes.

Nutrition Info (serves 4) 175 calories per serving, 7 g fat (1 g saturated), 27 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 3 g protein

More fun facts on how to supercharge fat loss... more Dr. Oz facts

Okay, so you can tell from last week's post, I have become a super fan of Dr. Oz's advice on how to work the mind, body and food combinations to achieve the greatest fat loss.

So, I thought I would share another great bit of advice that I picked up from his show that aired last week. I love all this new found knowledge. I am so 'thirsty' for it, I just can't get enough, I feel like I am a student, taking notes and sharing the 'gospel' with everyone I come across. I just love this stuff!

His guest was Dr. Natasha Turner, a renowned Doctor in the field of nutrition and health whose focus is all about the fact that the reason we can't lose fat is that many of us suffer from a hormone imbalance.

Want to find out how this gorgeous red pomegranate can melt your fat off??? Read on!

So here are the tips on how to restore hormone balance to super charge fat loss. Again, these are my 'paraphrased' notes. Here's the link to the actual episode. http://www.doctoroz.com/episode/melt-your-fat-fast

Secrets to Melt your Fat Fast:

- You need to detox your digestive tract. So mix 1/2 lemon's juice, grate a 1 inch of fresh ginger, a pinch of cayenne in 4 cups of water. Drink this many times a day.

-  Where your fat is mostly stored on your body actually points to what type of hormone imbalance you have. So if you carry your fat mostly:

--On your stomach: You have too much cortisol. To balance that hormone, you should take a supplement called Holy Basil. Take 2 gel caps per day.

--On your butt and hips (that would be me): You have too much toxic estrogen. To balance that hormone, you should take Indole 3-Carbinol, 200mg twice a day with fibre. Here's a great link that describes the benefits of this vegetable based supplement including fighting all types of cancers. http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1027-INDOLE-3-CARBINOL.aspx?activeIngredientId=1027&activeIngredientName=INDOLE-3-CARBINOL

--On your back (back fat): You have too much insulin. Take a supplement called CLA, 1500mg twice a day.

Here are some details on the ways in which to combine your food for maximum hormone balancing/fat burning effeciency:
-Eat twice as much protein and fat than carbs during meals and snacks
-Never eat carbs alone. Always eat protein as well.

Here are some Hot Hormone Foods:
-Whey Protein Isolate Powder- it's the most bio-available form of protein. So add to smoothies to add 30 g of protein for breakfast. She repeated that it's very important that your breakfast be full of protein.

-Pomegranate- it lowers estrogen levels, it's anti-inflammatory and lowers risks of all types of cancers

-Buckwheat- it's the richest source of protein from a starchy carb. A good way to include this in your diet it so buy buckwheat pasta.

-Drink red wine. A cabernet sauvignon is a good type. 3 glasses a week, reason is they contain flavenoids and if you have it after your meal, it helps with digestion.

-Soy nuts. It combats age-related weight gain. Have a serving a day, it helps to increase metabolism. I bought some and added them to my salad. It adds a great crunch in place of croutons.

Finally, some great tips to manage blood sugar and insulin levels;
-Add 1-2 tsp of cinnamon to your morning meal - oatmeal-cereal-yogurt.
-Drink 1 tsp of white vinegar before a high carb meal (pasta). It slows down body's desire to use sugar.
-Soluble Fibre such as Metamucil (Psyllium Fibre). The Phyllium fibre gels and traps carbs and sugars in the digestive track. Mix 1 serving of Metamucil with 8oz of water and drink before meals.

That's all for now folks, take this information and run with it.You just might see the fat melt away!