quiche + chicken veggie soup + veggie broth oh my!!!
Andrea
Good evening! I hope you all have had a fabulous day! Mine was good...I played lots of catch-up in the office after being out all day yesterday. After work my hubb and I went for a fabulous run...YAY!!! I was worried after my not-so-great run on Saturday when we didn't run the full 2.5 miles that were scheduled in our training. We decided that tonight we would try to make up for it, especially since we hadn't been able to do anything the last two days with my overworking. I mapped out a 2.7 mile stretch for us close to our house that involves a looooong hill at the 1/2 mile mark all the way to the 1-1/4 mile mark and again at the 2-1/2 mile mark. I just discovered the elevation tool on mapmyrun.com...look at that hill!!!
We made it though! My hubb was great, he probably could have gone a lot further. I was a very satisfied level of tired at the end....not feeling good enough for another mile but not completely dead either. I'm so pleased!!! :)
I have some eats to tell you about, along with some recipes to share as promised. I hope you can hang in there for one more long post from me...
Breakfast: 3/4 cup Stoneyfield fat free french vanilla yogurt with one sliced banana and 1/4 cup of TJ's Spiced Pumpkin Granola.
Now I know what you've all been raving about! The granola is AWESOME! :)
Lunch: I pulled some black bean soup out of the freezer and added a dollop of sour cream to it along with an 8" sprouted wheat tortilla.
My office desk doesn't make nearly as nice of a background as my dining table at home...
Snack: I ate about 3 bites of this gala apple before tossing it because it was COMPLETELY devoid of flavor. We finally finished all 13 pounds of hand-picked pink ladies...sigh. :(
So instead I ate the other 1/2 of the Clif Builder's Bar I snacked on the other night.
Dinner: Butternut Squash and Kale soup, modified from Kath's original recipe, along with a piece of my homemade whole wheat bread. My soup had
The soup was really good, but a little thick for our tastes. I actually had a different soup plan for the butternut squash, but when I realized that I had kale wilting in my fridge it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out Kath's recipe. I do think I'll try my original plan next week...the hubb and I discussed it tonight and I think its going to be good!
Recipe Recap: As promised, here are the recipes for the amazing dinners my Hubb made Sunday and Monday nights. They are both pretty simple, but full of so much home-cooked comfort food yumminess...!
Chicken Vegetable Soup with Homemade Veggie Broth
Ingredients:
I LOVE my hubb's homemade soups....they are so incredible. We typically make the version above completely veggie and add in some barley or israeli cous-cous, but we had leftover ground chicken after making the potstickers a few nights before so decided to throw it in. That's the beautiful thing about these soups...anything and everything can go in! And I also love that the homemade broths provide a way for us to use our veggie waste when the compost bin is out of commission during the winter.
Monday night's dinner was another favorite of ours...QUICHE! We always try to keep a frozen pie crust in the freezer so that if we have veggies that need to be used up we can throw together a quiche. Its a quick, easy, nutritious dinner (as long as you are smart about the crust...!) and so good on a cold night. I like to add in more egg whites and reduce some of the yolks, but we had exactly 5 eggs so had to use them completely (don't worry, egg yolks never go to waste around here...our dogs love them!)
Ham + Veggie Quiche
Ingredients:
Whew! Another long post complete. Thanks again for hanging in there...I hope to get some feedback on these recipes as you all try them! I'm off to bed...
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We made it though! My hubb was great, he probably could have gone a lot further. I was a very satisfied level of tired at the end....not feeling good enough for another mile but not completely dead either. I'm so pleased!!! :)
I have some eats to tell you about, along with some recipes to share as promised. I hope you can hang in there for one more long post from me...
Breakfast: 3/4 cup Stoneyfield fat free french vanilla yogurt with one sliced banana and 1/4 cup of TJ's Spiced Pumpkin Granola.
Now I know what you've all been raving about! The granola is AWESOME! :)
Lunch: I pulled some black bean soup out of the freezer and added a dollop of sour cream to it along with an 8" sprouted wheat tortilla.
My office desk doesn't make nearly as nice of a background as my dining table at home...
Snack: I ate about 3 bites of this gala apple before tossing it because it was COMPLETELY devoid of flavor. We finally finished all 13 pounds of hand-picked pink ladies...sigh. :(
So instead I ate the other 1/2 of the Clif Builder's Bar I snacked on the other night.
Dinner: Butternut Squash and Kale soup, modified from Kath's original recipe, along with a piece of my homemade whole wheat bread. My soup had
- 1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced
- 2 carrots
- 2 celery stalks
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 32oz box of creamy carrot soup
- 1 cup of diced ham
- 1 15oz can of white kidney beans
- 6 cups of fresh chopped kale
- salt + pepper to taste
The soup was really good, but a little thick for our tastes. I actually had a different soup plan for the butternut squash, but when I realized that I had kale wilting in my fridge it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out Kath's recipe. I do think I'll try my original plan next week...the hubb and I discussed it tonight and I think its going to be good!
Recipe Recap: As promised, here are the recipes for the amazing dinners my Hubb made Sunday and Monday nights. They are both pretty simple, but full of so much home-cooked comfort food yumminess...!
Chicken Vegetable Soup with Homemade Veggie Broth
Ingredients:
- one gallon-size ziplock of frozen veggie parts*
- 2 frozen cheese rinds**
- 8 cups commercial veggie broth ONLY if you don't want to make your own
- 2/3 pound of ground chicken, cooked and crumbled
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 stalks celery, chopped
- 3 carrots, chopped
- 4 medium russet potatoes, diced
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 cup frozen lima beans
- 1 cup frozen okra
- 2 15oz cans of diced tomatoes
- salt + pepper to taste
- Put all frozen veggie parts and 2 cheese rinds into large saucepan or stock pot. Fill pot with water until veggies are covered.
- Bring to a boil, lower heat and let simmer uncovered for one hour. If you simmer longer you will have more intense flavor, less time will yield a milder taste.
- Strain liquid through a fine colander or china cap (pictured below), collecting the broth in a bowl.
- Put your broth back in the soup pot, add the tomatoes, onion, celery, carrots and potatoes and bring all to a boil. Lower heat and simmer uncovered until the potatoes are starting to soften.
- Once the potatoes are slightly soft, but still about 10 minutes from being soft enough to bite easily, add the frozen veggies and the chicken.
- When the potatoes are soft and the frozen veggies are heated through you soup is ready!
I LOVE my hubb's homemade soups....they are so incredible. We typically make the version above completely veggie and add in some barley or israeli cous-cous, but we had leftover ground chicken after making the potstickers a few nights before so decided to throw it in. That's the beautiful thing about these soups...anything and everything can go in! And I also love that the homemade broths provide a way for us to use our veggie waste when the compost bin is out of commission during the winter.
Monday night's dinner was another favorite of ours...QUICHE! We always try to keep a frozen pie crust in the freezer so that if we have veggies that need to be used up we can throw together a quiche. Its a quick, easy, nutritious dinner (as long as you are smart about the crust...!) and so good on a cold night. I like to add in more egg whites and reduce some of the yolks, but we had exactly 5 eggs so had to use them completely (don't worry, egg yolks never go to waste around here...our dogs love them!)
Ham + Veggie Quiche
Ingredients:
- one frozen whole wheat pie crust
- 1 head of broccoli, chopped
- 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1/2 pound cooked ham, chopped
- 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 5 eggs
- Pull pie crust from freezer and allow to thaw for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 400*.
- Poke holes in the bottom of the crust, cover with foil, add pie weights (or dry beans) and bake for 10 minutes.
- Whisk eggs and add salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Put fillings into crust. Pour egg on top. Add more egg if needed, the crust should be about 2/3's full.
- Bake @ 400* for 60 minutes on the BOTTOM rack of oven.
Whew! Another long post complete. Thanks again for hanging in there...I hope to get some feedback on these recipes as you all try them! I'm off to bed...
Not pictured:
I made two loaves, so I sliced one and put it in the freezer for later.
Sunday Dessert: Becca's award-winning 
Snacks: I of course snacked on some of the baked goods I made throughout the day. I think I wound up eating two of VeggieGirl's Pear Pistachio Ginger Blondies and one of Jessica's Chocolate Gingerbread Bars. No pics...sorry! I need to get better about my baked good / snack consumption...I've been going a little overboard. :(
Monday Breakfast: Toasted Ezekiel Cinn Raisin Muffin w/ 1 tbsp almond butter and sliced banana, the rest of the banana on the side.
Monday Lunch: 1/2 a leftover 
Snacks Monday: My lunch calories were a little light (surprising I know, but the enchirito really isn't bad for you!) so I was hungry for this beautiful pear a couple of hours later. I also grabbed one of the chocolate gingerbread bars that I brought into the office to share with my co-workers.
And because I was in the office until about 8:30, I ate 1/2 of this Clif Builder's Bar at 6:30 to keep myself from eating more choco. gingerbread bars... (iphone pic, sorry!)
Monday Dinner: My hubb came to the rescue again with a fabulous quiche!!! I'll post this recipe later too...it was SO YUMMY! And I was starving by the time I got home so I had 1/4 of it, along with a glass of chardonnay (no pic...).
And for dessert a molasses clove cookie (see what I mean about the sweets!?!?!?)
We're almost there!!! Thanks for hangin' in there for this LONG post! :)
Tuesday Breakfast: Toasted Ezekiel Cinn Raisin Muffin with 2 tbsp PB...I wanted to make sure I wouldn't get hungry on my drive and be tempted by a Starbucks baked goodie! Also, a banana.
I managed to get PB all over myself while driving. It was dark and I had no idea until the sun came up...pathetic. :P
Tuesday Morning Snack: I stopped at Starbucks for a grande non-fat chai latte about halfway through my morning drive.
Tuesday Lunch: We all went out to a fantastic Vietnamese restaurant where I ordered grilled tofu on lemongrass vermicelli noodles. It was AMAZING but I have no pictures because it was definitely not appropriate to pull out my iphone with the entire team of architects and engineers present. It was sooooo good though...
Tuesday Afternoon Snack: My hubb was so sweet and made me a very special trail mix to snack on during my long drive...he even took the pictures for me so that the note stayed a surprise. He's the best!!! :) I had a handful of the mix on my way home.
Tuesday Evening Snack: One glorious dark chocolate covered joe joe...
Tuesday Dinner: Leftover quiche and a spinach salad with hearts of palm, red bell pepper, cucumber and lite ranch dressing. And a much-needed glass of cabernet after my long day.
Whew!!! Thanks for sticking with me! I'll be back later tonight to post today's eats and the two dinner recipes I promised. I feel so out of the blog loop because I haven't read any since Sunday!!! I hope to get caught up tonight... Have a great day! :)
Lunch: Well, breakfast was kinda lunch since I slept so late, so my schedule was off all day. I did make the horrible mistake of going grocery shopping while hungry, which resulted in several snacks that you will see shortly.
I had the worst Whole Foods shopping experience today. I'm still bummed out about it. I've mentioned that we have a tiny store that doesn't carry a great selection of bars etc, but they are building a new store so I've just been hanging in there 'till its finished. Over the couple of years that the hubb and I have been shopping at this Whole Foods they've taken away several products that I love dearly to make room for new or different products. Some examples of products I love that I can no longer get at my store are:
Yeah, this was a pricey trip. Mainly because I had to stock up on some baking ingredients for the holidays and some specialty ingredients for BSI recipes I wanted to try out. I don't have the energy to list all of the items so pictures will have to speak for themselves... And I do have to give the nice employees at my Whole Foods credit. When I went to Customer Service to fill out a form to get my Oikos back (yes, I did that), they offered to let me take a container of the new product that had replaced it to sample for free. I thought that was mighty nice of them...
I am intrigued...has anybody ever heard of "icelandic style skyr" before? This product had some amazing flavors, but I wanted to get the plain so I could do a true comparison to the Oikos I'm used to. However, the Siggi's is a whopping $2.69 per 6 oz container, so even if I love it I won't be buying it. I had a hard enough time paying $1.99 for Oikos, so $2.69 is out of the question!
Oh, and this is what happens when you go to the grocery store(s) hungry:
You buy ginger snaps from Whole Foods, apple chips from Harris Teeter and molasses clove cookies from Rebecca's. All were amazing and satisfied the hubb's and my hunger in the car on the way home...
Dinner: I can only talk about part of the meal because the other part was a finalist in the 
It is so easy, so fast and soooooo yummy! I'll have more pictures tomorrow night showing my whole dinner.
I also had a glass of vino.
Ok, its time for bed. Don't forget to get your BSI recipe in!!! 
