Recipe for Quick and Tasty Broccoli Soup-Meatless Monday

What do you do when you have some sad looking veggies in the fridge?  Make soup of course!  I based this soup on the success I had with asparagus soup made from the discarded stems.  Super quick and easy, and with a chunk of crusty homemade bread, a perfect meatless Monday light supper.

Recipe for Asparagus Soup Seasoned with Zatar

Ever heard of Zatar?  I've seen it mentioned in receipes but hadn't found where to buy it until I got the wonderful opportunity to stop by a Penzy's Spices retail store in Menlo Park, California during our recent trip to San Francisco.  I learned about Penzy's when a friend gave me a selection of Barbecue spices from them a few months ago.  I really like the spices and have gazed longingly at Penzy's wonderful selection of products online.  So when I found out there was a store in Menlo Park, I added it to our agenda.  Well, my agenda.   Mr. ELEB visited a running shoe store while I browsed and shopped to my heart's content.

Recipe for Quick Asparagus Soup

Asparagus...I always feel a little guilty throwing away the stems after I trim them.  I give them a pretty severe chop because I really only like the tops of the asparagus, not the stems.  So I was very happy to find this idea over at Green Lite Bites.  Roni always has some good ideas on her blog and this one is a winner!  Guilt assuaged. 

Recipe for Turkey Sausage, Rice and Beans Soup



As part of my attempt to do more prep work on the weekends to make eating healthy more likely during the week, I had soaked and cooked some cannellini and black beans.  I used them along with some left over brown rice and veggies, Italian turkey sausage and fresh herbs to whip together a quick, healthy and filling soup.  This made enough for the two of us for 2 meals plus plenty for the freezer.

Recipe for NCLS Beef and Veggie Slow Cooker Stew

Last week, the SF Giants were contending for the National League Championship Series title.  They won!  And on to the World Series they went...long time coming.   I put this pot of healthy and delicious beef and veggie stew on in the morning and took it over to our friends house that evening where we all cheered on the Giants.  Was it our cheering?  The stew?  Not sure, but they did win, so I'm honoring that in the title for this easy crock pot recipe.

Rich and Creamy Carrot Soup

One month anniversary for my blog!  I'm so enjoying this-hope you are too!

I found when we moved to Maui that living here didn’t naturally generate those urges to make and eat hearty cool weather fare like soups, chili, stews and the like.  However, I think my blood must have thinned out in the 3 years we’ve been here full time, because I have no problem with those kinds of foods today!

Case in point-this hearty carrot soup.  I had carrots in last week’s produce box and even using some each day in my lunch salad, I still had quite a few left.  And, today is produce day again so last week’s carrots were begging to be used!

I thought about making dilled carrots for a dinner side dish but that didn’t really feel right with the rest of the meal.  So, what could I make with the carrots that I could use later?  Carrot cake?  Love it but, A. having a whole cake around is not on my healthy eating plan right now! And B. I didn’t have what I needed to even make it remotely lower in calories than the “normal recipe”.

So….Soup!  As usual for inspiration, I looked in the pantry and here is what I came up with.  It is really thick and rich, exotic tasting, even.  If you like a thinner soup, use more chicken broth. 

I was also happy to use up a couple of the limes off our new lime tree!