Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

I made a pumpkin smoothie today.  I'm eating it now.  So yummy.

I say eating because it turned more into a pudding rather than a drinkable smoothie.  I still have 2/3rd's of it left so I may add more soymilk to make it drinkable. Or, I may just eat the rest as a pudding, it's so delicious.  :)

The seasonings were the same as on the canned pumpkin.  I used half of the pumpkin puree so I used half of their recommended spices.  The result is that it has the flavorings of a pumpkin pie.



Ingredients:

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 box 12.3 oz. silken tofu

1 cup unsweetened soymilk

1 frozen banana

4 date rolls or medjool dates

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 pinch of ground nutmeg
1 - 1 1/2 cups of ice
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Picture to the left is a coconut date roll.

Directions:
Add everything to vitamix blender and blend well.  Add the ice and blend well again.

Edit:  I left out the tofu, and it's just as creamy without it.  I want it to be more of a milkshake smoothie instead of a thick milkshake, but I'm happy with it the way it is. 
I'm afraid if I make it thinner, it will end up weak tasting and I don't want that!  It's delicious as is.

Also, this time I used medjool dates instead of the date rolls, and it tastes just as good.  If the coconut sounds good to you,  you could add some unsweetened dry coconut to the smoothie.  This recipe is enough for two servings, if you can control yourself and only eat one.  :-)

Carrot Cabbage Soup

I've come down with a cold, so I wanted to make a soup to help with the sore throat and raw sinuses.  I was going to just throw something together and have done with it, but I knew if I did that it probably wouldn't be as tasty as if I planned a recipe.

I had some cabbage on hand and wanted to do something different with it than what I normally do like a stir fry. 

This was a real challenge for me because I really don't feel all that well.  My head is throbbing a bit, so I grabbed my thinking cap and gently placed it on top of my head.  A brothy rather than creamy  soup sounded better to me for this cold, plus I didn't want to add another step to making the soup.

And, presto . . . . .  yummy.  Another favorite for me.  If you try it, please let me know if you liked it.  And please be honest.  I can take it.  :)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup pearl barley cleaned and rinsed
3 cups water
3 cups carrot juice
1 medium to large onion chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 large head of cabbage sliced
2 large carrots chopped
2 large ribs celery chopped (I like to add some of the leaves for soup)
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried majoram
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 can beans rinsed and drained.  (I used northern, but red has more nutritional value, which I'll try next time, but really, any bean is good.)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Pour the three cups water into a pot and bring to boil.  Add the pearl barley and simmer while you prepare the vegetables.

After the vegetables are chopped, add to a soup pot the onion and garlic and water saute  for about five minutes.  Add the rest of the vegetables and continue to water saute for about five minutes more.

Then add the minced ginger and all of the seasonings and stir well while adding the carrot juice.  Let the mixture come to a boil and turn off the heat.

When the pearl barley is ready, add it with the water to the carrot juice and vegetables mixture.  Add the drained and rinsed canned beans at this time too.  I didn't worry about using a 'no salt' can of beans.  If you look at the sodium per serving it will be less than the 300 mg allotment for the day on the Eat To Live program.  And the sodium gives it added flavor to the soup also.

Finally add the tablespoon of apple cider vinegar at the end and stir well.  Taste the soup to make sure the vegetables are cooked to your liking.  Cook a little longer if you like them soft.

If you can let the soup set covered on top of the stove for a while without the burner on before serving, it will allow the flavors to meld nicely.  Warm the soup before serving.  

I also thought I better mention that this is a sweet soup because of the carrot juice.  If you don't like sweet, either substitute some vegetable broth or water for some of the carrot juice or for all of it.

Cream of Potato Soup

I'll post the picture tomorrow if I took one.  Can't remember if I did or not. :)

I made a cream of potato soup, adapted from a recipe that only had carrots, onions and potatoes.  I changed it so much that it really isn't the same recipe it once was.

I took into consideration my husband and myself.  I wanted to make a soup he could eat, but one that I could eat also.  This is a Vegan recipe.  I add the ham at the end for DH and remove my portion before doing so.

I don't normally eat the starchy vegetables, so it didn't bother me that this one meal would be more than the limited one cup portion of starch E2L allows.

So here's what I came up with.

6 good sized potatoes peeled
1 medium onion chopped
2 carrots - small chop
4 celery ribs - small chop
4 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup cashews
1 cup soymilk
1 teaspoon Braggs Liquid Aminos
1 10 oz bag frozen cauliflower thawed
black pepper to taste
2 large kale leaves, center stem removed and chiffonaded
ham chopped in bite sized pieces - optional; don't u

Peel the potatoes and cube.  Add them to a good sized pan like a dutch oven.   Add enough water to just cover the potatoes.  Bring to a boil and lower heat to low and simmer until done, about twenty minutes.

Water saute the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic for about five minutes.  I like my veggies to still have some crunch.  Set aside until potatoes are cooked.

If you're going to use the ham, saute with a little canola oil while you're waiting on the potatoes.  Maybe 2 teaspoons.  I try to brown them on all sides for about eight minutes.  Take them off heat and set aside.

When the potatoes are done, remove from heat.  Measure 1 cup of the potatoes, it doesn't matter if a little water ends up in the cup and set aside.  Add the sauteed vegetables to the potatoes.

Place the measured, one cup of potatoes into the blender.  Add the thawed cauliflower, the cup of soymilk, the 1/4 cup of cashews, pepper to taste and enough water from the potatoes to be able to blend well.  Pour this mixture into the potatoes and combine thoroughly.

At this point I took out a serving for myself.  The rest would be for my husband.  I added the ham to the soup.  I didn't add extra salt because the ham has plenty of sodium and was enough flavoring for the soup.

For my portion, I steamed the kale for about five minutes and added it to my soup.  If I were to make this just for myself, I wouldn't add the ham, and I would increase the kale and add a whole bunch of steamed kale to the soup. 

Also, because I made the soup this way, I was able to add some nutritional value to my husbands meal by adding the blended cauliflower, soymilk and cashews.  He didn't know they were in there and I didn't offer the information either.

I'd love to hear from you if you decide to try this soup.  I thought it was really delicious, and for me, the added steamed kale was a nice addition.

Router replacement

There is a reason I haven't posted lately.  My router quit working so no internet.  I had to purchase a new one which cost me over $100. Yikes they're expensive.

I tried my hand at plugging it in and getting the software going so I could use the wireless feature.  I did fine with the desk computer, but when I tried to add my laptop, it took me a few hours to figure it out.

I don't give up easily though, so I kept at it until my laptop was able to get online wirelessly.  Yay, I'm able to surf the web, post on my blog and answer emails. 

Funny thing, it wasn't really difficult.  I felt kind of stupid when I found out how to do it.  :-)

Now I'll be able to keep up with my blog again.  What did we do without computers, the web, email, blogs, facebook, twitter, etc.?

Hopefully tomorrow I'll share another recipe.

Eating to live,
Laina :-)