Well Yes!

The struggle of packing a lunch 5 days a week seems to be a consistent topic of discussion amongst my mom friends. While the Mini Fashionista is overall a good, healthy eater, she goes through phases where she is quite challenging. 

I pack rice and beans, turkey meatballs, leftover pasta, etc,  but sometimes I need a quick option to go into the lunch box without much thought. Soup is that option. Finding a "healthy", low sodium canned soup option is challenging enough, and finding a soup that the Mini will eat is even more challenging. 

But, I think I found a winner. Well, Yes! 

Campbell's Well Yes! soups are made with real ingredients without MSG or artificial ingredients. While homemade soup would be healthier,  Well Yes" is a healthy and easy option for when the lunch challenge hits. I wish they were Organic, but you can't always check every box. 

So far, The Mini has given two thumbs up to the chicken noodle, the Mediterranean style wedding soup and the minestrone with kale. I've tried the chicken with wild rice and the tomato carrot bisque and thought both were delicious.

C&C in the Kitchen

Last week I hosted a holiday luncheon and cookie exchange, so I thought I would share what I served and the cookies I exchanged. I decided to keep it simple and serve soup and bread. I made two soups, the first a butternut squash, leek & apple soup from My New Roots.

And the second, one of my favorites, Thai sweet potato and carrot soup from The Wanderlust Kitchen. 

I made three types of cookies: 

Peppermint Brookies from Weelicious which were so dang good and were a big hit with the Mini Fashionista. 

Peanut Butter Blossoms from Hummusapien which were equally as delicious. The Mini especially loved helping with these. Unwrapping the kisses and placing them on the cookies was the perfect job for a 6 year old. 

And lastly, I had to include one "healthy" cookie, so I decided on these gingerbread chocolate chip almond butter cookies from Recipe Runner that are paleo and gluten free. I was a bit skeptical of how they would turn out, but they were super moist and tasty (although mine looked nothing like this picture)!

I highly recommend trying all of these recipes! I will be adding them all to my list of favorites. 

C&C in the Kitchen

Yesterday I decided to make pureed vegetable soup. The first time we took the Mini Fashionista to Europe she spent the first week eating primarily fruit, bread and banana chips...that was until we got to this fantastic hotel in the Dolomites that had a pureed vegetable soup just for kids. She devoured it every night. 

With her tastes being somewhat difficult these days, especially at dinner time, I decided to see if the pureed vegetable soup was still a winner. 

I didn't follow a recipe, but I did find this great post from Epicurious that serves as a recipe for those of you that need one. 

Basic Instructions

- Sauté onion in chosen oil (I used butter) until soft

- Add garlic and sauté for another minute or two

- Chop all vegetables (I used butternut and delicate squash, turnips, carrots, potatoes and broccoli) 

- Add vegetables and stir for a few more minutes. I also added a little white wine (an opened bottle) and deglazed it. You can easily skip this step. 

- Add herbs (I added a sprig of thyme and a few rosemary) and salt and pepper

- Cover with water and simmer on high (covered) until all vegetables are soft. 

- Remove herbs before blending

- Blend (I used an immersion blender which is much easier than transferring to and from a blender)

- Add coconut milk or cream to thicken 

Here's what my soup looked like. We took a stale baguette and made some garlic croutons that we served on top.

So grab all of the veggies out of your refrigerator and try this! Unfortunately the Mini didn't love it as much as she did in Italy, but she ate it...somewhat willingly. 

C & C in the Kitchen: Easy Weeknight Sweet Potato Carrot Curry Soup

Last night I modified a recipe from Dietitian on a Mission's reboot recipes for an easy weeknight meal. Both Dr. B and I loved it, and it's a quick fix for those nights when you just want to get something healthy on the table. And the bonus, there's leftovers for lunch the next day.

Sweet Potato Carrot Curry Soup

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 bag organic carrots chopped (I used the multicolor organic carrots from Trader Joe's)
1 sweet potato chopped
1 large onion chopped
1 Tbsp curry powder
Pinch of cayenne (if you don't like spice, leave this out)
8 cloves garlic chopped
1 small piece ginger chopped (I used one frozen Trader Joe's cube)
1 can light coconut milk
4 cups (1 qt) veggie or chicken broth
salt and pepper

Instructions:
Saute all by the liquid ingredients in the coconut oil until soft, including curry. Add brother. Simmer for about 5 minutes, then put in blender until smooth. Add the coconut milk. Bring to a slight simmer for 10 minutes (add water if it's too thick). Season with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste.

Enjoy!

C&C in the Kitchen

I'm a far better baker than I am a cook. My +1 does at least 85% of the cooking in our house, which is pretty much every girl's dream, right? I remember before I met him that I had a long list of attributes I was looking for in a man, and cooking skills was one of them. My dear friend DP told me that my list was a bit lengthy and unrealistic, so I took cooking skills off. It was weeks later that I met my husband and within weeks he had prepared me a 4 course meal. I showed her. 

Anyway, on to today's post. On Monday my +1 was out of town and a friend came for dinner. I had lots of veggies I wanted to use, so I decided to make a soup. I put it all together without any sort of a recipe, which is a small miracle. 

And luckily it turned out so well that I decided to share my "recipe" with you. 

Bean, Farro and Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

- Olive oil

- 2 small diced onions

- 1 small can tomato paste

- 3-4 chopped carrots

- 2 chopped red peppers

- 2 cans Cannellini beans rinsed and drained

- 1 can Garbonzo beans rinsed and drained

- 2 1/2 large boxes of Chicken Stock

- 1 bag of Trader Joe's 10 minute faro

- 1 large bunch of Kale (or other greens) with stems removed 

- 3 bay leaves

- salt, pepper, and garlic salt

- oregano and rosemary

Directions

- In a large pot (I used a Le Creuset) heat  2-3 tablespoons Olive oil 

- Add onions and sauté until softened

- Add carrots and red peppers and stir in tomato paste, sauté for about 1 minute

- Season with salt, pepper, garlic salt, oregano and rosemary

- Add beans and chicken stock, faro, bay leaves and kale

- Cover and simmer at low to medium heat. 

- It can stay on the stove on low for as long as necessary, and can be re-heated as well. You could also try this recipe in a slow cooker. 

- Season to taste when you serve

C&C in the Kitchen

If you are like me, you struggle to come up with quick, easy and tasty weeknight meals. In fact, I only have meals planned for tonight and tomorrow night for just that reason. 

Well, I have a winner for you. This "Posole" soup is delicious and is easily prepared and cooked in 20-30 minutes from start to finish. You could definitely do it in less if you don't have a two year old to entertain at the same time. Thanks to my good friend, and C&C reader, SW for sharing the recipe with me. Like always, I have modified the original recipe slightly!

Weeknight Posole Soup

- 1 rotisserie chicken (or 2-3 cooked chicken breasts)

- 2 cans of black beans

- 1 can diced tomatoes

- 1 can Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies

- 2 cans hominy

- 1 box red pepper & tomato soup

- 2 cups chicken stock (add more or less to desired consistency)

- 1 onion, diced

- 1 glove garlic, minced 

- 1 tsp chile powder 

- 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped 

Directions

- dice onion and sautee in bottom of soup pan with a little olive oil, add garlic after about 5 minutes. 

- Add chicken, beans, hominy tomatoes, soup, chicken stock, chile powder and cilantro. 

- Cook/warm on low for as long as you need. It can be eaten right away. 

Yes, a lot of the ingredients come from a can. That's one of the reasons it's so quick. Also, notice my 1/2 organic, 1/2 not. That's called balance! :) 

Don't you love all the colors?

Feel free to crumble up some tortilla chips and add to the top of the soup with additional cilantro and/or sour cream. I promise you, this tastes even better than it looks.

This is defintely one of our family favorites. I hope your family will enjoy it as well!