Archives for September 2010

This is not- I repeat, NOT the stuff from the Campbell’s can!  This is for real, from scratch cream of mushroom soup.  And it is amazing!  And you should make it right now.  I adapted and veganized this from a Rachael Ray recipe.  Here’s the recipe…now get to cooking!  (I didn’t take a pic of this one because it’s not very pretty.  But it IS delicious!!)

Cream of Mushroom Soup

(Print this recipe!)

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Earth Balance, divided
1 1/2 lbs baby bella mushrooms, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 large onion, chopped
One 4 ounce baking potato
3 cups vegetable broth
1 1/4 cup almond milk (you could use soy if you want, but I like almond milk because it’s thick like whole milk whereas soy milk is kind of thin)

Directions:
In a pot, melt 1/2 Tablespoon of Earth Balance.  Add the mushrooms and sauté them until browned.  Transfer to a bowl.

Add the remaining 1/2 Tablespoon of Earth Balance to the pot and add the onions.  Cook the onions until they are golden brown and tender.  Meanwhile, slice the potato thinly.  Return the mushrooms to the pot, add the potato, vegetable broth, and 1 cup of water.  Simmer for 10 mins.

Puree the soup in a blender and return to pan.  Stir in the milk and 1/2 cup of water.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Heat through over medium heat.

Serve with some awesome rustic whole wheat bread and maybe a salad.  This recipe makes 4 generous servings.

Enjoy!

Well, school is going good so far!  I’m really enjoying my nutrition classes!!  I think I’m going to learn A LOT in my Nutrition Through the Lifecycle class!  I’m still dreading A&P lab, which isn’t till Thursday, so the dread increases considerably each day.  *gulp*

Anyhoo, in the interest of keeping things real I wanted to make a confession.

Confession of a nutrition student…I can’t count calories!!  Seriously, I think I’m unable to do it!  I swear any time I try to count calories I GAIN weight!  I don’t know what it is, but my brain is just apparently unable to do it.  In saying that I’m also announcing that I rejoined weight watchers today.  I’m a lifetime member from way back.  I’ve gained a bit of weight back (too many vegan cupcakes this summer!!!) and I KNOW that the program works for me, so that’s what I decided to do.  Plus my acid reflux is back with a vengeance and for me it’s weight related.  When my weight is up it’s bad, but when my weigh is down it goes away. 

I’m not one of those people that can just eat healthy and I’ll magically be at a healthy weight (if you’re one of those people that can…more power to you!  But most of us aren’t like that).  I’m someone that needs some structure.  A plan.  And weight watchers is easy and realistic for me and it works. 

That just goes to show that it’s not only the quality of the food you eat (which in my case is extremely healthy) but it’s also the quantity!  If you take in too many calories you are going to gain weight.  Yes, even if you eat healthy foods.  So now I will try to focus more on controlling my portion sizes.  And now that my broken toe is well on its way to being mended I’m going to try to get back into the swing of working out again.  I’m going to restart my p90x and I’m also going to start running again- I want to do the 10K at the Cowtown this year!!!

And now I’m going to go re-organize my office- Laura has inspired me!

Later gaters!