Saturday, July 30, 2011

Healthy Summer Recipe: Chilled Avocado Soup

My food magazine addiction has led me to believe that cold soups are a great summer trend.  I have always been a little unsure of these soups...they sound strange and isn't soup supposed to be hot?   Before stumbling upon this recipe I had never 1)found cold soups to be appetizing or 2)eaten a cold soup.  I found the recipe on another foodie blog All Day I Dream About Food and decided to give it a whirl.  I had some friends over for dinner and the soup went over very well.





A few recommendations:
  • Serve it with some crackers or tortilla chips to add a little texture
  • Use as a sauce over BBQ cilantro lime chicken
  • If you have leftovers it works great in Mexican burritos or tacos
  • I used only about a tablespoon of whipping cream and omitted the sour cream entirely
Chilled Guacamole Soup

2 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth, divided
2 avocados, peeled and pitted
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and coarsely chopped
¼ cup red onion, chopped
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp cayenne
¼ cup whipping cream
2 tbsp sour cream
6 tbsp cheddar cheese, shredded

In a food processor combine 1 cup of chicken broth with avocados, garlic, jalapeno, lime juice and cilantro. Puree until smooth. Add remaining 1 ½ cups broth, salt, pepper and cayenne and blend. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in whipping cream. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours.

Divide soup among 6 bowls. In the center of each bowl, dollop 1 tsp (5 mL) of sour cream. Sprinkle each with 1 tbsp shredded cheese.

Serves 6 (1/2 cup servings). Each serving has a total of 7g of carbs and 2g of fiber.

**If you're like me and looking to save some money remember that you can find great recipes from your favorite magazines online for free.  Below are some of my favorite blogs and food sites:
Cooking for Assholes
All Day I Dream About Food
Cooking Light
Eat Better America
Food Network

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Oatmeal never tasted this good before!

I've recently started eating oatmeal every morning for breakfast so I had some laying around.  I was having a craving for a sweet treat and had an idea!  Why not use the oatmeal in the dessert...

Ingredients:

1 package quaker maple brown sugar instant oatmeal
1 scoop vanilla ice cream
Magic Shell chocolate coating

Directions:
Empty oatmeal into a bowl.  Add 1/2 c water and microwave for 1 minute.
Remove oatmeal from microwave and scoop ice cream on top.
Add a healthy layer of chocolate

ENJOY!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Cooking Around the World

I was inspired by the movie Julie and Julia...unfortunately I don't think that I can commit to cooking my way through that entire cookbook!

So I decided to create my own challenge.  Over the next year I am going to explore the food of different cultures and try to post at least 3 different receipes per week.  I look forward to my journey around the world over the next year.  Wish me luck!

Some of the cuisines I will be exploring include....
 
  1. African
  2. American
  3. Barbecue
  4. Brazilian
  5. Breakfast
  6. British
  7. Cafeteria
  8. Cajun
  9. Central American  
  10. Chinese
  11. Cuban
  12. Ethiopian
  13. French
  14. German
  15. Hamburgers
  16. Homestyle Cooking
  17. Indian
  18. Irish
  19. Italian
  20. Jamaican
  21. Japanese
  22. Korean
  23. Mexican
  24. Middle Eastern 
  25. Pizza
  26. Polynesian
  27. Russian
  28. Sandwiches
  29. Seafood
  30. Scandinavian
  31. Spanish
  32. Soul Food
  33. South American
  34. Steak
  35. Vegetarian
  36. Tex-Mex
  37. Thai
  38. Vietnamese