Vegetarian taco soup

Snuck this one past my bean hater. Everyone loved this, even company. Score one for the team!!I forgot to take a picture, sorry picture lovers.

Vegetarian taco soup

Ingredients
1 cup raw barley
1 onion
2 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp taco seasoning (equal parts onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, cumin, and chili powder)
15 oz can chili-ready canned tomatoes (or regular and add some chili powder)
15 oz canned corn, drained
2 cups cooked kidney beans
6 cups beef broth (I make mine with "better than bouillon"). If you are a real vegetarian, you can obviously choose vegetable broth instead.

9 oz Baked Tostito's Scoops
2 1/4 cups grated colby jack cheese
9 tablespoons light sour cream

Directions
Saute onion in a the olive oil. Add taco seasoning, barley, and the beef broth. Cook until barley is soft (if you use "quick" barley it'll only take 10 minutes). Add tomato, beans and corn. Cook until heated through. Each one-cup serving should be topped with 1/4 cup grated cheese and 1 Tbsp of the light sour cream. Serve with one ounce (about 15 chips) of baked tortilla chips.

Number of Servings: 9

Calories: 308.0
Total Fat: 10.5 g
Cholesterol: 27.7 mg
Sodium: 850.3 mg
Total Carbs: 42.0 g
Dietary Fiber: 9.0 g
Protein: 14.2 g

Fruit Slaw

All 5 of us loved eating this sweet summery side dish with our black bean burgers last night. What a great way to get cabbage into kiddoes!

3 cups Cole Slaw Mix
1 large granny smith apple, diced
1 cup crushed pineapple (drain juice and reserve)
1/4 cups dried cherries

1/2 cup low fat plain yogurt
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp reserved pineapple juice
the zest of one orange

2 tbsp sunflower seeds



Mix slaw, apple, pineapple, and cherries. Mix yogurt, honey, pineapple juice, and orange zest. Stir to combine. Makes 8 1/2 cup servings.


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Calories: 88.3
Total Fat: 1.3 g
Cholesterol: 0.9 mg
Sodium: 26.6 mg
Total Carbs: 18.6 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.7 g
Protein: 1.5 g

California Black Bean Burgers

I give this recipe 5 stars, but I LOVE beans. You gotta like beans to like these burgers. You aren't going to fool anyone into believing that they are eating meat. At my house, 4of 5 family members liked this recipe a LOT. Bean lovers, all. The 5th (my 10 year old bean hater) actually gagged and ate a whole wheat bun with lettuce, tomato, and condiments for dinner, sans-bean burger.

2 cups cooked black beans (I put taco seasoning in the cooking water)
1 4 oz can diced green chilies
1 egg
1 1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
5 whole wheat hamburger buns (170 calories each)



In food processor, mix beans, chile, egg, breadcrumbs until combined. Shape into 5 equal sized balls, and then shape into patties. Put cornmeal onto a plate and press both sides of the burger into the cornmeal. Fry in vegetable oil cooking spray until brown on both sides and firm. Serve on bun (calories included) with desired toppings.


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Calories: 416.7
Total Fat: 4.9 g
Cholesterol: 42.5 mg
Sodium: 337.7 mg
Total Carbs: 75.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 9.4 g
Protein: 17.1 g

Tex Mex Sloppy Joes with Corn and Peppers

1 lb ground elk or other VERY LEAN ground meat
1 large red onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
4 tsp chile powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 medium tomatoes, diced
the corn from 2 ears of fresh corn
1 tbsp low sodium tomato paste
1 cup water
2 tsp soy sauce

Brown ground meat. Add peppers and cover. Steam for 2 minutes. Add onion and cover. Steam for 4 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and stir. Cover and reduce to a simmer. Simmer 10 minutes.

Makes 7 one cup servings. Serve open face on whole wheat buns (calories for bun not included)

Number of Servings: 7
Calories: 159.6
Total Fat: 2.0 g
Cholesterol: 47.3 mg
Sodium: 153.4 mg
Total Carbs: 14.6 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.6 g
Protein: 22.0 g

Lasagna Primavera

12 whole grain lasagna noodles

4 Tbsp butter or olive oil
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
2 C fat free 1/2 and 1/2
1/2 C whole wheat flour

3 C cut broccoli florets
2 cups shredded carrot
1 green pepper, diced

2 C part skim ricotta
1/2 C parmesan cheese
1 egg

2 C mozzarella cheese

Cook noodles. To make alfredo sauce, melt butter and stir in garlic and seasoning. Stir in flour. Add fat free 1/2 and 1/2. Stir until thickened.

Mix ricotta, parmesan cheese, and egg.

Layer sauce, noodles, ricotta mixture, veggie mixture, and mozzarella. Repeat until ingredients are used.

Number of Servings: 12
Calories: 315.8
Total Fat: 13.1 g
Cholesterol: 56.9 mg
Sodium: 397.0 mg
Total Carbs: 35.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 5.7 g
Protein: 17.4 g

How I get my greens.

I KNOW I need to eat green leafy veggies, particularly spinach. Spinach is one of those super-foods. I try to eat spinach every day because I'm often anemic and I really believe that EATING your vitamins is better than taking a pill. So.... this is what I do.

1. I buy two big bags of baby spinach when I do my every-other-week shopping trip. I put one in the freezer. I put the other in the fridge.

2. For the first week after my shopping trip, I eat a salad each day for a snack, or with lunch, or with dinner. I'm not a salad fan, in general. I like some restaurant salads, like the ones with iceburg lettuce, egg, cheese, deli ham, buttery croutons, bacon bits, and homemade ranch. Umm....those break some rules and end up kinda fatty, salty, and not-so-good for me. I've had to re-learn to like a slightly different type of salad. I like STUFF on my salad. I make my stuff count as a carb or a protein. Here are two I like.

a. Big handful of spinach, sliced boiled egg, 1/4 cup grated cheese, a sprinkle of sunflower seeds for crunch, 1/2 of a sliced pear or apple, shredded carrotKraft Lite Raspberry viniagrette (I need to learn to make my own 'cause Kraft isn't really all natural like I'd prefer)

b. Big handful of spinach, 2 oz of leftover chicken or pork, a sprinkle of slivered almonds for crunch, canned mandarin oranges, sliced celery or pepper, Newman's Own Light Asian Sesame dressing.

3. The second week, I make a smoothie each day, using my frozen spinach. It gets all frozen together and stuff, no biggie. Just crunch it up with your hands and shake about 2 cups worth into the blender for each smoothie. I add juice, fruit, water, protein powder, and you have a carb/protein combination PLUS my super spinach. I never add yogurt to my green smoothies. Just seems wrong to me.

Choose to eat plants!!

Rule #1 only MAKES you eat 3 servings of fruits/veggies per day (at breakfast, lunch, and dinner). How can you add more? Here are some suggestions:

Plan to eat two servings of veggies at lunch or dinner.

Eat fruity carb instead of a starchy carb for your snack.

Make a fruity smoothie with a handful of spinach and some protein powder for a snack.

Choose 100% fruit juice instead of that diet soda at the gas station or restaurant.

When you feel like you can't make it to the next meal, eat 5 baby carrots or a stalk of celery, or 1/2 a sliced bell pepper.

If you have a juicer, use it to make interesting juicy concoctions to drink instead of water.