The weather here has been damp, cold, and dreary for the past few days - and I find myself craving warm comfort foods. So I was wondering what everyone's favorite healthy comfort foods are? My short list is oatmeal, chili, and bean soup, and I'd love some new ideas.
I cube an apple and microwave it for 5 minutes. Then, I add 1/2 cup (or more) frozen blueberries. Put saran wrap on the top (very important, due to messiness, heh) and nuke for 1 more minute. Add walnuts (or a little granola).
Every winter I crave my mom's chicken noodle soup. It's the most basic chicken noodle soup, but I still love it. I also crave my dad's chili. I can't go through winter without these.
Barley soup, which my grandmother makes... but I can't eat it anymore. Its not really soup, its more of a stew, and she makes a lot of it to freeze, then we eat it with a salad (veggie selection depends on prices at the store) and ketchup (in the soup!). I could eat it without the barley, but what's the point??
Cross posted cuz apparently there's more than one of us thinking about warm cozy food ...
I love love love hamburger soup but do not want the fat from ground beef, actually I don't really want the beef either so ...
3 28 oz cans of tomatoes (I used some with spices in)
1 head of cabbage chopped up into bite sized pieces
1 cup of textured vegetable protein
I simmered the tomatoes and cabbage until the cabbage was softening then tossed in the vegetable protein. It soaks up fluid and takes on the flavour of the rest. I let it sit for an hour or so just on very low. When it cooled I put it in a container in the fridge. I can have a scoop when ever I want.
1 1/2 cups is 109 cals 1 gm fat, 22gms of carbs and 8 gms of protein.
It's delicious with ff cottage cheese or low fat soy cheese on it too.
Come fall, I start craving soup, soup, and more soup.
Favorites:
Leek and Butternut Squash soup - in a soup pot, add 1 tbsp olive oil and about 6 sliced, well rinsed leeks, plus a clove or two of minced garlic. Saute until leeks are soft. Then add 1 whole butternut squash, peeled and cubed, and about 6 c chicken broth. Simmer until squash is tender (30 min or so), add salt and pepper to taste, and puree in a blender or with a handheld blender until smooth. Mmmmm.
Roasted Pumpkin Soup - really easy - clean pie pumpkins, remove seeds, and slice in half. Roast at 375 until tender (half an hour to 45 min), then allow to cool and remove skins. Puree or mash the pumpkin, add a bit of cayenne pepper, a dash of cumin, salt, and pepper, and chicken stock to the consistency you want (I like mine thick). Add a 1/2 c of fat free half and half and serve. Sometimes I take the seeds from the pumpkins and roast them (350 until they are golden brown and hard) with a mix of brown sugar, cayenne, chili powder, and salt...sprinkle seasonings on seeds, spray with cooking spray, toss, and roast. Then sprinkle these on top of the soup for extra crunch (and fiber!)
White bean and sausage soup - I soak my beans from dry, cook them, and then begin the recipe, but you can also use canned small white beans. In a pot, combine two whole sprigs of rosemary, 2 bay leaves, 1 large chopped onion, 2 minced cloves of garlic, 2-3 large carrots and 2-3 stalks celery (both in bite sized pieces) and 4-6 c. chicken broth, depending on how thick you like your soup. Let simmer for 10 minutes, then add one package of one of the many varieties of Aidells Chicken Sausage (I like the spinach and feta or the pesto varieties in this recipe - only 150 cals a serving and SO worth it for the flavor!), cubed or sliced into small pieces. Add the cooked beans (4 servings worth) and simmer until sausage and beans are warmed through and the veggies are tender. Remove the rosemary stems and the bay leaf, and serve. You can also wilt in some greens toward the end of cooking, like spinach or baby chard, to get some extra veggies in there.
Beef Stew - Brown 1 lb lean beef stew meat in the bottom of your soup/stock pot. Once browned, remove meat to a bowl and add 2-3c potato in 1.5" dice, 3 sliced carrots, 3 sliced stalks celery, 4 cloves of minced garlic, and 1 large diced onion. Saute in the fat from the meat until onion is translucent, then add the meat back in and cover with beef or chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1.5 hours on very low heat. Before the last 10 min of cooking, whisk together 1/4 c corn starch with 1 c. chicken broth until all lumps are removed, then pour in to thicken the broth up.
Simple White Bean Soup - Soak 4 servings white beans overnight. Drain the next morning. About 2 hours before you're ready to eat, saute two chopped onions in 1 tbsp olive oil in a soup pot. Add a couple cloves of minced garlic if you like. Add the soaked beans, a bay leaf, 2 whole sprigs of rosemary, and a tsp of ground black pepper. Let cook until beans are tender, about 2 hours. Remove bay leaf and rosemary stems, and add salt to taste. Puree about half of the mixture and leave the rest of the beans whole for texture. Serve.
Roast beef with Roasted Veggies (done in the same pan so that the veggies get flavoring from the meat. I loooooooooooove the way this makes carrots and potatoes taste)
White Lasagne, made with chicken and lots of spinach
Comfort Foods
