Sunday

I was in a crunchy mood this morning, so I had a big bowl of my other favorite cereal (I told you it would make an appearance soon!). I love that I can have a double serving of this for less calories and fat than most other cereals. A double serving has 180 calories, 2 g fat, and 10 (!) grams of fiber. With 1/2 c. milk:





The boyfriend left for a business trip this afternoon, so I let him choose a restaurant for lunch on the way to the airport. Naturally, he chose a pizza buffet. I started out with a big plate of salad, but I did have a couple pieces of pizza (one veggie, one spinach alfredo) and a very small brownie.

Since I had such a high calorie lunch, I wanted to keep it light for dinner. I decided to come up with a new recipe and go meatless at the same time. I started with a salad:

My salad has green leaf lettuce, tomato, red onion, red cabbage, a few kalamata olives, and a sprinkle of parmesan. I topped it with low calorie Italian dressing.

My new recipe is Tortilla Soup. I read around five recipes and took the ingredients that sounded best to me, then I was off to the grocery store. Here is my recipe:

Vegetable Tortilla Soup

1/2 yellow bell pepper
1 small zucchini
1 Anaheim pepper

2 tomatoes
1/2 yellow onion
1 c. corn kernels
2 tsp. olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 t. ground cumin
1 14 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 14 oz. can vegetable broth

Pulse all of the fresh vegetables in a food processor until finely chopped, then saute in the olive oil. Add cumin and salt and pepper to taste. Pour in tomatoes and broth and stir.

I let it come to a boil, then reduced the heat and let it simmer for around 20 minutes.

For toppings, I used a small handful of baked tortilla chips (technically they're on the bottom of the bowl, so you can't see them), chopped fresh cilantro, green onions, a very small amount of shredded cheese, and a spoonful of light sour cream.

The consistency was kind of thick, closer to a stew than a soup. I had an extra can of broth but chose not to use it.

This was so delicious and easy to make! This recipe is definitely a keeper. I also have two more servings to look forward to, one in the fridge for later in the week and one in the freezer for another time.

I picked up a few more things at the store too, so there will be more experimenting in the next few days!

I'm off to have some chocolate milk.