Cilantro Tortilla Soup with White Beans

This soup takes less than 7 minutes to make. It's has lots of texture and is very flavorful with it's tangy twist! It's good for you too.

What you'll need:
1/2 a bunch of cilantro (stems included)
1 can no salt added diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cup low sodium vegetable stock
1 can drained and rinsed white beans
1/2 tbl spoon brown sugar
1 lemon cut into wedges
sour cream
cayenne pepper
whole grain tortilla chips


First, throw your cilantro, tomato, brown sugar, and vegetable stock in the blender and puree. The color of this soup is a little strange but it tastes amazing so just go with it; the garnishes will dress it up.

Pour your puree into a pot and add the beans and the juice of 2 lime wedges. Bring it to a boil.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream, a pinch of cayenne, a twisted wedge of lemon, and a sprig of cilantro. Add some whole grain tortilla chips for a lightly salted crunch. That's it, you're done! Someone might think your having a Bloody Mary for lunch!
Delicious, healthy, and easy to make! Enjoy.
--
Mary Killmon

Good Grief Green Sauce

This sauce rocks! It's a variation on a Mexican recipe that uses avocados, but since avocados are rarely ripe these days, and they are expensive; I decided to use green peas in their place. It works well. I glop this sauce on salads, burritos, fresh veggies sticks, bread, crackers, chili, whatever; it's that good! Last week I had to make 2 batches.

Here's what you'll need

1 large, or 2 small tomatillos
1/4 cup frozen green peas
1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper
1/4 bunch of cilantro (giant hand full stems and all)
1/2 cup sour cream
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper to taste

Peal any of the green papery stuff off of the tomatillo and core it, then drop it in boiling water for about 7 minutes.

While the tomatillo is boiling put everything else in a blender.

When the tomatillo is done run it under cool water for a few minutes and then cut it up into chunks and throw it in the blender too.

Pulverize all ingredients into a nice green sauce.

Eat on everything!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Tomato Basil Soup

This soup is quick and easy! It's really good and so much better tasting, and better for you than anything out of a can so next time you're craving a grilled cheese with tomato soup, try this recipe! Hope you'll love it. I do. :>

1 can no salt added diced tomatoes
1 red pepper diced
1 tbs basil
1/4 tbs chili powder
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs spoon butter
1/2 cup half and half
salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in a pot and simmer at a medium boil for about 10 minutes.
Puree in the blender.
Garnish with sour cream and cilantro.
Serve with grilled cheese!

"Got No Pancake Mix Pancakes" or they could be called "Healthy Whole Wheat French Toast Cakes"

I really wanted pancakes for breakfast this morning but I was way too cozy, and way too  unpresentable to go out in public. Wearing my Saturday Morning Sweat Suit with my hair on top my head like pile of rejected yellow cotton candy, I decided I should probably stay in and make the pancakes myself. There was only one problem... no pancake mix! Oh, and no flour either. WOMP! Well, I did see some eggs hiding in the back of the frig and a loaf of whole wheat bread, so maybe I could make some french toast. And there was about an 8th of a bottle of syrup left from last winter (syrup is like honey right, never goes bad), so the comfort breakfast I was craving was looking possible after all. But I don't really like French Toast very much. I can usually taste the egginess on the bread. I hate eggs. I will eat them cooked in recipes but that's it. Eggs are sorta my kryptonite. My best friend Kate knows this. Once when we were way too old to be playing that blind taste test game, you know the one, someone gets to sit blind folded and wait while one of their so called good friends runs off to the kitchen (hopefully) to concoct something heinous. They bring the mystery slop back in a giant spoon and laugh their asses off while they airplane it into your mouth! Kate was nice enough to mix my least favorite food in the world, a raw egg, with dog food and then had the nerve to say "open wide"! I retched, and any tolerance I'd built up for the taste of eggs was completely lost! That's how even French Toast became too much! So, French Toast was out... what now, I want some dang pancakes!!!
Improvising, sometimes it works... sometimes it's a disaster, luckily this morning improvising was a success. I made pancakes out of the ingredients for French Toast and it worked! The eggs were disguised well within the cakes, no metallic, sulfuric, weirdness, just satisfaction!  Healthier than regular pancakes too! Hope you'll try these.

for the batter:
5 pieces of 100%  whole wheat bread (use up your end pieces) cut into cubes about 2 inch square
3 medium eggs
1/4 cup milk to start. add more slowly to the batter to get your desired pancake batter consistency
1/4 cup kefir if you have it, or buttermilk, sour cream, or plain yogurt will work. if you don't have any of those just use less milk

for topping:
flax seeds
butter
syrup

Put all of your batter ingredients into a blender and pulverize, adding more milk if needed to get the right thickness for your batter. I like my batter to be a little bit runny but not too much, kind of like melted ice cream.

Pour out your cakes in a wide pan set to med/low heat, sprinkle on your flax seeds, and flip 'em when the middle starts to bubble up nicely

Plate them, butter them, drizzle them with syrup! Now you have pancakes, healthy pancakes, and you didn't have to run to the store for mix; or go out in public and run into someone you know looking like a walking hang-over! Hooray!

--
Mary Killmon