Creative Ways to Eat More Fruits and Veggies

Check out this article I wrote for the Fit4D blog about ways to get more fruit and veggies in your daily diet!! Click HERE to read.

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Recipe Redux Post # 54: Kicked Up Tomato Soup

My challenge for Recipe ReDux this January was to create a “budget friendly” entrée that costs less than $3.00/serving.  I thought this was a great idea and brought Gabby in on the task so she could learn about the cost of ingredients in addition to helping me in the kitchen.  When I think of cost friendly, I think of canned ingredients so we looked in our pantry to see what we had.  Being that’s its been cold and rainy lately we thought a soup recipe would be in order and got to work combining what staples we had on hand.  We decided to do a kicked up tomato soup that actually included adding refried beans, corn, chili powder and cumin for some flair.  It was super easy to make and…..costs only roughly $ 1.00 per serving!!  You can add left over chicken or more beans  (like whole pinto or black) if you want to increase the protein and can garnish it with low fat cheese or sour cream as well. We hope you will try it along with the other budget friendly recipes from the Recipe ReDux group.

Ingredients:

32 ounces of vegetable broth

One 16 ounce can of corn  

One 16 ounce can of refried beans

One 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a large pot and bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce to medium-low heat and simmer (stirring occasionally) until warmed though and beans are uniformly mixed in, about 10 minutes. 

Makes about 12 cups, six servings

Serving size: 2 cups Calories 140 Protein 6 g Carb 24 g Fiber 7 g Sugars 19 g Fat 4.5 g Saturated fat 0.5 g Sodium 800 mg

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New Segment: Trader Joes Treasures!! Chili Lime Seasoning

One of my absolute favorite places to food shop is Trader Joes, and I'm sure I'm not alone!! Who doesn't love the place, right?  It has all the great basics- meats, dairy, produce, breads and staples but also a lot of fun specialty food products as well.  Almost every time that I am there it seems that I discover something new (unless I on a super rushed trip to grab just a few things!!).  So I thought I'd start a new segment to share some of my favorite finds with all of you.

First up....Trader Joes Chili Lime Seasoning. I found this yummy flavoring in the spice isle a few months ago and couldn't resist picking one up-  now I am hooked!  It takes chili powder up a notch by combining it with lime, red bell pepper and sea salt.  It's great on chicken, fish, ground turkey and even helps liven up cooked veggies too.  If you are feeling adventurous try sprinkling some on fruit like oranges or apples to give them some major zest.  I have also mixed some in ranch dressing or dips to add spicy flair.

1/4 teaspoon has 0 calories, 0 carbs/protein/fat and just 180 mg of sodium, so the nutritional stats are very reasonable too.

I hope you will give it a try and you may just see it turn up in some of my future recipes!

Disclamer: I was not contacted or paid by Trader Joes to write this post, all of the opinions are my own.

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Happy New Year and 8th Birthday to My Blog!

2016 went by in a flash and I am JUST now getting to write my annual yearly recap and blog birthday celebratory post!

My blog is now 8 years running strong and I am still excited to develop yummy recipes to share with you as well as post about important nutrition topics and the latest diet-related research.  I have continued to enjoy posting on behalf of the Cranberry Institute, teaming up with brands as Skinny Pop and Chobani for fun segments and still love taking part in the monthly Recipe Redux challenges, which are always great motivators to develop new and fun recipes to share.

Gabby and I have worked hard to carve out time in the kitchen to continue to bring you Gabby's Eats posts and we were featured again in our local magazine this past Fall to showcase some of our seasonal recipes.  Another collaboration I was lucky to be a part of was contributing recipes to a cookbook released by one of my registered dietitian colleagues too.

This coming year I hope to continue to bring you more recipes, research,  Cranberry Institute and Recipe ReDux posts for sure. Gabby and I also plan to create and cook many more yummy recipes this year and I will see what great sponsors and organizations I can team up with for a variety of fun posts too. I also have plans for some new segments as well, so stay tuned and thank you so much as always for your readership and support.  Here's to a great 2017!!

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