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Sunday, February 17, 2008

How I Eat My Veggies

I've said it before, I'll probably say it again: I'm not a lover of veggies. I wish I was. I really do try. I gave my parents a hard time all while I was growing up as they tried to get me to eat my vegetables. I still haven't learned to love them.

Me not liking vegetables doesn't mean I don't eat them. Oddly enough, I have what I call "vegetarian leanings". I'm not much of a meat lover either, and I try very hard to not think about where meat comes from in order to eat it. I also know that vegetables are good for you, they are essential if you want to be healthy. So, I work hard at finding ways to eat them. It's not all bad - there are a few vegetables that I genuinely like. I enjoy raw veggies, I enjoy salads. In the winter though, it's nice to have warm food!

I have this little mini-chopper that is one of my favourite kitchen gadgets. I can quickly chop veggies into a fine dice and throw them in many different dishes. I am a big fan of "one-pot" type meals, or anything that I can put veggies in and disguise flavours. My poor hubby seldom gets a "meat and potatoes" meal because I don't like them. Fortunately, he likes most of the same things I do, so it works out pretty well. Pasta sauces, soups, chili, casseroles, stir-fries - these are are my go-to meals because I can add lots of veggies to them.

I love tomatoes and tomato sauce. I love bell peppers. Those tend to form the basis for a lot of my meals. I make soups and freeze them for my lunches at work so I know that I'll be getting vegetables at lunch time too.

I was feeling like I wanted something new - you can only repeat the same soups so many times - and inspiration hit.

One of the restaurants uptown has a Tortellini soup that I like. I decided to try and make my own. I could have gone looking for a recipe, but I know what I like, so I decided to wing it. I went a little overboard on the tortellini, it came out really thick, more like a stew. I just had a bowl and it was very tasty, so I decided I'd better write down the recipe. I think I'll be making this again.

Tortellini Stew

Finely dice:
2 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 carrot
1 small zucchini
1 red bell pepper

Heat a large pot over medium-low heat. Add a little olive oil to the pot and saute the vegetables. Add salt, pepper and crushed red chilies to taste.

When vegetables are softened, add:
1 large can of diced tomatoes
6 cups of vegetable broth
1 small can of tomato paste

Add dried oregano and basil to taste. Bring to a boil.

Add;
1 package of frozen, chopped spinach (thawed)
2 250 g packages of President's Choice Pesto Tortellini

Simmer until tortellini are cooked.

So I had a bowl, Moon had a bowl, and I put 7 lunch-size containers in the freezer. Not bad for one pot of soup.


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Daily Record
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BF: Red River Cereal, coffee/w cream
Snack: 2 squares dark chocolate
Supper: Chicken Fajitas

Workout: Burn & Firm Pilates DVD with light weights (45 mins) + 15 mins with heavier weights

3 comments:

Crabby McSlacker said...

Good for you for eating 'em anyway!

I agree, a bunch of veggies chopped up in a bigger pot of something tasty is a great way to sneak a few extra in without feeling like: uhg must eat big pile 'o veggies.

I like to hide them in soups and pastas particularly. (Stir fry is great too, but unfortunately, the Lobster is not a fan).

the Bag Lady said...

Your Tortellini Stew sounds delicious! The Bag Lady may have to try it - if she can convince the Cowboy (hard-core meat and potato man) to eat it! May have to add ground meat to the sauce...

JavaChick said...

Crabby - gotta do whatcha gotta do, right? It's so much easier to eat veggies when you can make them taste good. Ok, some people think veggies taste good anyway...

Bag Lady - Moon ate a bowl of my soup/stew for lunch, and he said it was good. If I was feeding it to him for supper, there would have to be meat involved somehow. Husbands can be strange critters sometimes.