Recipe For Winter Vegetable Soup

When it's cold outside, there's nothing better than a hot cup of vegetable soup. Fix this winter vetetable soup for your family this week. It makes a filling lunch, or serve it for dinner with a piece of crusty bread or our favorite - grilled cheese sandwiches.

Winter Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

1 medium cabbage cut into quarters
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 carrots, peeled and finely sliced
2 celery stalks, finely sliced
2 parsnips, peeled and diced
7 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 zucchinis, diced
2 cups of cauliflower florets
2 fresh tomatoes, seeded and diced
Salt and black pepper
Fresh chopped parsley to garnish

Instructions:

Slice the cabbage quarters into thin strips. Heat the oil in a large soup pan and add the cabbage, carrots, celery and parsnips cook over low heat for approximately 10 minutes, stir often so vegetables don’t stick to pan. (you may need to add a tablespoon of stock).

Stir in the stock and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes, zucchinis, cauliflower and tomatoes with a little chopped fresh parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Bring back to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for approximately 15 to 20 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

Serve into warm soup bowls and garnish with a little chopped fresh parsley.

Susanne Myers
Healthy Menu Mailer - We Make Menu Planning Simple

Bicycling - A Great Way To Stay Fit

Bicycling has always been a popular sport, but today, bicycling is extremely fun, easy and a great way to spend time with your friends or family. Here are some great tips on getting the most out of one of America’s favorite outdoor activity- bicycling.

Today, you can enjoy bicycling easier than ever. While there are high end bicycles that are very expensive, for the most part bicycles are very affordable and come with great features that make bicycling easier than ever to enjoy.

Many people that don’t own a bike can easily rent one for only a few dollars a day, this is a great way to ride a high performance bicycle on vacation, at a great location or just around the neighborhood, especially if you don’t ride that often, renting a bicycle is fast and easy and doesn’t cost hundreds of dollars.

For more seasoned riders, it pays to buy a decent bike, especially if you ride often or prefer the same bicycle each time you ride. There are plenty of places to ride, including around the neighborhood at tourist destinations and on mountain trails. In fact mountain biking has become on of the more popular ways to enjoy bicycling.

Mountain biking is also great for the entire family to spend a weekend or just the day together. Many people pick popular bike paths or trails to ride with their entire family. You might either rent bikes at the location or bring your own. Many people travel from one destination to another enjoying time spent with their family or friends while they take in the wonderful sights. If you are looking for a great outdoor activity, check out bicycling.

Susanne Myers
Have You Tried The Healthy Menu Mailer Yet? - We make Meal Planning Simple.

Avoiding Holiday Weight Gain

Do you usually gain a few pounds in December? I used to… It’s so easy with all the holiday goodies and special dishes we fix sitting around. There always seems to be a fresh batch of cookies sitting around, just waiting to be tasted. All those extra little snacks add up, especially when we also eat a full meal right after.

I’ve been doing a few different things this year to avoid gaining those extra few pounds and thought I’d share a few tips with you. Even if you avoid gaining just two pounds by implementing a couple of these things, that’s two pounds less you have to lose in January.

Avoiding Extra Calories In Holiday Foods

If you are looking for some great low calorie holiday recipes, and of course if you are planning any type of Christmas dinner or lunch, grab your copy of the Healthy Christmas Planning Guide here

http://www.healthymenumailer.com/xmas

Take care,

Susanne Myers

Lemon Thyme Chicken Recipe

Here is a great chicken recipe that is low in fat but full of flavor.
Thyme is such a great spice for poultry and combined with the lemon makes the chicken tender and flavorful.

Small potatoes are added for a complete meal. Dinner made simple, easy and fast - what more could you ask for?

Lemon Thyme Chicken with Small Potatoes

4 chicken breasts, skinless and boneless
3 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme
3 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 ¼ cup brown rice (dried)
2 cups water
3 cups chicken stock
8 oz baby spinach leaves.

Place chicken. Mix 1 tablespoon thyme, 2 teaspoons lemon rind, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a bowl and rub over chicken. Cover and refrigerate approximately 20 minutes to let flavors sink in.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large deep non stick pan or wok add the onion and cook for about 2 minutes until soft, stirring often. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so. Add rice and stir everything together until rice is coated, approximately 2 minutes. Add the water and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer over low heat for approximately 30 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. If necessary add a little more stock and cook longer until tender.

While the rice is cooking, transfer the chicken breasts and marinade to a non stick baking tray and grill for approximately 15 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

Once rice is finished, stir in the baby spinach, remaining lemon rind and thyme and transfer to serving plate. Top with grilled chicken and serve.

Tempted By Leftover Halloween Candy?

We hope you and your family had a nice Halloween. We both had a lot of fun trick-or-treating with the kids. As a result there's a huge bowl of candy sitting in each of our kitchens. It's almost impossible to muster enough self-control to not sneak the occasional piece of candy with the temptation sitting right in front of us. Something had to be done...

We've been emailing back and forth with ideas on how to "get rid" of all that candy and thought we'd share some of our favorites with you.

1) Save it for decorating a gingerbread house for Christmas, or make Christmas ornaments out of the candy. Make a batch of salt dough and cut out cookie shapes. Bake the dough according to your directions, then glue candy on it to decorate. Coat your ornament with an acrylic sealer to make it last for years.

2) Take leftover candy to the office and share it with colleagues. Even if those with kids have had their fill of candy, co-workers without kids will enjoy the childhood treats.

3) Fill a bag or empty coffee can with the leftover candy and take it to a local charity, nursing home or homeless shelter.

4) Wrap a few pieces of candy for each day from now until Christmas, number them and let your child open one each day - Think of it as an extended advent calendar.

5) Check with your child's teacher to see if she would like a bag of candy to use as rewards in the classroom.

6) When the snack cravings hit, keep some healthy alternatives around like yogurt, caramel rice cakes, chocolate covered strawberries, frozen grapes, or some dry fruit.

7) When everything else fails, throw the extra candy out so you won't be tempted to eat it all.

Take care,

Susanne Myers & Christine Steendahl

Healthy Halloween Treats

Candy and chocolate don’t have to be the only treats you hand out to little kids in costumesthis Halloween. There are also plenty of nutritious options available that will be just as fun without causing a sugar rush and cavities. Here are some ideas for healthy treats you can hand out this year.

Dried Fruit
Dried fruit makes a great portable snack as well as a good Halloween treat. Grab a few bags of dried fruit, like apples, raisins, cherries, cranberries, dates, apricots and banana chips. Repack them in little bags. You can also get raisins and other dried fruit in small individual boxes that are ready to go.

Roasted Nuts & Seeds
Fall is nut season, so why not grab a variety of roasted nuts and seeds (including pumpkin seeds of course) and hand them out for Halloween. Just make sure the parents are aware of what you are handing out in case one of the kids is allergic to nuts.

Trail Mix
Combine the dried fruit and nuts. Add some dry cereal and a few M&Ms and you have trail mix. Use orange and brown M&Ms to give your trail mix that “Halloween Look”.

Juice Boxes
Juice boxes make another great Halloween treat. They are already individually packed and ready to go into pumpkin pails or goody bags. Look for all natural juices without additional sugar.

Stickers
What child doesn’t love stickers? Go to your local craft store, department store, or even the dollar store and pick up some little packs of Halloween stickers. The kids will enjoy playing with these stickers.

Dollar Store Toys
Since we were already talking about the dollar store, why not pick up some small toys there as well. Pick a few for boys and a few for girls and let the kids pick one when they come to your door. If you get a pack with a few little toy cars in them, it isn’t any more expensive than a candy bar, but they will enjoy playing with it for weeks and months to come.

Grab a few of these healthy choices for Halloween this year. Simply wrap it all up nicely in some little baggies, or some of the specialty zippered bags you can get with cute Halloween prints on them and they will be ready to hand out. Parents will appreciate these healthier alternatives as much as the kids will enjoy the treats.

Healthy Cooking For Vegetable Haters

Do you have a vegetable hater in your family? You know, the guy (or girl) that just won't eat vegetables unless they are covered in cheese or sauce until you can no longer identify them as veggies? Well, there is still hope to get them to eat healthy and get them in the habit of eating vegetables and even (gasp!!) like them.

Read more about Healthy Cooking For Vegetable Haters.

Susanne Myers
Healthy Eating Made Simple