Vegetable Soup (Cabbage Soup Diet)

Good Morning Everyone!! Sorry that it has been awhile since I last did a post.

A neighbor of ours was telling me about this really good soup, but that it was part of a diet/cleanse. She has completed it twice now and has maintained her weight in the past 6 months. After seeing the recipe, I decided...why not try it! I had a picture, but I accidently deleted it. Sorry, no picture for this post. This soup is definitely going to be a keeper for me just to make when soup sounds good! Below is the receipe, but then I also posted what the 7 Day Diet/Cleanse consisted of.

Ingredients:

6 large green onions

2 green peppers

 2 cans of tomatoes (diced or whole) or 2 cans of Rotel

3 carrots

1 container (10 oz. or so) mushrooms

1 bunch of celery

half a head of cabbage

1 package spice only soup mix (It said it was okay if I used a different spice mix so I bought a beef stew season mix-made it taste so good!)

2 cubes of bouillon

1 48oz can Low Sodium V8 juice 

Season to taste with pepper, parsley, curry, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, etc. (Little to NO SALT!)

Directions:

1. Slice green onions, put in a pot on medium heat and start to sauté with cooking spray. Do this until the onions are whiter/clearer in color (about 4-6 minutes).
2. Cut green pepper stem end off, then cut pepper in half to take out the seeds and membrane. Cut the green pepper into bite size pieces and add to pot.
3. Take the outer leafs layers off the cabbage, cut into bite size pieces, add to pot.
4. Clean carrots, mushrooms, and celery, cut into bite size pieces and toss them in. Add tomatoes now, too.
5. If you would like a spicy soup, add a small amount of curry or cayenne pepper now.
6. For seasonings, you can use a spice packet of your choice and use beef  bouillon cubes (make sure not to add much salt, if any at all).
7. Use about 8 cups of water and the 48 oz of Low Sodium V8 juice, cover and put heat on low. Let soup simmer for a long time – about 2 hours or until vegetables are tender. **(I didn't let mine simmer for 2 hours because I still like my veggies with a little bit of crunch to them!)

*Helpful Hints*

• Make sure to take a multi-vitamin every day
• Drink plenty of water
• The more soup you eat, the more you will lose

7 Day Diet/Cleanse

Day One:

Fruit: Eat all of the fruit you want (except bananas). Eat only your soup and the fruit for the first day. For drinks- unsweetened teas, cranberry juice and water.

Day Two:

Vegetables: Eat until you are stuffed will all fresh, raw or cooked vegetables of your choice. Try to eat leafy green vegetables and stay away from dry beans, peas and corn. Eat all the vegetables you want along with your soup. At dinner, reward yourself with a big baked potato with butter. Do not eat fruit today.

Day Three:

Mix Days One and Two: Eat all the soup, fruits and vegetables you want. No Baked Potato.

Day Four:

Bananas and Skim Milk: Eat as many as eight bananas and drink as many glasses of skim milk as you would like on this day, along with your soup. This day is supposed to lessen your desire for sweets.

Day Five:

Beef And Tomatoes: Ten to twenty ounces of beef and up to six fresh tomatoes. Drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water this day to wash the uric acid from your body. Eat your soup at least once this day. You may eat broiled or baked chicken instead of beef (but absolutely no skin-on chicken). If you prefer, you can substitute broiled fish for beef on one of the beef days (but not both).

Day Six:

Beef and Vegetables: Eat to your heart’s content of beef and vegetables this day. You can even have 2 or 3 steaks if you like, with leafy green vegetables. No Baked Potato. Eat your soup at least once.

Day Seven:

Brown rice, unsweetened fruit juices and vegetables: Again stuff, stuff, stuff yourself. Be sure to eat your soup at least once this day.

Baked Jalapeno Poppers

Couldn't wait to make these poppers....Thanks SkinnyTaste!!  First, I love Jalapeno Poppers & second, they are LOW-FAT since they are baked! Never thought of baking them before. When I was home for Father's Day weekend and Dad's Birthday with my family, we decided to try them out. Make sure you don't over cook them if you wan't them a little bit crunchy & it called for Panko crumbs and we used just regular bread crumbs...not sure if that makes any difference.

Ingredients:

12 Jalapeno Peppers; sliced in half lengthwise

4/5 oz. Light Cream Cheese

5 medium Scallions, green part only & sliced

2 oz. shredded low fat Sharp Cheddar

1/2 cup Egg Whites; beaten

1/2 cup Panko Crumbs

1/8 tsp Paprika

1/8 tsp Garlic Powder

1/8 tsp Chili Powder

Salt and Pepper

Spray oil

WHAT TO DO:

• Preheat oven to 350 F
• Cut peppers in half lengthwise and take out all the seeds and membrane
• Combine cream cheese, cheddar and scallions in a medium bowl
• In another bowl, combine panko, paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, & salt and pepper to taste
• Fill the peppers with cheese mixture

• In a small bowl, whisk your egg whites
• Dip peppers in the egg whites & then in the season mixture to coat

• Spray a baking pan with oil spray and then line the peppers up on your pan
• Lightly spray the tops of the peppers with the oil spray
• Bake in oven for about 20-25 minutes, until golden!

Remove & serve while HOT!

Strawberry Salad

I absolutely love this salad especially for the summer! My friend, Amie, made this one night & now I am constantly making it for ourselves and for other people. It is a light, fresh salad & you can add other ingredients to it to make it fit your style!



Half eaten salad :)

*Well the best part is....You mix however much you would like of each ingredient

Ingredients:
Romaine lettuce
Fresh Baby Spinach
Fresh Argula (Optional...I added this on my own)
Fresh Strawberries; quartered
Strawberry Vinaigrette/Dressing (I buy this at Super Target all the time, but of course I can't remember the brand & I gave to my neighbor so she would know what to buy)



What to do:

• Clean and rinse off all the the ingredients (except for the dressing of course)
• Cut up strawberries and set aside
• Mix all your greens in a bowl (as much as you desire)
• Add in your strawberries and toss the salad in the strawberry vinaigrette

Herb & Wine Chicken

This recipe is so simple and you can either make it right away or put all the ingredients in a freezer bag & save it for another day! Perfect chicken to go with our green beans & Strawberry salad.

Ingredients:

1 cup Red Wine

2/3 cup Vegetable Oil

2 Cloves Garlic; minced

1/2 Lemon; thinly sliced

2 Tbsp. Minced Parsley

1 tsp. Thyme

1 tsp. Basil

3 to 4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

Salt and Pepper to taste

What To Do:

• Preheat oven to 350 F
• In a baking dish, combine your ingredients except for the chicken
• Put chicken in liquid mixture and flip a couple of times to coat both sides of the chicken
• Bake for 25 min. or until chicken breasts are cooked all the way through

**If you want to freeze this so you can pull it out for another day, place all your ingredients in a freezer bag and lay flat in freezer. Take out the night before to put in fridge to thaw out. Bake for 25 min. at 350 F.

Squash Chips

I saw this recipe for Squash chips. The picture made me want to make them right away & plus, I am always looking for other ways to cook vegetables. Although I didn't care for these as much, I said I would post everything I tried. If you find this recipe to fit your style or you change anything, let me know how it turns out...I would love other suggestions!

Ingredients:

Spray Oil

2 Yellow Squash

Salt

Any other seasonings (I used a Southwest Chipotle seasoning)

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 200F
2. Slice the squash as thin as you can
3. Spray a cookie sheet a couple of times
4. Line the squash slices on the cookie sheet(s) (I overlapped some and then spread them out after an hour when they started to shrink)
5. Sprinkle with salt & then add any other seasonings you would like
6. Bake for about 2-3 hours (I kept them in for 3 hours because at 2 hours, they still weren't very crunchy)

Brooke's Chili

My Pop makes the best chili and we know at some point when we go to the lake or have a family get together, we are going to have Pop's Chili. This chili actually comes really close to the taste of his. I call it Brooke's Chili because it came from Tim's side of the family! Of course, in our family, chili is not complete without our peanut butter crackers :)

*Kyle and I like our Chili spicy and sometimes extra spicy...I will give the original recipe and then our additions underneath!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

2 cans Ranch Style Beans*

1 can Rotel

1 packet of McCormick Chili seasoning

2-3 MINI cans of V8 juice* (depending on how juicy you like it)

*For the Ranch style beans, I use the ones with Jalapenos mixed in

*Sometimes we use the Hot & Spicy V8 juice

What to do:

1. In a skillet, brown and drain your ground beef
2. Put the beef back into the skillet & add the remaining ingredients
3. Cook on low until warmed through (about 5 min)

ENJOY!! AND...don't forget your peanut butter crackers :)

Breakfast Casserole

This casserole had easy preparations that you do THE NIGHT BEFORE, but it took longer in the oven It ended up being perfect because I could just throw it in and get ready for work. I wasn't thinking when I added the eggs & milk (I really dislike eggs)...next time I won't add the eggs!

Ingredients:

4 cups Southern-Country style hash brown cubes (*Completely thawed)

1 package bacon

1 1/2 cup Pepper Jack Cheese

1 1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese

1 bunch Green Onions, chopped

3 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

black pepper to taste

Preparations:

• Begin cooking bacon
• While bacon is cooking, place the thawed potatoes in a 9 x 13 dish
• Mix the cheeses together and sprinkle it over the potatoes
• After bacon is done, drain on a paper towl & let cool
• Use the bacon drippings to cook the green onions in for about 2 minutes
• Spread the onion over the cheese mixture
• Crumble your bacon and then spread over the top
• In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper
• Pour evenly over the top of your casserole
• Refrigerate overnight

• Bake uncovered for 40-45 minutes at 350F
• Allow casserole to stand for 10 minutes before cutting into and serving