Soup's On!

Oh my gosh, I made such a good dinner tonight! (and yes, its only 6:15 and I already ate. When I’m alone I like to eat early around 6:00 or so). Tonight for dinner I made Greek White Bean Soup and homemade scottish oatmeal scones that I had with a 4 ounce glass of red wine. It was perfect! Light, yet filling and I highly recommend trying this recipe that I found in my “12 Best Foods Cookbook”.

Here are the recipes:

Greek White Bean Soup

Serves 4 (I always make the entire recipe for soups and stews because they keep for awhile in the fridge or you can freeze them as well!)

1 cup dried large lima beans

1 large red onion, chopped

1 leek, white part only. chopped

2 cups organic vegetable broth

2 cups baby spinach

4 tbsp crumbled feta cheese

4 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1. Rinse the beans in a colander with cold water then put them in a large saucepot with about 3.5 cups water and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes then cover, take off the heat and let sit for one hour.

2. After the beans have soaked for an hour, drain them and put them back in the saucepot. Add the chopped onion, leek, broth and 2 cups cold water. Bring to a boil then cover and reduce for a simmer for one hour.

3. Season the soup with salt and pepper then puree half of it either in a blender (which is what I did) or using an immersian blender. Add the pureed soup back to the pot and mix everything together.

4. Bring the soup to a simmer then add the spinach, cooking until wilted..about 3 minutes.

5. Divide the soup among four bowls and add 1 tbsp feta cheese and 1 tsp olive oil to each bowl as garnish.

Delicious!!

278 calories, 8 grams fat/serving

Scottish Oatmeal Scones

Makes 8 scones

1 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup unbleached white flour

1 tbsp natural cane sugar (I used 1 tbsp like the recipe called for but thought it was a little too sweet)

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup cold, unsalted butter

1 egg

1/4 cup lowfat organic buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. In a bowl, combine the oats, flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Cut in the butter (cut butter into tiny pieces then mix it in with your hands until it looks like sand).

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and the egg. Pour over dry mixture and combine with hands. Form into a crumbly ball.

4. Use either parchment paper or a canola-oil spray on a baking sheet. Then dust an 8 inch circle with flour. Flatten the ball of dough out on the baking sheet on the flour circle to its about 1/2 inch thick. Score into 8 wedges. (see picture)

5. Bake for about 17 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm. These will keep wrapped in foil for about a day or you can freeze them so they last longer.

164 calories, 7 grams of fat/scone

Scones on the baking sheet out of the oven

My dinner + a glass of wine not pictured 🙂 I brushed the scone with about a half teaspoon of promise light. Yum!

Oh, and before I forget! Before I went to the gym this afternoon I had the best new snack. They are called “Kind Bars” and they only have fruit and nuts in them. It was so good and I wish I would have bought more than one at the store but I wasn’t sure I would like it. I’m def. going to be buying more of these!

Today at the gym I did pushups and various arm machines along with some ab work. I stayed for 30 minutes because I was only doing strength training today…not cardio. 30 minutes of strength training works perfectly for me-I would get bored if I stayed any longer! 😉