Creamy Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup

* Measurements are approximate. You can always tweak it to suit your own taste.

6 large red peppers – cut in half, seeded (thick flesh is best)
Olive oil rubbed over peppers
Salt and pepper
5-6 garlic cloves
Parchment paper on a cookie sheet makes cleanup easier

½ large onion, diced
1-2 Tbsp butter
1 litre (4 cups) chicken stock
1 large can diced tomatoes (798 ml – 26 oz?)

1 tsp thyme
1 tsp Herbs de Provence or any herbs you want
Several good shakes of cayenne

3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
2 – 2 1/2 cups milk

Set oven to 400 degrees. Put peppers skin side up on cookie sheet. S&P.

Sprinkle garlic with a little oil and wrap in piece of tin foil. Put in oven with peppers.

Cook 45-60 minutes, or until skins are black and peppers are soft. Let cool and then peel off the outer skin. Squeeze the cooked garlic from its skin as well.

Saute onions in butter until soft. Add some of the chicken stock and cook a few minutes to soften further.

Add red peppers, tomatoes, and rest of chicken stock to the sauteed onions. Add thyme, S&P, cayenne, any other herbs/spices to taste and cook for a little while.

Puree with hand blender right in the pot. (At this point, it tastes pretty good and could be eaten as it is if you didn't want to add the calories/fat of the white sauce.)

Make white sauce – melt butter, add flour, whisk in milk and stir until thickened. Stir into pepper/tomato mixture. Heat thru. Check seasonings. Makes about 7 cups or so?

I put it in 1 cup containers and freeze it for work. Yum.

Runner Bob's Pumpkin Pancakes

Pumpkin Pancakes

2 cups all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups milk

1 ½ cups pumpkin puree

1 egg

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons vinegar

In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle 350 degrees or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Lybbe's Quinoa Mango Salad

Quinoa/Mango Salad

I poached this straight from Lybbe's podcast blog (with her ok :)

Boil one cup of rinsed quinoa until done (will look like small beads with white ring around outside) - drain, and refrigerate for about an hour. You should have about 2 cups of cooked quinoa.

Peel and chop a large mango - add to quinoa
Chop, slice or dice a very large red pepper - add to quinoa
Thin slice a whole vidalia onion - add to quinoa
Cut the ends off a handful of snow peas, and steam until just bright green - do not over-steam - you guess it - add to quinoa.

Toss everything together and sprinkle with a little sea salt. If the mango is not overly ripe and isn't really juicy, you can add a bit of lemon or lime juice.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Banana Cake (non-fat, no egg, low sugar)

I made this combining several different recipe ideas. The base recipe was from Nancy Clark's book "Sports Nutrition Guidebook". I highly recommend this book if you want good, sensible, nutrition information for athletes.

Ingredients

3 large bananas, mashed (at least 1 cup)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup dry cocoa
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup skim milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 - 1/2 cups flour (white or whole wheat)

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix mashed banana, applesauce, cocoa, and milk.

2. Mix dry ingredients and stir in banana mixture.

3. Spread in 9" X 9" pan.

4, Bake for about 30 minutes, at 350 degrees. Watch it, my oven is a bit iffy so I checked it several times and I took it out when it was slightly underdone.

5. Let cool, cut into 16 squares. Eat or freeze.

Rough nutrient guide, based on info from Sparkpeople

1/16 of cake

Calories: 83
Carbs: 19 gr.
Fat: .5 gr (1/2 gr)
Protein: 2 gr

Tip - frost with chocolate avocado frosting - see recipe in side bar.

Avocado Shrimp Salad

I made this the other day - it was SOOO good.

Cover a plate with a bed of washed greens. Any type will do. I'm lazy and buy mixed spring greens by the bag.

Roughly chop 5-6 stalks of leftover cooked asparagus.

Thaw 1 cup or so of frozen shrimp and 1 cup of frozen mango.

Chop up half an avocado, half a red pepper, a couple of green onions (if you want), and a tomato.

Dump the shrimp and veggies on top of the lettuce and mix up a bit. If desired, drizzle with a little low fat dressing and salt and pepper. I often just squeeze on lemon juice and s/p.

I'm sure you can mix and match with other veggie combinations. Some walnuts or almonds might be nice?

Looks wonderful- tastes great

Roasted Root Vegetables

I got this recipe from Volume 2, Issue 2 of Canadian Running Magazine (which I really enjoy reading by the way). In the magazine it is credited to Anna Olsen so I linked the title to her recipe.

Updated Friday, March 13

I made this again last night with a few changes and it was still great. Here's my version first, then the original recipe follows.

Roasted Root Vegetables

Yield: 3-4
Ingredients:

• 2 cups peeled and cubed carrot
• 1 cup peeled and cubed parsnip
• 1 cup cubed celery root
• 1-2 cups buttercup squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
  
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Toss carrot, parsnip, celery root with olive oil and thyme and season lightly. ** I almost forgot - this time I sprinkled some Montreal Chicken spice over as well. ** Place in an large shallow baking dish and roast for 20 minutes. Add in buttercup squash and stir to coat. Return to over and increase temp to 375. Cook until vegetables are equally tender. Remove thyme sprigs if necessary.

Drizzle several tablespoons of low fat italian dressing over the warm veggies and serve. I use Renee's Wellness Tuscan Italian Dressing - only 20 calories per 2T. I've also tried Newman's Own Balsamic Dressing - 35 calories per 2T.

Note: I would have used the shallots as called for below, but I rarely have any in the house.

Also would like to throw some mushrooms and/or asparagus in there near the end some time.

****************

Original Recipe - Roasted Root Vegetables

Yield: 6
Ingredients:

• 1 cup peeled and diced carrot
• 1 cup peeled and diced parsnip
• 1 cup diced celery root
• 1 x Delicata squash, seeded and diced (you can leave the skin on)
• 2 x shallots, sliced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Toss carrot, parsnip, celery root and squash with shallots, olive oil and thyme and season lightly. Place in an 8-cup baking dish and roast for 30 to 40 minute, until vegetables are equally tender. Remove thyme sprigs.

Warm Vinaigrette

• 1+ 6 tbsp olive oil
• 1 x shallot, minced
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp roasted pumpkin seeds

Directions:

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil and sauté shallot for one minute over medium heat. Whisk in mustard, vinegar and rosemary and reduce heat to low.
2. Whisk in remaining 6 tbsp oil in a slow drizzle and season to taste.
3. When ready to serve, toss warm roasted vegetables with warm vinaigrette, garnish with pumpkin seeds and serve.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup (another one)

I found a few recipes on the net and came up with this combination. I was a bit laissez-faire on the amounts of ingredients so tweak it as you will. My recipe makes about 8 cups of soup.

4 large red peppers, halved and seeded
1/2-1 onion, cut in chunks (I don't put this in but you can)
1/2 head garlic (or more)
1 medium sweet potato, cooked into microwave, cut in large chunks, peeled
2 tomatoes
Olive oil
S&P
Italian seasoning (ie basil, thyme, oregano)
6 cups of chicken stock
Plain yogurt (or cream)

Lay red peppers, skin side up on baking sheet and brush with oil. Toss other veggies in a little oil and lay around the peppers. Brush the garlic with oil and wrap in foil. place in oven with other veggies.

Place in middle of oven under broiler set at about 400-450. Check frequently. 15-20 minutes.
When I got to this point, the peppers seem like they need longer cooking so I switch the oven to 400 bake instead of broil and cook for another 10 minutes or so, until the peppers were soft and the skins were starting to blacken.

Remove from tray, and cool. Slip peels off tomatoes and garlic. Sweat peppers in a bag 10 minutes and then peel.

Put veggies in large pot and add 6 cups of chicken broth and seasonings. Bring to a gentle boil. Puree with hand blender. Cook for 15-20 minutes. Add thyme, basil, salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with a little cream or a dollop of plain yogurt. A dash of Franks Red Hot Chili Lime is tasty too.

I store in 1 cup containers all week in the fridge and add yogurt after I heat it up.