Roasted Vegetable Soup

Ok so I know it was like 85 degrees outside today and I decided to make soup. Normally I won’t eat soup when it’s hot outside because I burn up after I eat cup. But I saw this recipe and absolutely HAD to make it! I am so glad I did, this was so easy and tasted wonderful. It was also a great way to eat veggies for dinner!

Roasted Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 cans whole tomatoes, drained
• 2 medium zucchini, diced
• 2 cups corn kernels
• 2 T EVOO
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth (veggie if you want this to be a vegetarian dish)
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1 pinch allspice
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread the vegetables out on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and salt.

Roast the vegetables in the oven for 45-60 minutes. Until the tomatoes start to lose their shape, and the corn/zucchini start to caramelize. Remove the veggies from the oven and place in blender, blend until smooth. Once blended thoroughly, pour in to a soup pot.

Stir in the chicken broth and spices, bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir in the cream.

Serve hot, and enjoy!

Chicken and Zucchini Kebabs

It has been a BEAUTIFUL day here in Central Illinois. We actually got to go outside and enjoy the pool for pretty much the entire day. I didn’t really want to go inside to cook dinner so tonight it’s kebabs!

I found this recipe from Skinny Taste, I absolutely LOVE this blog and have made tons of her stuff, before I previous made this blog (I’ll have to make more and re-post.) Here is one of her newer posts, I didn’t have one of the ingredients but it turned out great anyway! I also made some substitutions, I will post below.

Chicken and Zucchini Kebabs

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons of mirin sake (I didn’t have this)
• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce (I used aminos)
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons honey (I used agave)
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 lb boneless chicken thighs (I used chicken breast, that’s all I had)
• 1 onion, cut into large pieces
• 1 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/2″ thick rings
• bamboo skewers, soaked

Directions

Bring the mirin, soy sauce, honey, and garlic to a boil in a medium-size sauce pan, cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Cut chicken in to 1 inch bite size pieces and place in Ziploc bag. Pour half the marinade in to the bag, and the other half into a bag with the cut veggies in it. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, soak the skewers so they don’t burn.

After soaking, thread the meat, onions, and zucchini on to the skewers, alternating. Place skewers over a medium high heat, cooking for about 5-6 minutes on each side. Just before they’re done, you can put a little more of the remaining marinade on them, if you have some.

YUMMY

Zucchini Banana Brownies

Well… there’s about 5 inches of snow outside and Kevin and I want ice cream SO. BAD. So, to curb the chocolate craving… but make it a little healthy too we decided to try out this zucchini brownie recipe I’ve had for a while. They actually turned out pretty good! And it’s another great way to sneak in some veggies during snack time!

Zucchini Banana Brownies

Makes 24 brownies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 small or medium bananas, mashed
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups finely shredded zucchini
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces

Directions:

Preheat oven 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, mix together the bananas, applesauce, and sugar. Add in the vanilla and cocoa powder, mix
together. Next, add baking powder, salt, and zucchini. Add the flour. You could mix the walnuts in with the batter, but Kevin doesn’t like nuts IN his brownies… so we’re going to add them on top.

Grease and flour a 9×13 in baking pan. Pour batter in to the pan and spread evenly. Bake for 25 minutes or until the brownies spring back when gently touched. You could also add a little powdered sugar to the top as a little decoration!

I found this recipe on Pinterest, here’s the link!

Zucchini Chips

FINALLY! I can’t tell you how long it has taken me to get these right. Every time I would make these they’d cook for a really long time and still turn out mushy. No more! The secret…. parchment paper. With this particular way of making zucchini chips make sure you cut the zucchini really thin. I used a metal cheese slicer, it made them the absolute perfect thickness.

To make the zucchini chips, cut off the end of the zucchini and use the cheese slicer to make thin circles of zucchini. Preheat the oven to 210 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the zucchini on parchment paper on a cookie sheet, spray with olive oil and any seasoning you want. Don’t over season the chips because they shrink when cooked.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and cook for 2 hours. It’s a long wait but SO worth it! I’m hooked on chips made from veggies, I wonder what my next experiment will be….

Zucchini Noodles

Before I  start, I have to thank my (very-soon-in-the-future to be) mother-in-law for introducing me to this kitchen contraption and everything that goes along with it. My life is changed.

This is a spiralizer.

It’s amazing. It allows you to cut many different types of foods into cool things! For this particular recipe (and really the only thing I’ve used it for thus far) it allows me to cut up a zucchini in to pasta like noodles!

It amazing. All you have to do is cut off the ends of the zucchini, stick it to the spikes, and then turn the handles and push it along. The “noodles” come out the other end!

What even cooler is that you don’t even have to cook the zucchini (I know, it put me off at first). Just add a little salt to soften the zucchini, then add whatever fixin’s you’d like!

Here’s another thing that I was introduced to… Starkist Tuna Creations.

The garlic one if my favorite. I like to make my noodles, add some carrot and then the tuna. It’s a wonderful, light meal, very filling and SO nutritious!

Try it out. I bet you’ll like it!

There are many other things you can do with the zucchini noodles. My next adventure will be spaghetti with these instead of the “real” noodles. Tune back in and I’ll let you know how it goes!