Split Pea Soup

I make this recipe all the time. Split pea soup has a bad reputation for some reason, but honestly this soup is one of Stephen and I's favorite meals. Stephen begs me to make it for him when I haven't for a while, I kid you not. It"s SO good for you, SO cheap, SO easy to throw together and SOO good. I've looked at lots of different recipes for it and kind of combined them to come up with this recipe. But I change it up all the time, putting different amounts of everything, and it always turns out great.

I'm counting calories right now so I measured everything out this last time I cooked it, totaled up the calories, and divided by the amount of cups it makes. If you follow this recipe exactly, it's 192 calories per cup -- really filling for not that many calories!

This makes A LOT of soup - almost 15 cups of soup - so beware. We like to make it and eat it for lunch for a few days. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

12 cups water (use more or less depending on whether or like thick or thin pea soup)
8 chicken bouillon cubes
3 cups dry split peas
3 cups chopped ham
ham bone (I don't always have one to throw in. Works fine without it)
2 cups chopped carrots
1 1/4 cup chopped celery
1 1/2 cups onion
Dried thyme to taste
3 bay leaves
Crushed black peppercorns (not necessary if you don't have these on hand but they are SO good!)

Just throw everything into a big pot, bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer until the peas are a consistency you like. I like it when the peas are totally mushy - takes about an hour I think.

Serve with homemade wheat bread. Yummmm!

Whole Wheat Carrot Cake Muffins

I found this recipe on allrecipes and modified it to make it less fattening and healthier. They turned out so delicious. They were even better the next day. Laura and I ate a dozen in 2 days! (I guess they are not that healthy when you eat so many of them.)

Ingredients
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup applesauce
3/4 cup honey
4 eggs
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup unsweetened crushed canned pineapple, drained
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Directions
1 Combine dry ingredients.
2 Add oil, honey, and eggs; mix well.
3 Stir in remaining 3 ingredients.
4 Bake at 350 degrees until done.

Black Bean Salad

I made enchiladas yesterday and was looking for a healthy recipe for a side salsa/salad that would go well with it. I found this recipe online. It turned out so well. We LOVED it. So colorful and super healthy. The fresh basil was amazing in it, which surprised me - I would never have thought of putting basil in something like this. Only change we made was we used cherry tomatoes instead of plum because they're sweeter.

Black Bean Salad Recipe

INGREDIENTS

· 1 (15 ounce) can of black beans, thoroughly rinsed, and drained (or 1 1/2 cup of freshly cooked black beans)
· 1 1/2 cups frozen corn, defrosted (or fresh corn, parboiled, drained and cooled)
· 1/2 cup chopped green onions or shallots
· 2 fresh jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced, or 1 whole pickled jalapeño pepper, minced (not seeded)
· 3 fresh plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
· 1 avocado, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
· 1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
· 1/4 cup fresh chopped basil
· 2 Tbsp lime juice (about the amount of juice from one lime)
· 1 Tbsp olive oil
· 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of sugar (to taste)
· Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

Make sure to rinse and drain the beans, if you are using canned beans.

In a large bowl, combine the beans, corn, onions, jalapeno chile peppers, tomatoes, avocado, cilantro, basil, lime juice and olive oil. Add sugar and salt and pepper to taste. (The sugar will help balance the acidity from the tomatoes and lime juice.) Chill before serving.

Serves 6 to 8.

YUMMY Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

My gosh these cookies are SOOO good. I've tried a lot of "healthy" cookie recipes and this is the best for sure. Make sure you don't overcook and they will be really soft! I take them out when they look kinda gooey still. My changes: 1) I used 1/2 cup applesauce and 1/4 cup butter instead of 3/4 margarine. 2) Only used 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Did not miss the extra sugar AT ALL and it cuts the sugar in HALF. Pretty awesome. 3) Substituted the cup of white flour for quick oats -- put in more than a cup though -- just added till I liked the consistency -- probably almost 1/2 cup more. 4) At least doubled the walnuts.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup margarine
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups sifted whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Generously grease cookie sheets.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the margarine, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and eggs. Combine the whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, baking soda and salt, gradually blend into the creamed mixture. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts if desired. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. For bar cookies, press dough into a 10x15 inch jelly roll pan and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Alainna's Muffins

Lainna gave me this recipe and I love it. I like to add 1-2 peeled and diced apples to the batter.

1 1/2 cup quaker oats
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup applesauce
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 Tbs. oil
1 egg

In a bowl, combine and mix first 5 ingredients. In another bowl, combine and mix the rest of the ingredients. Combine the two mixtures and mix just until moistened. Don't overmix. (This is where I add some diced apples). Add topping and bake in 400 degree oven for 20-22 minutes , or until golden brown.

Topping
1/4 cup oats
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1 Tbs. butter, light
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Combine ingredients and sprinkle on top of muffins

Black Bean Soup

My sister-in-law gave me this recipe and it was so yummy. I realized after I made it and we ate it that I didn't add the vegetable broth. I thought it was a little thick, so I just added some water to thin it and it was still really good. This is a fast, easy, and healthy recipe.

2 15 oz cans black beans drained and rinsed
11\2 C vegetable broth (1 can swanson)
1 C pace picante
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
Sour cream
green onions.
Combine beans, broth, salsa,chili powder and cumin and blend in food
processor. Heat over medium heat. Add dollup of sour cream and green
onions on top.

Healthier (& more delicious) Mashed Potatoes

My children love mashed potatoes so lately I have been testing them to see what they will stand for in them. Here are the results:

Spinach -Yes! Just saute in a little olive oil and add to potatoes after boiling and before mashing.

Turnips- Yes! These were undetected yet added a very good flavor. Dice one turnip (because they are tougher) and boil with quartered potatoes.

I also have added carrots. This did not go over well at all and I haven't done it since.

I also like to add 3 garlic cloves to the water before boiling. They will disappear but you will notice the difference.

Always add sour cream or cream cheese once the potatoes are mashed.

Season with McCormic Montreal Steak Seasoning. It makes them so much better.