Pumpkin, Cheddar and Chipotle Soup

Ingredients

1 sugar pumpkin or small butternut squash or 1 can pumpkin purée
EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for roasting pumpkin or squash, plus 1 tablespoon
Salt and pepper
1 quart chicken or vegetable stock, divided
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
Freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon coriander, 1/3 palmful
1 teaspoon cumin, 1/3 palmful
1 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/3 palmful
Honey, for drizzling
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded yellow sharp cheddar cheese
2 small chipotle peppers, seeded and finely chopped, plus 1 rounded tablespoon of adobo sauce
Unsalted crispy yellow or blue corn tortilla chips
Toasted pumpkin seeds, garnish
Unsalted crispy yellow or blue corn tortilla chips
Preparation
If using fresh pumpkin or squash, preheat oven to 425°F. Peel, seed and chop pumpkin or squash, coat with EVOO, salt and pepper, and roast to tender, 45 minutes. If using canned pumpkin purée, skip this step.

Heat 1 tablespoon EVOO in a soup pot over medium-high heat. Sauté carrots and onions to tender, about 10 minutes. Season with nutmeg, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, paprika, a drizzle of honey, salt and pepper to taste. Toast spices, about 1 minute.

Add the carrots and onions along with the roasted pumpkin or squash to the bowl of a food processor and purée with a splash of stock. If using canned pumpkin, purée the onions and carrots together with some stock and stir in the canned pumpkin to combine.

Wipe out the soup pot and return to heat. Melt butter, whisk in flour then milk. Season with salt and pepper, and thicken to coat a spoon. Stir in cheese to melt, add chipotle and adobo sauce. Stir in remaining stock and squash or pumpkin purée. Let simmer to thicken soup.

Place a few crushed tortillas in shallow bowl and top with soup. Mix the tortillas into soup as you eat, garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds on top.

Courtesy of Rachel Ray

Cabbage Soup Diet - Tested

I'm going to test out this diet. Here are the basic guidelines, easy right?
Beverages are limited to water, and unsweetened fruit juice on days when fruit is allowed. This is a typical outline of the diet:
Day 1 - Cabbage soup plus as much fruit as you like, excluding bananas
Day 2 - Cabbage soup plus vegetables including 1 jacket (baked) potato with a little butter
Day 3 - Cabbage soup plus fruit and vegetables excluding potatoes and bananas
Day 4 - Cabbage soup plus up to eight bananas and as much skimmed milk as you like
Day 5 - Cabbage soup plus up to 10 ounces of beef and up to six tomatoes
Day 6 - Cabbage soup plus as much beef and vegetables (excluding potatoes) as you like
Day 7 - Cabbage soup plus brown rice, vegetables (excluding potatoes) and unsweetened fruit juice


Today is December 20, 2010. I decided to do this the week before Christmas, for a few reasons. Number one, my new year’s resolution, of losing 20 pounds....not quite there yet. In fact, I'm only half way there, with only 11 days of the year left, it's crunch time. Procrastinator that I am, this is my punishment.


Secondly, my refrigerator is empty.  I'm talking bare bones empty.   I have a bottle of apple juice, condiments, some pumpkin spice creamer, and water.  My thought, perfect time to try this, because I have zero temptation staring at me every time I will blindly open the door to my refrigerator looking for something to save me from cabbage hell.


Lastly, I recently, like most of the female population, read "Eat, Pray, Love". In the book some topics were discussed that I found to be quite interesting. One in particular was will power. Of which I have quite a bit over all, just not when it comes to food, or alcohol. My test for myself falls under this category. Can I "will myself" to follow this strictly. It's only seven days. How hard can it be? Famous last words.


Day 1
8:00am
I made the soup earlier this week, to taste it. I needed to make sure I could actually stand to eat this for seven days. Turns out, I really like it. I made only half a batch because it's a lot of food, and I wanted to have fresh soup at the start of this adventure. I also will be experimenting with the spices. My first batch I used cayenne pepper. A lot of cayenne pepper, and that soup was spicy. But I liked it. I didn't add salt or pepper, just the cayenne pepper.  I cooked all the veggies to be soft, but the cabbage to be a little bit crunchy.  I used whole tomatoes, but they tasted horrible.  I'm not sure if it’s the brand or if canned tomatoes are really that disgusting.  I'm a fresh tomato person.   I purchased diced, organic tomatoes for my next batch.  If that fails I'll modify this recipe and use fresh tomatoes.


 I bought some pre-cut up fruit, which gave me a mix of a bunch of items.  Pineapple, grapes, mangos, blueberries, musk melon, and cantelope.  It costs a bit more to do it that way, but getting such an assortment is worth it.  Trying to buy that many different fruits and eating them all before they go bad, doesn't seem like it would be cost effective either.  Therefore, spending more to have less, appeals to me in this case.


12:36pm
I already cheated.  Not on purpose, completely unconsciously.  I was offered a chocolate chip cookie and I took it.  Didn't even think twice about it.   Not even 5 hours into this diet and I screwed up.  This just goes to show how bad my will power with food is.  I'm not quitting.  Just noting, I cheated.  Shit.


Day 2
9:50 am
Yesterday went better than I expected. I stuck with the diet (mostly) for the rest of the day. I did eat a chocolate covered pretzel (or 10) but who's counting. Ok, the will power needs work, and so far today, it's a fail. Already had three cookies. They were small. I would count them as one big cookie. I don't even like cookies, but yet I can't say no! WTF! Once I get out of the office, it's much easier to stick to the diet. The office is my downfall.


Overall results, aside for the cookie debacle, pretty reasonable. I lost 1.6 pounds. Bringing me down to 146.4. I started at 148 pounds and committed in 2010 to get back down to my early Los Angeles weight of 138 pounds.  I started out at 158, the heaviest I've ever been, and ever will be.  It was horrible.


I did walk to work yesterday, which is 2.1 miles. I also ate a lot of soup. It's very filling, and so far I really like it, which I'm sure helps my cause. I made a new batch last night, and split it in two. I added different spices to each batch. Trying to keep it interesting. I've read reports that by the end of the 7 days the smell of the cabbage soup has made some want to vomit. I don't see that happening for me.


I took about 2 cups last night and blended it in a blender (I added a small dab of truffle butter, again breaking the rules, but only slightly). It tasted amazing. I heated it up and sipped on it while I caught up on back shows of Dollhouse. Yummy, perfect for a cold December evening.


Vegetables today. I have some fresh tomatoes for lunch and my soup. Probably will skip the baked potato for supper, although it sounds delicious.


I suspect day 4 will be the most difficult.  I like banana's but all you can eat banana's, not sure about that one.


Day 3
9:57am
Today is not as successful as yesterday. 147.4 pounds. Gained one pound. Lame. I didn't walk to work yesterday, so maybe that factors in. Therefore, today I walked, again 2.1 miles.


This blend of the soup has less cayenne pepper, which apparently is a metabolism booster. Perhaps that played a factor in my large weight loss on Day 1.


I ate all vegetables; tomatoes, peas and pumpkin. Perhaps those are not good choices. Technically a tomato is a fruit so maybe I cheated inadvertently. Still enjoying the soup.


Fruits and veggies today, let's hope we see some real results tomorrow!


Day 4
1:33 pm
Back down to 146.4 pounds.  I've been here before, so I'm  not that excited.  Banana day is going well.  It's been a long time since I've had a banana, and I've already eaten 3.    Looking forward to weighing in tomorrow and eating beef and tomatoes!   I'm almost out of soup also.  I look forward to eating the soup.  Three more days doesn't bother me at all.  It just so happens beef and vegtable day land on Christmas.  Looks like I planned a little better than I thought!  Nice steak with some baked veggies.  Sounds like a good Christmas meal to me.


I've decided to commit to this diet until I get to 138 pounds.  So if I haven't gotten there by Sunday I'll start the diet over again.   I refuse to go into the new year without making my ONE new year's resolution!  Shit what was I doing all year.  I was gung ho at first, that's when I lost the first ten, then I gave up.  I'm lucky it all stayed off, the way I've been eating since I moved to New York! haha


Day 5
Finally got to eat meat. 10oz is alot. It's 6:53 pm and I've eaten 7oz all day. Around 2pm I was starving. Heated up some cabbage soup, and was full all afternoon. I weighed in at 145.4 pounds this morning. 1 pound less than yesterday and nearly 3 pounds lost since I began on Monday.


Day 6
145 pounds. I ate so much today I have a feeling tomorrow will be a disappointment when I weigh in. I had a 7 oz steak, which I cooked with some truffle butter and a package of fresh mushrooms at about 250 degrees for two hours. Amazing. So juicy and flavorful. Exactly what I wanted. I then took all the drippings, some of the mushrooms, a tiny bit of cream and some baked squash, blended it and made a tasty soup. Finished the day off with a "hobo dinner".  

To make a Hobo Dinner:  Take 5 oz of ground beef, seasoned with salt and pepper.  Mix ketchup, chopped up green onions chopped up red peppers, made into a patty. Place the patty on top of a row of sliced red peppers, and surrounded it with carrots. Wrapped it in tinfoil, put it in the oven for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

I cheated here and there with the cream and butter. I also had a small container of Edy's fun flavors apple pie ice cream. 5.8 oz, 190 calories. My Christmas Day treat. As you can see very satisfying day of food. The true test will be with the scale tomorrow.

Day 7

143.4 pounds. Amazing. I cannot believe it. I have lost a total of 4.6 pounds in 7 days. I haven't seen 143.4 in over a year. This used to be my "high" weight. If I ate a ton of food one day, occasionally this weight would register...and I'd laugh, because a day or two later, I'd be back down in the high 130's. Boy I miss those days! My body just took care of it all on it's own! Back to soup and Veggies today. I could also have brown rice, but I hate rice, so veggies it is. I made some more soup, the batches I make last about two days. Enough for about 6 - 8 bowls. The batch I made today I tossed in all my left over veggies. Broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, carrots, celery, onions, cabbage, diced canned tomatoes and the Lipton soup mix with tiny noodles.


Only 5.4 more pounds to go. Come on Day 7!!


Day 8
Back to the beginning. Soup and Fruit. 144.8 pounds AGAIN! GRRRR! Bought another fruit plate and some orange juice. Blended up some cantaloupe, pineapple, strawberries and orange juice. Made a very nice fresh fruit drink. It's been snowing like crazy so I haven't been able to walk to work. That maybe playing a part in my sudden non-weight loss. I wonder if this new soup has anything to do with this sudden weight loss stoppage.


Day 9
Still 144.8 pounds. At least I haven't gained anything. I cheated in frustration yesterday. I ate a bag of popcorn, and some chocolate cookies. If I would have had more things to cheat with, I would have cheated more. My saving grace was that I have vowed not to restock my refrigerator until I'm back down to 138.  I decided to experiment with the soup. Made a batch with lots of mushrooms (cut in large pieces), cabbage, carrots, celery, green onions, a bottle of salsa, and a package of Lawreys fajita mix.   It tastes like a completely new soup.  It's got a spicy Mexican flair to it.   This opens the doors to all kinds of pre-mixed spice package options for this soup!    Today was veggie day and I baked up a bunch of veggies, with my baked potato, tossed on some butter and garlic.  Yummy.  I honestly don't even feel like I'm depriving myself, because I'm satisfied and full all the time. 


Day 10

Still 144.8 pounds. WTF.  Today was fruit and veggie day.  Ok, now I'm feeling it.  I'm craving meat so badly, it's driving me crazy.  I almost just gave in and got a piece of pizza.  How badly I want a piece of pepperoni pizza!!   Instead, I had the rest of my fruit in a blended drink.  Strawberries, musk melon, pineapple, grapes and oj.  Followed by carrots, red peppers, onions, broccoli, mushrooms and cauliflower tossed in butter and baked.  I only had one bowl of soup today.   The fajita soup is really good.  I highly recommend it.

Day 11

143.8 pounds.  Finally.  Back to ground zero.  I can only go down from here.  I walked to work yesterday and today.  Tomorrow will be the true test.   Walking/working out maybe the key component to the weight loss at this point.   Damn.   Today is banana day.  I'm tempted to make a burger tonight.  It's only a few hours early since tomorrow is beef day.  I'm dying for some meat.  Any meat.  Pork, chicken...mostly beef though.  A hamburger sounds so freaking delicious to me.  BUT banana's it is....

Day 12

Cabbage Soup Diet - Recipe

6 large green onions

2 green peppers
2 cans of tomatoes (diced or whole)
1 bunch celery
1/2 head cabbage
1 package dry onion soup mix
1 or 2 cubes bouillon/stock cubes either chicken or beef (optional)
Salt, pepper, parsley, garlic powder, curry powder or soy sauce to taste (or any other seasoning you like).

Spray a large pot with cooking spray and sauté all vegetables except cabbage and tomatoes until tender.

Add cabbage and about 12 cups (2.83 litres) of water.

Toss in bouillon cubes, soup mix, and seasoning.

Cook until soup reaches desired tenderness.

Add tomatoes.

To keep the recipe interesting you can make a base soup and then add seasoning/herbs each day for different flavours.

Note: There are a number of variations to this recipe.

Christmas Wreaths

This is special for JJ, Merry Christmas, Enjoy!
Ingredients:Yield: 16 wreaths

These are my absolute favorite Christmas treat!  My Aunt Dorthy used to make these every year and I would pretty much eat all of them.  She sent me packages for years after I moved, and then I had the luxury of not sharing.   ;-)   Enjoy!

1/3 cup butter
1 (10 ounce) package regular marshmallows or 4 cups miniature marshmallows
1 teaspoon green food coloring
6 cups corn flakes
red cinnamon candies

Directions:Prep Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 20 mins
1. In large saucepan, melt butter over low heat.
2. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Stir in food coloring.
3. Add corn flakes cereal. Stir until well coated
4. Using 1/4 cup dry measure coated with cooking spray, evenly portion warm cereal mixture. Using buttered fingers, quickly shape into individual wreaths. Dot with cinnamon candies.