Eat Your Vegetables

I mentioned that I did not make New Year’s resolutions for 2014; instead, I’m doing monthly challenges. My challenge for January is to drink eight glasses of water a day. I’m doing reasonably well. I’m probably not getting to eight each day, but I’m definitely getting to 6, and that’s an improvement. It will at least prevent me from drying up like a dandelion and blowing away.

Though it’s not a resolution (I did not make resolutions this year!), I intend, starting now (or maybe a little bit later) to eat healthier. I will forgo the goal of losing X number of pounds because that doesn’t really work for me (or really, anybody). But I definitely fell into an unhealthy eating habit over the holidays that made me feel less, well, healthy. Remember those couple of weeks of making Christmas cookies. Well, when you make them, someone must eat them. I did my duty.

My determination to eat healthier is, of course, a 180 degree digression from yesterday’s blog post in which I yammered on and on about those tamales (which, considering their yumminess, were undoubtedly made using lard). I am simply taking advantage of a woman’s prerogative to change her mind. Also, I weighed myself. Those tamales will be safe and sound in my freezer for a few weeks. I can eat them one at a time instead of in batches of THREE! (Just kidding. No I’m not.)

Bill and I started back at the gym Monday (and don’t my sore muscles reinforce that fact), and I joined the legions of others back at a Weight Watchers meeting yesterday, my tail between my chubby legs. I simply need to have someone remind me that there are options to snacking on Cheetos and Oreos all day. Apples, oranges, and pretzels, for example.

I refuse to count calories. I won’t even count WW Points Plus. It’s not rocket science after all. You simply need to burn more calories than you ingest. Smaller portions, more movement. Simple as that.

I made a really tasty vegetable soup that I ate for lunch, along with some turkey lunch meat. Mylee would be happy. Nothing that 3-year-old likes more than a turkey sandwich. And the soup was really good.

Vegetable Soup

Ingredients
1 T. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 red pepper, chopped
1 fennel bulb, sliced thin
2 c. baby spinach
1 zucchini or summer squash, chopped
1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
4 c. chicken, beef, or vegetable broth
2 c. tomato juice
½ t. red pepper flakes
1 t. fresh thyme, minced
1 T. fresh basil, chopped
Salt and pepper

Process
Brown onion in olive oil until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add the red pepper and zucchini and cook for a few minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook for about 45 minutes, or until vegetables are soft and flavors mingle. Garnish with basil when you serve.

Nana’s Notes: You can use whatever vegetables you have in your fridge. I sort of make this recipe when I have vegetables that are needing to be used or tossed. Carrots, celery, etc. all would work. The fennel (which I happen to love either raw or cooked) gives it a bit of an Italian flavor; hence, the basil. You could make it a bit Mexican by using cilantro instead and throw in a bit of avocado. It makes me – a devoted lover of soup – happy because it is filling and healthy and delicious.