Fun Weekend at Jacksonville Beach

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Tortilla Soup

Recipe courtesy food network 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 chipotle in adobo sauce, minced
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 6 cups chicken broth, low-sodium canned
• 1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen and thawed
• 1 ripe tomato, chopped
• 1 cup shredded cooked chicken
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 2 limes)
• About a dozen corn tortilla chips, broken a bit
• Lime wedges, optional

Directions

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, chipotle, chili powder, and salt and cook until the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken broth, bring to a boil, reduce the heat slightly, and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add the corn and cook for 5 minutes more.
Pull the saucepan from the heat and stir in the tomato, chicken, cilantro, and lime juice. Divide the tortilla chips among 4 warmed bowls, ladle the soup on top, and serve with lime wedges, if desired.
Know-How Get every last drop of juice from those little limes. Before halving, microwave them for a few seconds and roll them under the palm of your hand to release the juice from the pulp.
Add a swirl of chile and homey tortillas to comforting chicken soup and you have a bold hug of a meal.

**My variation: Used low sodium chicken broth (2 14oz cans) instead of 6 cups. I cut the chicken into cutlets, covered them in my fav mojo sauce/smoked paprika/some chili powder/cayenne pepper and broiled for 5 mins on each side on the shelf closest to the broiler. They were juicy and flavorful! Then I cut them up into little pieces and added them after the rest of stuff has been cooked.**

Recipe

I never thought College Physics...

Would be harder for me than Organic Chemistry I and II....I guess it's because I don't like it! We have programs and computers to do all that number crunching...I'm not a human calculator/formula machine :)

It always helps to stay motivated when...

You are surrounded by people who take their health seriously :) Of course there are going to be the random few snackoholics *cough you know who you are lol* but variety is the spice of life!
I'm lucky to have very supportive people around me who don't push their junk on me. Here is a letter written by CT on the topic Chicken Tuna

Revamping my diet

As the colder weather starts creeping in...I will start making some adjustments to my diet and workout to keep out the boredom.

Cottage Cheese Pesto

Stumbled across this recipe and was delighted that it was sooooo good!!!!
Recipe Courtesy  Martha Shulman


Ingredients
2 plump garlic cloves, halved, green shoots removed
1/2 cup fresh basil or parsley leaves, or a combination
1 cup low-fat or nonfat cottage cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon plain low-fat or nonfat yogurt
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan


Directions
Turn on a food processor fitted with the steel blade, and drop in the garlic. When the garlic is chopped and adhering to the sides of the bowl, stop the machine and scrape down the bowl with a spatula.

Add the basil and/or parsley, and process until finely chopped. Stop the machine, and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients, and process until smooth and creamy. Serve with pasta, or as a dip or spread.

If serving with pasta, use 2 to 3 tablespoons of the cottage cheese pesto per serving (in my home, that’s 3 ounces of dry pasta). Add a spoonful of the pasta cooking water to the cottage cheese mixture to dilute it before tossing with the pasta.

Yield: Makes 1 heaped cup (about 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons).
Advance preparation: This will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator. It will become more pungent, however, and the green will fade.

**My variation: Can substitute the basil/parsley for rosemary and it was yum too. I have used this recipe on pasta and as a dip with ritz crackers. For some extra umph, I added smoked salmon (you can find it in the refridgerated section in your grocery) into the food processor.

I used no sodium chicken stock instead of water when I made it for pasta....Don't dilute too much!

No food processor? Try the blender, just takes a little more time and effort.**

NY Times