National Soup Swap Day

In honor of today the folks at Kiddley suggested a virtual swap. If you would like to participate you can post to your blog and link to it in Kiddley or if you like you can post it here in my comments. My goal is to get 3 soups/chilis that are either vegetarian or I can turn vegetarian by the end of the week.

Here is my recipe:
This one has become a fast favorite in our house. Technically it is Chili but Steve and I like our chili a little more soupy than most.

bean & veggie chili
1 lg onion(chopped)
1 green pepper(chopped)
3 cloves of garlic
3 cups of water
1 can kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup frozen corn
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp red pepper
any other chili spice you like

In a large pot saute the onion, pepper, and garlic until the onion is soft. *I use cooking spray to saute*
Add the rest of the ingredients. Cook 3o mins or longer ( flavors blend as you cook)

This soup is under 200 calories, has less than 1g fat and serves 6 (1 cup servings)

Happy Souping!

Vegetable-Rice Skillet

adapted from Betty Crocker Vegetarian Cooking

1 can chicken broth(14 1/2 oz)
2 tablespoons butter
16 oz pkg frozen broccoli stir fry
1 pkg long grain and wild rice(6 oz)

Heat broth and butter to boil in 10 inch skillet. Stir in veggies, rice, and contents of seasoning packet. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat

Cover and simmer until rice and veggies are tender.

This is a kid friendly meal too!

Ady loves rice and broccoli stir fry(w/o water chestnuts) She and Jaden both ate it up.

Recipes approved by my kids

Lately (in the last 2 months) every meal, every time, no matter what we are eating, SOMEONE has to complain about something. I dread sitting at the table with the kids. Trying to be patient with them and our new lifestyle changes I try to make meals that they NORMALLY would have little to no issues eating. So far I have found 2 recipes that either Jonas or Ady or both of them deem edible.

Creamy Herbed Vegetables We had this last night and Ady liked it. I think Jonas would shy from it at first, but with Broccoli and Cauliflower in it he should like it.
Steve got hungry pretty earlier after supper last night, so I need to find some more filling sides to go with this dish.

The other recipe came from this cookbook I LOVE this book. I bought it from a book fair and we have used several recipes from it. It isn't just vegetarian. The small section of vegetarian recipes in it are very good.

Vegetarian Stir-Fry:
3/4 cup apple juice
2 tbs cornstarch
3 tbs soy sauce
cooking spray
6 cups cut-up veggies
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic
3 tbs apple juice
1 can(15 to 16 oz) Garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
Mix 3/4 cup apple juice, cornstarch, and soy sauce:set aside

Heat wok or 12 inch skillet over meduim heat, spray. Add veggies, onion, and garlic; stir-fry 1 min. Add 3 tbs apple juice. Cover and cook about 3 mins. or until veggies are tender.

Stir in beans and soy sauce mixture; reduce heat to medium. Cook about 3 mins, stirring frequently until sauce is thickened.

Jonas really liked the garbanzo beans in this recipe. Ady ate everything but the beans and Jaden ate it all. For the veggies I used a frozen broccoli stir-fry.


It has been a long process changing our meals, We have tried alot more than this and like almost everything. We did have a Prego Vegetarian Lasagna dish that nobody but Jaden would eat, and another Lasagna from Micheal Angelos, Ady ate the noodles-I thought it had a very strong mushroom and broccoli taste. Jaden also ate this one. I would like to find a simple veggie lasagna recipe, because Jaden reall seems to like lasagna.

The next few months

We have been given the "OK" to go vegetarian. Jaden had his well baby check today, I asked the doctor what he thought of it all. He said it is wonderful that all of us are planning to do it and as long as we do it right there is nothing to worry about healthwise. Over the next couple of months we will start "weening" ourselves off of meat. I am trying to get in the habit of giving the kids daily vitamins. We need to go get some for Jaden too. I am very excited about the lifestyle change my family is making, I will keep you posted in how it goes and what recipes we try.

Veggie Person

Steve posted a couple of days ago about our talking(desire) to go vegetarian. He has started quite the controversy over there. I thought I should post my own feelings on the matter, rather than cram his comment area full of ramblings.

Do I want to become vegetarian? YES
Why? That is a hard one. I want to eat healthier. I keep my kids healthy(no junk food, sweets-Hell, Jaden can't have any gravies, sugars, butter, condiments, icing, etc... Until I say otherwise-I did the same thing with Ady.) Yes we could go healthier and keep meat BUT I want to try this. I want to see if I will feel more energized, and maybe drop a few pounds in the process. I would love to give up a lot more than meat but I am not going to pretend to be something I'm not. I'm not super mom. I need my pot of flavored coffee with cream, splenda, and syrup. I would not attempt to give any of that up. It is also full of yuckies that are probably assisting in my exhaustion but I would like to start somewhere. Meat is an easy thing for me to give up. I don't eat things like steak, roast, or pork very often anyway. Most of the time our grocery list for meat is: chicken breast, ground turkey. That's it. We have 3 small children-kids are expensive-there is definitely no steak dinners in our future anytime soon;)

I am not sure where this journey will take our family but I am very excited to even be considering it and look forward to trying new meals with them.

*EXTREME things I support/do-(for future reference) breastfeeding, homeschool, my kids, my spouse, and for some reason in the summer months I HAVE TO HAVE Ice Java coffee syrup. Other than that I do not consider myself extreme. OH unless getting Puffs Plus instead of Kleenex brand tissues counts!*