Broccoli Spinach Soup

I had time to take a quick 30 minute walk before work.  I only put on a light jacket because it was sunny outside.  Um, I quickly regretted that decision – it was cold!  But after a few minutes I warmed up so I just sucked it up.

And Lisa, this picture is for you!  Lisa was reading my blog for a while before she realized I live in the same town she grew up in.  The ski jump is in the next town over, but you can see it from our side of the river.

When I got back I realized how cold it was – 48 degrees!

I had packed up most of my stuff the night before so a quick shower and I was out the door.  I had a new almond poppy seed muffin for the drive to work (recipe to follow later this week) and my to go cup of coffee.

One of the cookbooks I got over the weekend was Cooking Light’s mix and match low-calorie cookbook (on sale at Barnes & Noble for only $3.85!) Their premise is having a 300 calorie breakfast, 400 calorie lunch and 500 calorie dinner, with snacks to total 1500 calories.

I have decided that it makes sense and is more cost efficient if I make a breakfast casserole or quiche for my breakfasts – it’s 4 servings, so I only need to add one more breakfast for the week.  They had a sausage cheddar breakfast casserole that ended up being only 284 calories per serving – sold!

I ended up halving the recipe, and baking it in a pie pan.  I didn’t have white bread so I used pita bread (reduced to 4 ounces).  I also used Banquet turkey sausage for the sausage.  My stats ended up being: 284 calories, 9 fat, 24 carbs, 2.1 fiber and 26 protein.

I hope to take a better side view of this because its delicious.  I didn’t read the complete directions either that said to soak it overnight, but it’s fluffy and delicious.  The only bad marks it got was high in sodium because of the turkey sausage and cheese.

Yesterday was the first day of my 12 week strength training program.  This is what I did:

Wide Pushup (standard or on knees): 3 sets of 12 reps

Dumbbell or Barbell Bench Press: 3 sets of 12 reps – 10 pound dumb bell

Flat Bench Cable Flyes: 3 sets of 12 reps – 15 pounds

Narrow Pushup (standard or on knees): 3 sets of 12 reps

Overhead Triceps Dumbbell Extension: 3 sets of 12 reps – 10 pounds

Triceps Pushdowns: 3 sets of 12 reps – 30 pounds

It took me 25 minutes to do that set, then I finished it off with a 15 minute walk at 8.5 incline.

I really felt my muscles on this piece of equipment – the tricep pushdown machine – I’ve never used it before.  Ha. I just noticed myself in the mirror!

And, I also never knew that you could have dumb bells in 110 pound weights – crazeballs!

I am just a tiny bit sore this morning, but I did the stretching after Insanity last night so I think that helped.

It never fails that I buy a bunch of broccoli, and then end up not using it.  I had a bunch to use up and in Gwyneth Paltrow’s “my father’s daughter” cookbook, she had a recipe for broccoli soup.

I adapted it a bit for what I had on hand, and of course, left out the stinky onions.

Broccoli & Spinach Cheese Soup

• 4 servings: 115 calories, 5 fat, 10 carbs, 3.1 fiber and 8.5 protein

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 head of broccoli
• 4 cups baby spinach
• 6 cups chicken broth (I didn’t add any additional salt, the broth was plenty)
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup strong cheese of choice

Heat the oil in a large stock pot.  Add broccoli and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add in remaining ingredients except the cheese and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the broccoli is tender enough to puree.  Remove from heat and stir in the cheese.

Her recipe called for adding in arugula or watercress.  I accidentally put my spinach in the back of the fridge so it was partially frozen, but was perfect to use in this soup.

I bought this cheese at my store – they routinely sell “cheese ends.”  This one was imported cheese ends – not sure what kind it was but I tried to have Tony try it over the weekend and he wanted to wash his mouth out with soap he hated it so much.  So that makes me think its in the goat cheese family.

I took the above picture over the weekend.  My lunch was the soup and a turkey, cheese and baby spinach wrap with a banana.

Tony was joking with me over the weekend asking since I was so Bizzy in my Kitchen where his chocolate cake was.  I told him I didn’t make him any cake.  So yesterday, I told him I would bake him a cake last night and he said “don’t tease me woman!”  It was then that he realized I already had all the ingredients at home to make it the day before – ha!

I don’t bake that often, so I was a bit nervous.  I ended up doubling this recipe so that it would fit in my cake pan.  It could not have been easier – I literally had the batter made and the cake in the oven before my water boiled for our dinner.

Over the weekend I made a batch of Cincinnati Chili and had mine 3 ways – pasta, chili beans and cheese.

Kyle came for dinner too – he kept pushing Mo the chipmunk off the table though – so sad – what a bully!

So while the cake cooked and cooled I went to get my powdered sugar to make a frosting, and what I thought was powdered sugar was . . . corn starch.  Um, not the same thing – thank God I tasted it before I tried to use it!

So I found a recipe that didn’t need powered sugar.   I cooked the frosting, then beat it with my mixer for 3 minutes.  It looked thick enough to frost the cake, but since it was hot, I stuck in the fridge.

Then I got my Insanity on.  Since I am doing my strength at lunch, I’ve decided to only do the 40 minute Insanity workouts at night – but I gave it my all and kicked Shaun T’s butt. 

I finish and go to get the frosting out the fridge and it’s almost a fudge consistency.  Rats!  No worries, I just put it in the microwave for 10 seconds  and then it was smooth enough to frost the cake.  Only one layer, I have no skillz cutting a cake in half!

I actually have no problem having that cake around.  I didn’t even take a bite of the slice I gave to Tony.  Now, if that was a bag of pretzels or chips, I couldn’t keep my hands off of it! #lovesaltyshit

Stats for the Day:

• 30 minute walk before work
• 25 minute strength/15 minute walk at lunch
• 40 minute Insanity after work
• 1846 calories (not pictured Chobani and 1 oz. peanuts)
• 204 carbs, 126 protein, 61 fat and a whopping 44 grams of fiber
• 26% of calories from fat, 26% of calories from protein and 43% from carbs

Alright, time to jump in the shower – make it a great day!