Skinny Soups

It's 114 degrees here in Las Vegas and I made a Skinny Soup today.  I really like soup, any day of the year.  I prefer a cream base, vegetarian (very little vegetables and very few beans).  So today, in an effort to cut back on my eating habits, I made Easy Spinach-Pasta Soup with Basil from the cookbook "Skinny Soups".  It sells on my Amazon storefront for $9.98.  It offers over 100 hearty, low-fat, nutrition-rich, calorie-wise soups.  www.amazon.com/stores/oneofakindcookbooks.com 

What did I think of this Skinny Soup?  Very good, but I missed the Crunch Factor.  I added some croutons at the end and made my bowl of soup go from 210 calories to whatever.  It was very good and I have bagged it to freeze for future meals while I am travelling.  Did it fill me up, mostly....not completely.  Would I try another recipe-definitely.

But first some Motivational Weight Loss Tips that made me laugh.

"I tried every diet in the book.  I tried some that weren't in the book.  I tried eating the book.  It tasted better than most of the diets in the book."  Dolly Parton

"The first thing you lose on your diet is your sense of humor."  Unknown

"I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is fourteen days."  Totie Fields

"I never worry about diets.  The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond". Mae West

"The weight will come off some day, I just know it." Valerie Brown

Easy Spinach-Pasta Soup with Basil

1 (10oz) pkg frozen and thawed leaf spinach

2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 small garlic clove, minced

6 cups chicken broth (non-fat)

1 cup water

3/4 2-in long pieces of uncooked vermicelli or other extra-fine spaghetti

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped or 1 1/2 tbsp dried basil leaves

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 cup Italian style (plum) tomatoes, drained and chopped

1 cup cooked garbanzo beans, or canned garbanzo beans, well drained

2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese for garnish (optional)

Let spinach drain in colander.  Press down to remove as much excess water as possible.  Transfer spinach to cutting board.  Trim away coarse stems and discard.  Finely chop spinach and return it to colander to drain further.

In a very large pot over medium heat, combine oil, onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is tender.  Add broth and water and bring mixture to a rolling boil over high heat.   Stir in vermicelli and continue cooking 2 minutes.

Stir spinach, basil, pepper, tomatoes and beans into pot.  Continue cooking 6 to 7 minutes longer or until spinach and pasta are tender.  Serve immediately, sprinkled with a little grated Parmesan if desired.

5 Servings

Lack of spell-check disclaimer.  I hope I didn't mis-spell too many words.  No spell-check in blogspot.

Happy Cooking!

I've only been home for 3 days and I'm back to work again. I over booked myself this weekend, so no rest for me. Got home mid-day Friday, ran errands and went to bed. My body is all out of wack right now. Not usually a problem for me, but up at 6am each morning now. I did volunteer work at HOPE-a homeless shelter for Teens in Henderson, NV and then did volunteer work at the Opportunity Village-The Magical Forest.

The next day was filming two more baking pie videos with my camera crew (sounds good, doesn't it). Still not on u-tube. Spelled my name wrong on videos and so now new editing takes place. More baking pie videos scheduled to be filmed next Sunday. Then I was off to a Big Fat Greek Dinner at my friend's Barbara and Duane. There were about 20 of us-the food was tremendous. I brought Shish Kebab, both chicken and beef. Good friends, good wine, good food.

Now, I'm off to work-flight in two hours so I better get moving.

That's all for now.
Cookbook Val
Valerie Brown of Las Vegas, NV

EBay cookbooks is done for the next couple of months. With a holiday work schedule-not enough time off and the stress of the holidays, I have decided not to sell cookbooks until after the holidays. I'm sorry about this and appreciate everyone's business, but my other "real" job is what pays the bills. Besides with the holidays coming, media mail which I ship by USPS takes forever and then people get mad at me. Too much stress. But I am going to continue with my blog.

I will continue to report on new books that I find. Then maybe you can find them locally or put them on your wish list until after the holidays.

About 5 years ago, my son developed an interest in cooking. So each birthday and Christmas now, he gets one cookbook for whatever level of cooking he is at. This has turned out to be his favorite present. He so looks forward to what I get him. Now, I have a new daughter-in-law and she wants her cookbook too! She has heard so much about Nicky's cookbooks that she wants in as well. So consider this idea for Christmas presents for your family members. One of my sisters is really into low-carb cooking, so I have her Christmas present too!

I have two Pillsbury Crescent Rolls burning a spot in my refrigerator, so I need to do something with them. I had the big book on Pillsbury Dough Magic in my EBay listing-Valerie2901, that nobody bought, so it's now mine. Hundreds of recipes to try with their products: Biscuits, Crescent Dinner Rolls, Breadsticks, Pie Crusts, Pizza Crusts, Cookies & more. I'm sure to find something to make. Last time I had some, I made the crescent rolls, stuffed them with cooked scrambled eggs & cheese and served them to a breakfast brunch with friends. All 24 disappeared in minutes!

Martha White products is having a big recipe contest for any of you that want to enter. Go to: www.marthawhite.com. I actually made a wonderful recipe for this contest only to find that cornbread recipes are not allowed for this contest. But I will share it with you.

Sweet Cornbread-Five Pepper Cheese Miniature Muffins

1 7oz. Martha White Sweet Cornbread Mix

1 egg

1/4 cup evaporated milk

1/4 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 cup chopped finely jalapeno, red, orange, yellow pepper

1/8 tsp. black pepper

Heat the oven to 375F. Prepare the miniature muffin pans by greasing with garlic powder (1 tbsp butter with 1/8 tsp garlic powder-I used leftover Papa John's garlic butter). Set in hot oven for 5 minutes.

Combine the cornbread mix, egg, milk & sour cream, mix until smooth. Add the cheddar cheese, peppers, black pepper-blend all together. Fill muffin tins about 3/4 full. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Best served warm. Makes 24 miniature muffins.

Yesterday, I went to my friend's home-Vernalisa who had a big soup gathering. She made Italian Meatball Soup for 30 of us and everyone else brought something else. My contribution was the above cornbread muffins-they also disappeared very quickly. (So also did my beautiful white bowl that it was presented in, but I found it hidden away eventually in the dishwasher).

The cooking videos are coming along, still not out on U-Tube. You know the bottom line is that I want to be a food sponsor for someone in the future. So keep my name in mind if you know anyone in the food business.

That's all for now.

CookbookVal

aka: Valerie Brown of Las Vegas, NV

I am almost finished reading COOK OFF by Amy Sutherland. Though published in 2003, it is a little out of date (will explain in a minute), but well worth reading. It is a story of those who enter food recipe contests. It follows the lives of the some of the truly big contesters (that's what they call themselves), their big prizes and some of their secrets. One of the interesting things I read was that people create recipes on their computers, submit them to recipe contests and actually win big prizes without every making them. Can you imagine.
This book will not go on sale, but I recommend you try and find it and read it-you will be inspired. This book is going to a friend of mine, Marsha White in Dallas, TX, who has suffered in the recession, like many of us and thinks that maybe entering cooking contests is a way to make some extra money.
It has inspired me, when I get home from this trip, I'm going to start dabbling in some of these food recipes contests and maybe win some good prizes.
Many of the big name/big cash prizes written about in the book have fallen away to the nation's economy, including The National Chicken Cook-Off, The National Beef-Off (though they may re-open this in 2012) and Pillsbury is still having their bake-off, but recipes are to be submitted Jan-April 2011, but the Bake-off, will not be until sometime in 2012.
There are still some big prizes out there, but because of the computer age, they now receive tens of thousands of entries, instead of hundreds.
When the book listings stop in the next few days, they will re-start on October 15-I have to time everything, so that I'm home when the EBay sales come in, because I know you want your books right away. Look for Valerie2901 for lots of new listings of cookbooks on EBay. Again thanks for your sales and remind me about feedback.
That's all for now.
Cookbook Val

Yahoo! I'm finally getting somewhere with my cooking videos. There "should" be one out on U-Tube on Tuesday night. Please send to all your family and friends, I need lots of support with this.

On my EBay-Valerie2901, I have lots of new cookbooks out. I have a lot of International Cookbooks that won't last long-Irish Cooking, African (from 7 African Nations), Singapore, Israel and more. Thanks again for your support and purchases. Please remind me if you want feedback.

Finally things are moving and so must I.

That's all for now.

Cookbook Val