Oatmeal Breakfast Berry Soup

Oatmeal Breakfast Berry  Soup

Instead of having a smoothie in the morning try this Oatmeal  Breakfast Berry Soup, you can have it hot or cold, but you get many of your daily doses of anti oxidants in this recipe.

This oatmeal soup features dry steel-cut oats, frozen berries, and spices like cinnamon. It’s easy to prepare and enjoy and is the first of your five bowls of soup on each day of the soup cleanse.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup dry steel-cut oats or 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup frozen berries
• 1/2 cup ice cubes

• 1 packet Stevia
• Ground cinnamon, to taste

Directions

1. Put the oats in a blender and pulse until they reach a powdery consistency.
2. Turn off the blender and add one cup water.
3. Incorporate the remaining ingredients into the mix and blend until smooth. Serve.
   
   Tips:
   These can be made the night before and here are some other fruits you can substitute - depending on the season and what is in your fridge or fruit bowl.
   
   
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Sweet Potato & Chicken Soup

 

Sweet Potato and Chicken Soup

This healthy chicken soup recipe gets the sweet flavor from sweet potatoes, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne pepper. Check out the health benefits of sweet potatoes at the end of the post.

If you can make your own Chicken Broth, it should have less sodium than store bought. Simmer bone-in chicken breasts in the broth before adding the rest of the soup ingredients.

Ingredients

1 cup chopped sweet onion

2 cloves of minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon of crushed fresh ginger

1 teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

8 cups of low sodium chicken broth

2lbs chicken (skin removed)

3 cups of diced sweet potato

2 cups diced bell peppers ( your color of choice)

2 cups of green beans

1 can rinsed Chick peas

½ teaspoon ground pepper

2 tablespoon extra-Virgin Olive Oil

Directions

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 2 to 3 minutes.

 Add cumin, cinnamon and cayenne; cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

 Add broth and chicken. Cover, increase heat to high and bring to a simmer. Uncover and cook, turning the chicken occasionally for about 20 to 22 minutes. 

Skim any foam from the surface as the chicken cooks. Shred the cooked chicken.

Meanwhile, add sweet potato, bell pepper and green beans to the pot; return to a simmer. 

Cook until the vegetables are tender, 4 to 10 minutes. Stir in the shredded chicken, chickpeas, pepper and cook until heated through.

Health Benefits of Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes earned the name "superfood" because of the amount of nutrients they have and has shown to lower your LDL and may reduce the risk of heart disease.

One sweet potato has:

• Calories: 112
• Fat: 0.07 grams
• Carbohydrates: 26 grams
• Protein: 2 grams
• Fiber: 3.9 grams
  
  Just one sweet potato gives you 400% of the vitamin A you need each day. This helps keep your eyes healthy as well as your immune system, your body's defense against germs. 
  
  Compounds in sweet potatoes could help control blood sugar. When boiled, sweet potatoes are low on the glycemic index (GI), which means they won't raise your blood sugar as quickly as high-GI foods.

Homemade Chicken Soup

There is nothing like a homemade chicken soup and this recipe is only 78 calories per serving. This recipe is filled with brown rice and sweet potato, this delicious soup is rich in both vitamins A and C. This is a fabulous dish any time of the year and you can go back for guilt-free seconds.


Ingredients

• 1 4-pound whole chicken, rinsed with excess fat trimmed
• 8 cups water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 fresh thyme sprig
• lemon zest
• juice from 1 lemon
• 1 1/2 cups diced onion
• 1 1/2 cups diced carrots
• 1 cup diced sweet potato
• 2 cups diced celery
• 3/4 cup uncooked long-grain brown rice
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoon of Sriracha sauce
• 5 Shallots for garnish
• 1 teaspoon Sesame Seeds Directions
  

Pour the 8 cups of water in a good size pot and add the chicken, bay leaf, thyme and lemon zest and cook on the stove top for about an hour until the chicken is tender. This can be cooked in a slow cooker that makes it very tender.
Once it is cooked set the chicken aside to cool and keep the remaining chicken stock juice, take out the herbs and lemon zest - this is the magic broth.
Remove all the meat from the bones and throw away the bones.
Add the celery, carrots, sweet potatoes, Sriracha and rice to the broth and simmer for another 20 minutes until the vegetables are cooked and the rice is tender, then add the shredded chicken and cook for another 10 minutes and season to your liking.
Serve into bowl and add some chopped shallots and sesame seeds to garnish.  You can go back for seconds. Enjoy.

Vegetable Soup

DASH DIET VEGETABLE SOUP

Here is a Dash Diet vegetable soup that is so easy to make and so very tasty and good for you. Take a look at the ingredients and you’ll see 4 food groups represented in a single serving.

This hearty recipe will warm your body and soul this winter.

Ingredients: 

1 (15-ounce) can reduced-sodium kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup frozen whole kernel corn
1/2 cup dry pearl barley
1 (14.5-ounce) can reduced-sodium diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 cup chopped onion
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
1 stalk celery, thinly sliced 3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup green beans
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 (14-ounce) can low-sodium chicken broth 1/4 cup cornstarch
3 cups cold fat-free milk
1/4 cup chopped parsley  or Cilantro

Preparation: 

In a 3 1/2- to 5-quart slow cooker, place beans, corn, barley, peas, green beans tomatoes, mushrooms, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, oregano and pepper. Pour in broth, stir and cover and cook on low heat for 8-9 hours (or on high heat for 4-5 hours).

Near end of cooking time, stir cornstarch into milk. Stir milk mixture into slow cooker until well blended.

Continue cooking 20-30 minutes or until soup has thickened.


Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley at serving time.