Roasted Sweet Potato Hummus

I don't know about everyone else but I love autumn. Cooler weather, warm yummy food, its great. I found a super tasty recipe 2 weeks ago and in as much time have made it twice. I can't stop eating it!

I buy a bag of chickpeas at the store, pour the whole bag in a large bowl, cover the beans plus 1 inch above with water and sprinkle about 2 tsp of baking soda, and let sit overnight before cooking, drain, rinse and cook until tender. Doing this will allow you to get the most nutrients out of the beans which are naturally hard to digest.

I used half of the bag of chickpeas (soaked and cooked) for this recipe or you can use 2 cans.

1 large roasted sweet potato (just scrub it, throw it in the oven until fork tender)

2 cloves of garlic minced roughly

Extra virgin olive oil

Put the chickpeas in the food processor or a blender. Cut the sweet potato in half and scrape out the insides. Throw it in with the beans. Toss in the garlic and start with 1/4 cup evoo. Add a good pinch of sea salt. Blend until smooth add more evoo if necessary.

There you go! A easy and yummy fall snack that is pefect for dipping veggies or crackers. (I eat it with a spoon too)

Enjoy!

Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup copycat recipe

I nailed it! Man this soup was amazing! Just FYI i mostly blog my recipes so i dont have to write them down...most of my favs are saved online anyway. I've been on a soup kick lately and recently had Panera's broccoli cheese and i had forgotten how much i loved it. So here is my healthier version of Panera's soup...and it tastes the same to me!

First, break out the crock pot and put in 1 1/2 cups hot water, turn on low, add a good pinch of salt (if you have chicken broth or stock use that, i didn't have any, the water was fine, and keeps it vegetarian...if you're into that)

1 onion diced and sauteed in a little olive oil until translucent
While onions are cooking chop up
2 carrots (i did about 12 baby carrots)
2 bunches of fresh broccoli
(I also cut up a potato i had baked the night before...adds nice texture and thickens the soup, but not a necessary ingredient)
When onions are done dump all the veggies in the crock pot

Heat 2 cups of milk in the microwave (3 mins, and i used 2% instead of cream, fat free milk might not turn out as nice...)
Then in the pan you did the onions, melt 1 tbls butter and add 1tbls flour ( i use rice flour to make it GF). Cook, while stirring with a whisk. Then add the hot milk and whisk until thickened. Add milk mixture to crock pot. I added a sprinkle of ranch dressing powder...made it super yummy. Stir the pot and walk away for 2 hours or so.

Then in batches...put the soup in your blender on a low setting just till everything is mushed (not liquified), pour into a separate bowl, when all the soup is blended throw it back in the crock pot for 20 mins. (this might seem like its a lot of trouble but its really not that bad and makes for a really nice consistency and texture!)

When your almost ready to eat stir in 2 cups of cheddar cheese. (I did one cup sharp, one cup white...we like strong cheese!) Then serve! So yummy, try it out! We ate it with homemade bread. This soup also freezes well!

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Cream of Tomato Soup

I just had to post this recipe because it was SO yummy. I don't have a picture...we scarfed it so fast there wasn't time, but I'll be sure to snap one and post it when I heat up my leftovers tomorrow. My recipes fortunately are a hit more than a miss (I do have my misses) but I nailed this one! I just made it up yesterday because I was dying for some tomato soup but didn't have any and the girls were napping so I couldn't run out and pick some up. So I made it up! And it has ingredients that your probably already have in your pantry.

2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 yellow onion chopped finely
saute together in a little butter until onions are translucent
in a blender add the above sauteed ingredients and
2 cans of diced tomatoes in their juice
1/4 tsp tyme
1/4 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp Montreal chicken seasoning
salt to taste...I did about 1 tsp
blend until smooth
pour into a pot, add a bay leaf and cook on low until bubbling
then stir in
1 cup greek yogurt (this makes it creamy, yummy and full of protein)
remove bay leaf, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve

We had this for lunch with "cheesy bread" -bread, top with sliced cheddar and pop it under the broiler until melty. Super yummy, try it out! I'll add a picture as soon as I can!