A Hunk and New Years Day Vegetable Soup

I hope everyone had an awesome New Years. If you were in bed by 8 or just now getting to bed (been there!) I hope you had a safe and awesome time!

I had a blast going to Fogo de Chao with my favorite juicy men group. You probably see a lot of them on my Facebook page and the one on the right going into those great rolls is my number ONE fan, Danny Frazier.

 If I post something and he hasn't liked it in less than 5 minutes, I start to get genuinely worried. I LOVE it. I also love that Facebook is the reason we met! I friended him thinking he was the sexiest thing I had ever seen. I quickly realized he was of the other sexual persuasion which made it great for us to become fast besties. After looking at the below picture and you thinking you have seen a sexier man, your point is now invalid. Check this OUT:

I can't. I seriously CANT.

Anyway, I think my post was about soup. Get a cold wash cloth and compose yourself. Better? Ok, onto the soup.

After eating like a wolverine the last few weeks with my birthday and Christmas and New Years, I need a serious food overhaul and I start today. In general, I eat really well.. I have to. My body is like a venus fly trap for fat and I can indulge a few times a week (if you follow my Facebook, you know I never miss my weekly yums) but the rest of the time, I keep it pretty clean.

One of my favorite things to have on hand is soup! I cleaned out the fridge today and there were a ton of vegetables in the fridge and freezer that I wanted to use. Soup is awesome for that - especially vegetable soup. I took three 32oz containers of good quality chicken broth (use vegetable too!) and started chopping and dumping..

I used corn, peas, carrots, celery, broccoli, fresh kale and spinach that needed to be used up, and a couple half used miscellaneous bags of frozen vegetables, some asparagus and zucchini that I steamed last week and a half used onion.. It was all stuff that was still good but stuff I wouldn't have used on its own and needed to move. Pour the broth ad all your vegetables in!

One of my secrets is using an immersion blender to blend about half of it. It makes it heartier and more flavorful because those vegetables get blended in there.

I also added a can of chopped tomatoes and tomato paste. You can really use whatever you have on hand but if you have these, they are an easy and yummy way to boost flavor.

My secret weapon it to put in a bottle of REALLY GOOD QUALITY pasta sauce that is JUST tomatoes and spices. I like Mario Batali tomato basil. It only has tomatoes and spices. YUM! 

Gilbert the cat watched the whole process and made sure it went smoothly.

It's been simmering a couple hours now. I added dried basil, garlic powder, oregano, and salt as well. Do it little by little to taste.

It's delicious with a sandwich, as a topping for chicken, with sausage stirred in, or a great afternoon snack. It's 85 calories a cup and this recipe makes a HUGE batch - around 20 cups. You can add cabbage, potatoes, beans, shredded chicken, leave out anything, it's so easy and a great way to clean out stuff that's been hanging around in the fridge. (It also freezes well!) I never worry about the calories of vegetable soup made of just veggies. I didn't gain weight on vegetable soup unless Taco Bell made a Crunchwrap Vegetable Soup Supreme or something. Then I would have to think twice.

So, with that, I wish you a wonderful and prosperous 2015. One of my goals is to blog more about staying healthy and finding great recipes (that are EASY!) to share with everyone. My goal is at least 4 blogs a month (so a weekly blog) and I am really excited to get back into it.

Oh and here is another picture of Danny - with his CAT! Drool city USA!

XO,
Rachel