Weight Watchers Fresh Vegetable Soup ♥

Today's new Weight Watchers recipe: The latest vegetable soup recipe, one point for PointsPlus people, a half point for those still counting points with the old point system. Best made a day ahead of time, perfect for those of us who cook a big pot of soup for eating during the week.

"You sure made the produce department happy." So assessed the checkout person at the grocery store the day after New Years while ringing up one vegetable after another. I couldn't help but grin, because yes, I'm on a first-name basis with all the produce people. Sure enough, there were no fewer than a dozen different vegetables, enough unusual vegetables to send the typical checkout person scurrying for the break room.

Like millions of others, after the holidays, I was ready to lighten up, ready for the end of rich food, ready to quit the fixation on eating. And like so many who follow Weight Watchers, I wanted nothing more than the cleansing of one of the famous vegetable soups from Weight Watchers, this time using a new recipe that seemed especially targeted to fresh vegetables.

Chop, chop, cook, cook. The aroma in the kitchen was intoxicating.

The first taste, however, was disappointing. The soup was blah – nothing that a few drops of Tabasco or a splash of yogurt couldn't fix but nonetheless, disappointing. I shrugged and went on. A day or so later, I cleaned out the fridge and decided to warm up a bowl of the leftover soup. This time? Fabulous! Light and fresh, the vegetables still intact (not mushy at all) but much more flavorful.

Now this IS a mild soup, know that, you might still want to apply a little Tabasco or my own favorite, a squirt of ketchup. But it's good and a nice change from the original Weight Watchers Zero-Point Garden Vegetable Soup recipe. Score -- another winner!

PLEASE KNOW A Veggie Venture is not affiliated with Weight Watchers International, please see more information. As always, I recommend visiting your local office, especially to learn the in's and out's of the new PointsPlus method of counting points.

QUICK NOTE For those who don't follow Weight Watchers, you might wonder if this soup is 'any good'. It is! All the Weight Watchers soups are good. But for slightly more substance, you might want to try my long-time favorite recipe from Kitchen Parade, Low-Fat Vegetable Soup or my new favorite and master recipe, Master Recipe: How to Make Homemade Vegetable Soup, never the same twice.
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My pumpkin patch today...

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Beans Beans BEANS!!

Today's harvest, to accompany our pork rillons (so thankful my wonderful husband also loves cooking!)

The rillons were... sticky, crunchy, chewy, delicious and more-ish!

Heard a family secret this week, that plums frozen last year make great jam a year later!
Grandma - I'm looking forward to trying it, and will save you some apricot! xo

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Sweet Potato Soup with Quinoa & Coconut Milk ♥

A hearty vegan soup, one to warm a body from the inside out. It's slightly sweet from the orange tubers we call sweet potatoes, slightly nutty from the grain-like seed called quinoa, slightly spicy from cayenne and chili powder, slightly cool from the coconut milk stirred in near the end. Not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real".

Sweet potato soups can be, well, a little 'sweet potato-y', too heavy, too starchy, too dense.

So I loved the idea of a recipe for sweet potato soup lightened with the healthy and protein-dense quinoa [pronounced KEEN-wah]. I feared the color and little doubt, the color is akin to what Nana, my grandmother on my mother's side, used to call the 'dog's breakfast'. But thanks to the cayenne and chili powder, the soup has a welcome kick that's smoothed and cooled by the coconut milk.

This soup, it's a winner.

REVIEWS
"Just made this tonight, and it's really good!" ~ Anonymous
"We all (including the kids, 8 and 4) loved the balance of spicy with sweet coconut." ~ MamaGames
"I used Kabocha squash (big harvest, froze a lot) with good results." ~ Anonymous

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 This week's efforts:
Apricot jam... we have a glut, I have jammed them, poached, eaten straight from the tree, given away kilos and still have enough to have broken a branch on the tree!

Vanilla bean icecream... also did raspberry.

Recipe:

600ml double cream,
1 vanilla bean, split
120g caster sugar
180ml water
5 large egg yolks

Scald cream - heating til almost boiling, add vanilla bean, scraping out the seeds and set aside to cool.
Dissolve sugar in water on low heat, then increase heat and boil until you have syrup. Whisk egg yolks - easiest with an electric whisk while slowly pouring in the sugar syrup. Keep whisking until the mixture thickens, then whisk in the cream (which should be cool!). Pop it all into your icecream machine and churn away til frozen. Pop in the freezer for a few hours and it'll be rock hard and delicious!

Green tomato chutney (from the fruit that fell of when we staked the tomatoes)

Today's batch of apricot that were poached in equal parts water, white wine and sugar, with a vanilla bean. Yummo!

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Last post of 2010

(drafted this post on new years eve, got distracted)!

It has been months since my last post...
The bacon was AWESOME - we had to blanch it prior to frying though, as it was a little salty. It could have done with 1-2 less days of curing, but its a great start.  We are thinking about getting a couple of pigs in 2011 to raise our own bacon... might be dreaming, but we'll see. Lots of research to do yet. Hugh Fearnley Whittinstall has been good inspiration and teacher!


Home grown beets - planning to make beetroot chocolate brownies!

We have grown a load of mixed heirloom variety carrots - supplied by A&B Trees (http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-B-Trees-Heathcote/161692683849244?ref=ts)

A few of them have branced into many 'legs', we think its because we didn't cultivate the soil properly (lesson for next time!) - but they still taste great.

Also grew purple beans, they are yummy raw, and turn green when cooked - so much more fun to eat straight from the plant.

Capsicums - first harvest from our new veg patch in the paddock (future home of the pigs)

Latest addition to the front garden orchard... a bay tree. I pinched one leaf off it a few days ago and it didn't mind at all - nicer to cook with than the dried kind.

Our apricots - new years eve.

There's a few of our spring/summer veg!

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Healthy Habits & Win a Kitchen Scale

Happy New Year, vegetable lovers!

This year, oops, that would be last year, I turned New Years resolutions into 'healthy habits' adopted way last summer. One is a concept salad, my Quick 'n' Easy Raw Salad. (We just love these concept 'recipes', right? If you like the idea too, grab it and make it your own way!)

But first, what is your healthy habit? Or what healthy habit would you like to adopt in 2011? I'm giving away a kitchen scale, register to win at Kitchen Parade, my food column and home to seasonal, easy and healthy recipes made from real food without processed ingredients, where all new recipes include Weight Watchers old points and PointsPlus points, calorie counts and nutrition data.

Register to Win a Kitchen Scale!

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