A's Lima Bean Soup

 

 

I'm sending another slow cooker recipe your way this week. I've been too busy to cook, so I've been throwing ingredients together at night and letting them slow-cook while we're sleeping. Isn't it amazing? The crockpot is doing the work for me while I sleep. So this recipe goes out to all of the stressed people in the world. :)

 

  Most kids hate lima beans (and many adults too). I love them. Always have. Always will. This recipe brings lima beans front and center. They're cooked to a buttery-soft consistency and intermingled with all kinds of other good-for-you veggies.

A's Vegan Slow-Cooker Chili

Adam and I love chili all year around, but this time of year it's especially attractive. This chunky chili is loaded with healthy veggies and can please any palate, even if you're not vegan.

This recipe is all about being healthy, flexible, and time conscious.

First, let's talk about being healthy. This recipe has nothing but vegetables and beans in it. Boom. Instantly healthy.
And it's flexible. This recipe was MADE to be customized. If you don't like a veggie, omit it. If you feel like it's missing a veggie, add it. I think that I'll double the spinach the next time I make this and I'm positive that it will turn out delicious. If this recipe was a band, it would be rubber.
And perhaps most important, the crockpot makes it so. stinking. easy. Throw everything together in the morning and let it cook all day. Dinner is served! Or throw everything together at night and let it cook while you're sleeping. It makes a great reheatable lunch to pack for work. This recipe is as healthy, flexible, and speedy as you are busy.

Mom's Cucumber Soup

My Mom makes a delicious cucumber soup that is as healthy as it is adorable. If you have extra cucumbers (exhibit A)...

Exhibit A

consider whipping up some of this simple soup (exhibit B):

Exhibit B

And if you really have an excess of cucumbers, you can use the extra to create some super refreshing cucumber water (exhibit C).

Exhibit C

Alina's Buffalo Chili

My friend Blaire lent me this awesome cookbook (found here on Amazon) called the Mitsitam Cafe Cookbook. It's full of "recipes from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian." Super cool.

Marissa has been taking a class for the last few weeks that goes until 9 pm, and so she's been too busy to make and swap food. As such, I decided to make something spicy this week since Adam and I love spicy food but Marissa and Brad don't. I picked up some ground buffalo meat from the Madison downtown farmer's market. Buffalo meat is prized for its low-fat content and has a really great flavor. The result was this amazing chili.

Adam loved this chili. He initially ate three bowls of it and would have kept going if I wouldn't have reigned him in. All weekend he just wanted to eat the leftovers.
1 pm: "Isn't it time to eat dinner yet?"
2 pm: "Is it time for dinner now?! I want that chili!"
3:30 pm: "Okay, it's dinner time, right?"
5:30: "Yes!! Finally dinner time!!"

Alina's Super Green Soup

My super green soup is a mish-mash of good for you veggies, and since it's completely natural and exceptionally healthy this soup is an all-around winner. It reminded me a little of split pea soup, maybe because of the texture but also because of the taste. Adam said he would "definitely eat it again" and it was super easy to make. This dish was a healthy success!

Marissa's Avocado Soup

Avocados are a staple in our home. My 9-month-old eats some avocado just about every day. And who doesn't love some delicious guac?

I found this book at the library called The 10 Things You Need to Eat, and I decided to make the soup on page 32 called "Avocado Soup with Cilantro, Coriander, Cumin, and Lime." I already had just about all the ingredients for it, which made it even easier.

Marissa's Vegetarian Bean Chili

I was feeling a crock pot recipe, so I decided to go with this bean chili recipe from the Food Network website. I'm typically not one to follow a recipe for chili, but I thought I would give this one a shot, and I was not disappointed.

Alina's Creamy Pumpkin Soup with Garlic Rosemary Pumpkin Seeds

This creamy pumpkin soup is a favorite of my dad's and so he encouraged me to try it. I love pumpkin dishes, so I was game. He told me that the more creamy you make this soup the better, but since I was shooting for healthy I tried to moderate the creamy factor. If you make this and aren't as concerned about it being super healthy, my dad strongly recommends adding as much cream as possible. I must admit, that would have been a delicious twist. I changed the recipe based on what I had on hand, but it's pretty close to the original recipe from my dad. This was easy to make and would be especially great as a fall dish.