Eat Your Veggies
Hey y’all! Happy Bachelor Night Monday!
My afternoon went by pretty quickly. After charging my Garmin, I headed out with my i-phone (gotta have a podcast!) and the dogs for a walk. I decided to walk the dogs over to campus, where Ryan was doing course prep, to surprise him. Unfortunately, when I got to our office (we share one), he wasn’t there! I called him to see where he was, and he said he’d just walked in the front door to our house. Doh! U-turn!
It was pretty cold outside, and Baxter was getting colder by the minute, so Ryan came and picked us up when we were about halfway home. It’s just too cold out there for a little guy!
Having missed out on the long walk I wanted, I agreed to go to the gym with Ryan for a little more cardio. We always go to our gym in the morning, when it is relatively empty, and now I’m glad we do—it was PACKED this afternoon! I also feel like I get such a better workout in when I do it in the morning—by the afternoon, my energy levels are seriously lacking. I had to really push myself just to eke out thirty minutes on the elliptical and 10 minutes of weights. I’m definitely a morning person in all respects—work, play…everything!
We got home around 5:15, showered, cleaned up, and got to work on some dinner. Soup was on the menu tonight!
Eat Your Veggies Soup
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2-3 carrots, chopped
2-3 celery stalks, chopped
1 cup fresh broccoli, chopped
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen green beans
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. lemon pepper
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1 1 lb., 12 oz. can diced tomatoes with juice
5 cups vegetable stock
1 cup Morningstar veggie crumbles
Directions:
In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, heat olive oil. Add onions, carrots, and celery and cook for 5-10 minutes, until they have begun to soften but have not yet begun to brown. Add broccoli, corn, green bean, and spices. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add tomatoes and stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook for 30 minutes or longer. Before serving, stir in veggie crumbles and allow to cook for another 5-10 minutes.
Yum, yum! My mom used to make a soup just like this when I was growing up, so it’s definitely comforting to me.
Soup in a Leaf:
I realized something was missing:
Crackers!!! What good is soup without crackers?
This soup was healthy, simple…and made a BIG pot of soup! We froze about half, and put half in the fridge for Ryan to eat while I’m gone this week and weekend.
Sugar Challenge:
The sugar challenge went okay today. My breakfast was a little high in sugar, but lunch balanced it out. I was disappointed to see that my probiotic chew, which I take along with my vitamins, had 3 grams of sugar!?! Hmmmm…not buying these again!
Also, before we went to the gym, I was starvin’ marvin, so I wanted a quick snack. Whenever I want a quick, easy snack that will sit well before a workout, I usually reach for a bar of some sort, but as I was looking at the bars in our pantry, I realized that they are ALL full of sugar! None of them had less than 10 grams, and some of them had upwards of 20…and these are “healthy” bars. I finally decided on a Luna bar, which clocked in at 11 grams of sugar—not too bad, but still pretty high for just an afternoon snack.
Anywho…here are the tallies for the day:
- millet bread: 6 grams
- almond butter: 2 grams
- probiotic: 3 grams
- luna bar: 11 grams
- crackers: 2 grams
Total sugar: 24 grams
Aaaaaand, they just played the instrumental version of “On the Wings of Love.” This episode is off to a great start. 
See you tomorrow, kids!
Soup would be perfect for dinner tonight, too bad I don’t have all the ingredients I need to make a big batch. I like your leaf shaped bowl!
That’s under 100 calories of sugar and only 6 teaspoons–I think you’re doing fantastic on the challenge!
I am Shocked how much sugar is in some Clif bars
what a great looking soup!
and probiotics with sugar..not surprised as the bacteria needs something to feed off of. however, that’s probably totally separate to the added sugar they put in. Just speculating though.
Delicious looking soup! Love all those veggies!
Wow you’re doing great on the challenge! Good job!
I’m curious as to how much sugar I consume! I want to count!
Nice work on the sugar challenge! You morning exercisers are on to something- it is so less crowded at the gym… I really enjoyed it today!
Larabars have more sugar, but it’s from the fruit. Maybe that’d count on your plan?
That soup looks good. I love me some vegetable soup. It’s my favorite kind.
Nice work on the sugar, that’s hard to do!
I LOVE that bowl the soup was in! Where did you find it???
Pier One!
Fat guy in a little coat! That always cracks me up!
Where in PA are you?
I’m in Altoona– where are you??
WATCHING THE ROSE CEREMONY RIGHT NOW .. as i type!! go tenley!!
I can’t believe he kept Vienna…AGAIN!!!!
lol– the look on Ali’s face is priceless!
ooh that is a yummy soup.
This sugar challenge is proving to be super interesting and it’s only day one! SO glad you thought this up.
Wow, you’re rockin the sugar challenge! Only 24 grams sounds undoable for me! Are the sugars in luna bars added? Just asking since they’re supposedly make with real fruits and grains.
Unfortunately watching the Bachelor gets On the Wings of Love stuck in my head every time I watch…
I love that leaf bowl!!!!
I tried being more mindful of my sugar intake last year and I couldn’t believe HOW much sugar was in [almost] everything. I got a little too attached to lowering my sugar intake so I stopped…it just lead me to crazy cravings and sugar binges. I need to start looking at sugar again though. I think my intake might be creepin’ up!
That soup looks great, think I need to do a bean soup in the slow cooker this week!
Sugar is in everything, even non-sweet frozen meals, it’s insane! One of my favorite pre-workout snacks is fresh apple slices with raw almond butter – no bad sugar
Also frozen grapes make a great naturally sweet dessert. Good luck with this challenge, I noticed a huge mood swing decline when I cut refined sugars out.
That soup looks so vibrant and colorful! Love it.
I bet that soup warmed you right up!
That is a beautiful bowl that you have dinner in!
I was thinking of you last night as I ate my bowl of Coconut Bliss, Cappuccino flavor. 12 grams of sugar per serving – not bad for ice cream I thought
Definitely not bad!!! Considerably less than most of the “health” bars I was looking at yesterday!
i “know” i could and probably should make soup….but i still am lazy….Amys anyone
nice recipe Anna.
I guess great minds think alike when it comes to soup on Monday!! I love toasted ciabatta bread with my soups, to dunk. I love crackers with my chili though. Does the workout in the afternoon at least give you an energy boost? I typically workout after work, and while I feel like I often have to force myself to get started, once I get going I have a 2nd wind.
Wow you are doing great on the sugar challenge! It’s crazy when you realize how much sugar are in some of those bars…
That is so interesting about the sugar in the healthy bars! I have been contemplating making some of my own — I have seen some recipes around the blogosphere — and I figured maybe if you made them at home they could have less sugar?
I never look at the sugar content of anything before I eat it. I’m more focused on the calories/fat/protein/fiber. I should really start paying attention to this, it sounds like there are hidden sugars everywhere!
What a cool bowl! The soup looks really fall like in it.
I avoid bars mostly because of the sugar content…but once in a while they are okay!
So crazy about Vienna huh? They must do some creative editing to make her look so unpleasant.
I agree, lol…I think a TON of editing is involved in the entire show, from start to finish!!
I love that leaf dish!
I had forgotten that I used to make soup like that, but I did, didn’t I? I need to make some again – yours looked wonderful! I found some of the Almond Milk you told me about – it is delicious!! I had it on cereal this morning and will be putting it in my coffee from now on. Thanks for the tip!
Yep! Now if only I could find some way to make those english muffin crab cakes vegetarian
What a cute bowl!?! And that soup looks great. What a tasty way to consume SO MANY VEGGIES!
I love your leaf bowl! So adorable, and the perfect serving for that delicious-looking soup!
I’ve been looking at the sugar content on my own food far more since you started doing this, and I realized the same thing about bars. I had a Lara yesterday, which has 20 grams (!) but since the ingredient list is so small, at least they were all natural from the dates!
Have a great day!
Anna…that soup looks amazing!! I want a bowl of that now! YUM! And I think you are doing AWESOME on the sugar challenege! Way to go girl!
I wish I weren’t such a woos in the cold. I want to go on a nice long walk. Yours sounds like it was fun
That soup DOES sound good! I’ve been looking for a good veggie soup so I will have to bookmark that one. And bars do have a lot of sugar unfortunately. That’s one thing I refuse to give up, I love my bars. Especially Glo Bars… holy cow, those things are amazing!