Meatless Mondays

Vegetable Soup Two Ways

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There are simply days when it’s time to eat lightly or cut back a little. Even if you’re not on WW (Weight Watchers) or following some other sort of weight-loss program, a few bowls of colorful all-vegetable soup might be just what you need today or even exactly as the doctor ordered. (“Eat more fiber!”) Maybe you overdid it at the restaurant Saturday night or at the neighbor’s brunch on Sunday; you could have skipped your workouts last week. Whatever…I’m guessing this could be your soup this week–great for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow.

I have made this easy potful for years and it’s even been blogged before. Today it was time to rewrite the recipe and add its second-day version (baked in a bowl with an egg in the middle!) right here in the same post.

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INSTANT POT Butternut and Yellow Squash Soup

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Need a little basic Instant Pot (IP) info? Scroll down to bottom of post.

I not long ago had a chat with a fellow food writer. No need to mention names and you’ll see why.  The subject of Instant Pots came up. This person pointed out the box that had been sitting for weeks, maybe months, in his/her closet. And, yes, you know what was in that box:  an Instant Pot. (IP).  A slow shake of the head, a flutter of the eyelashes, and a tiny slide of the mouth to one side indicated distaste with even touching that parcel, much less figuring out how to cook with it. “Someday,” s/he shrugged.

What is an Instant Pot anyway? (People ask this regularly in the winter of 2018.)

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Curried Butternut Squash-Lentil Soup

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Later in the evening one night last week, Dave (better know as “the hub”) and I  decided to go out for a light dinner and drink. If you wait until 9:00 in Colorado Springs, or maybe in many smaller cities, your choices are often pizza or burgers… or a hop over to one of the all-night breakfast places.  One large brewery nearby stays open until midnight and we ran over there, ordering a glass of white wine for me and a beer for Dave, perusing the menu while we nursed our drinks. This particular food list came equipped with calorie counts and, reading through the long list of available food, I was again flabbergasted by the calories involved in meat dishes versus vegetable and grain meals–especially given the holiday time of year.

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Mango-Avocado Salad with Fresh Mozzarella and Basil

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It’s a blissful day when what appears to be languishing on the counter or in the fridge comes together into a sumptuous, healthy, fun meal that easily solves the question, “What’s to eat?” on an oh-so-hot afternoon. Here’s today’s tale:

For Christmas, my in-laws generously ordered Dave and me a year’s subscription to Harry & David’s paired fruit and cheese. Each month a new treat arrives and we never know what the box will hold. Sometimes there’re apples and Cheddar or perhaps pears with Manchego; this last time there were tiny yellow-gold mangos plus a citrus-ginger BellaVitano. Instead of pairing the most recent delivery as we were meant to do, we sliced up the some of the fruit for our morning yogurt/granola...

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