Soup weather!

Woke up this morning in the freezing cold.  Seems that during the night winter decided not to give fall it's turn!  I had a breakfast cookie waiting in the fridge but it appeared that a hungry husband had been snacking on it!  So I found a pack of instant oatmeal to eat with my banana and yogurt.  This oatmeal isn't bad.  I'm sure it has more sugar than I need but at least it's organic sugar. 

Speaking of sweetners. I am trying to break my Sweet N' Low habit.  I just hate the thought of drinking calories.  I like to eat way too much for that!  Also I cannot tolerate the taste of Splenda.  I don't know why the rest of the world likes it so much.  I makes me literally sick sometimes.  So I go old school and tempt bladder cancer with the pink stuff.  In my quest for natural calorie free sweetners I've tried 4 varieties of stevia.  This is the only one I halfway enjoy.  It's a mix of stevia and cane sugar.  It has 5 calories per pack.  I still taste a licorice taste (not as bad as with Truvia or Sweet Leaf) that I'm not fond of but I'm forcing myself to drink it all week to see if I can adapt to it.  Wish me luck.

 

Lunch was leftover sheperd's pie and a V8.  I also ate an apple for dessert but I didn't get a picture of it.  I love leftovers. 

Tuesday is kickboxing night so I knew dinner wouldn't be until 8.  I needed a substantial snack so I had my absolute favorite Cliff Bar.  The peanut butter and jelly Mojo.  It's heaven in bar form.  It has pretzel pieces in it.  Yumtastic. By the way kickboxing was great.  It was leg night.  I love leg night.  Lots of kicking, squats, and lunges.  I especially like the kicking/squat combos.  They really get my heart rate up.  I burned 588 calories!

For dinner I decided to make a soup mix I got at the store this weekend.  I looked at all the bean soups and kept seeing those nasty powdered flavoring packets that I call the sodium packet and I knew I didn't want that.  Then I found this one the top shelf practically out of reach.  It's beans, pasta, herbs, and spices.  Nothing else.  Not even salt! 

To make it into this lovely soup I sauteed garlic, carrots, and mushrooms in olive oil, added canned diced tomatoes, beef stock, water, and the soup and herbs.  I simmered it while kickboxing and then added the pasta when I got home.  In a few short minutes we were ready to eat.  I served it with my homemade bread and some butter.  I sprinkled some parmesan on it too.  It's a great soup for a cold night!

For dessert I had half of a chocolate ganache cupcake and half of a key lime. I'm glad to say they have all been given away or eaten now so they will no longer be calling my name!