Starting Your Day Off Right

Happy Monday!

Rewind to yesterday.

I started my Sunday off hiking with Harley at a nearby park.

 Ahh, there’s something so serene about hiking in a great park.

The rest of my day was full of football, and I’m quite a happy girl because THE GIANTS ARE IN THE SUPER BOWL!!!

Besides being glued to my TV all afternoon, I made a dinner worth sharing. Homemade tomato soup! I am a big tomato soup fan, and I usually buy the organic Trader Joe’s brand. While eating some of it last week, I decided that I should try to make my own. That very day as I was flipping through a magazine, I saw this advertisement:

(My apologizes, blurry photo courtesy of an iPhone shot.)

I decided to give it a go. I tweaked some of the ingredients a bit, and will probably do a bit more perfecting the next time I make it. The recipe is from an agave nectar ad, and ironically, I feel that the agave nectar might be optional. Next time, I plan on first tasting the soup before adding the agave to determine if some added sweetness is needed. It was easy to make, ready in half an hour, and leftovers can easily be thrown into tupperware to bring to work the next day or eat as a quick fix dinner.

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup 

Makes 4 servings.

1 celery stalk

1/4 small onion

1 fresh garlic clove

1 TBSP butter (as usual I used light Land O’ Lakes butter with canola oil)

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 cup vegetable broth

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

1/2 8 oz. package of low-fat cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 TBSP agave nectar

Salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor, add celery, onion and garlic. Pulse on high until pureed. Pour puree into large saucepan. Don’t rinse the food processor.

Add the butter to the vegetables and saute over medium heat about 10 minutes or until fragrant.

Add tomatoes, broth and half the chopped basil. Stir, then bring to a boil. Cover pot and reduce heat to medium/low. Allow to simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cut cream cheese into a couple of cubes and place in food process, along with 1 cup of hot soup. Process on high until cream cheese is dissolved, about a minute.

Add cream cheese mixture, agave nectar and remaining basil to hot soup. Stir until combined, then add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Nutrition Stats per 1 cup: 150 calories, 6 g fat, 6 g protein, 18 g carbs

My breakfast today: cantaloupe and cottage cheese

As I was eating a nutritious breakfast this morning, I got to thinking about how the way you start your morning really sets the pace for the whole day. If you wake up rushed and stressed, that feeling tends to linger on. It’s also true in the opposite sense – if you do a few minutes of meditation or go for a run first thing, your mind and body will be stronger throughout the day. It’s the same principle with what you eat for breakfast. If you shove a doughnut in your face, or any other food that does nothing for you nutritionally, you’re setting yourself up for a day of crappy eating. By eating a healthy breakfast, you’re empowering yourself to make better, more conscious food choices (and hopefully life choices in general!) throughout the day. I challenge you to start your day off right and eat a healthful breakfast all week long!