Roasted Red Pepper and Smoked Gouda Soup

With fall approaching I decided to brush up on my soup making skills. When I am out at restaurants I love ordering homemade roasted red pepper and gouda soup, so I did some research online and found a recipe that I though sounded both easy and tasty…and one that didn’t call for 3 cups of cream! Although most soups have lots of sodium I like to make it as healthy as possible otherwise and a recipe that calls for 3 cups of cream would definitely not fall into that category. I used this chicks web site http://peaceloveandlowcarb.blogspot.com for my soup recipe inspiration!

What you need:
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 2 – 14.5 oz cans Fire Roasted Tomatoes
• 12 oz jar roasted red peppers
• 3 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 8 oz shredded smoked gouda cheese
• ½ cup heavy cream

Then:
• To your crock pot add the tomatoes (undrained), roasted red peppers (undrained), broth, tomato paste, basil, salt, oregano and pepper.
• In a pan over medium heat sauté the onion with the garlic and butter until soft.
• Add onion mixture to the crock pot and cook on low for about 4 hours.
• Transfer soup from crock pot to blender and puree until smooth – not all at once if it won’t fit, you don’t want soup splattered all over the kitchen!

• Pour the soup back into the crock pot and stir in the cream and some of the grated cheese. cover and cook on low for another hour.
• Top with grated cheese and enjoy!

The important stuff (per serving):

Makes 12 (1 cup) servings

• Calories: 160
• Fat: 12 g
• Carbs: 5 g
• Protein: 6 g

Chicken and Shrimp Jambalaya

Staying in the Diabetic slow cooker mood I decided to try their shrimp and chicken jambalaya recipe. I am not a HUGE onion fan, I just like to use a little to add flavor to things, and I’m also not a HUGE celery fan. I’ll eat celery all day with my wings dipped in some ranch, but as far as cooking goes I don’t care that much for it. I even try to avoid it when eating chicken noodle soup. With that being said, the original recipe called for 2 whole onions chopped up and 4 stalks of celery, but, as you can see, I cut both of these ingredients down a little.

What you need:

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
• 2 stalks celery
• ½ onion
• 1 14.5 oz can no salt added diced tomatoes – DONT DRAIN!
• 1 14.5 oz can low sodium chicken broth
• 1 ½ teaspoons Cajun seasoning
• ½ 6 oz jar no salt added tomato paste
• 2 garlic cloves minced (or 2 teaspoons of already minced garlic)
• 1 ½ cups uncooked instant brown rice
• ¼ cup chopped assorted peppers (I used green, red and yellow)
• 1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp

Then:

• Cut chicken into 3/4 inch pieces
• Add to crock pot with celery, onion, tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken broth, garlic, Cajun seasoning and some salt.
• Let cook on low for 4 ½ –  5 ½ hours or cook on high for 2 ½ – 2 ¾ hours.
• If using low, turn to high and stir in uncooked rice and peppers. Cover and cook 30 more minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed.
• Now your shrimp needs to be cooked before added. I cooked mine in a skillet on the stove with some garlic, olive oil and a dash of cajun seasoning.
• Stir in cooked shrimp right before serving.

The important stuff (per serving):

8 servings – 1 serving = 1 ½ cups

• Calories: 226
• Fat: 2 g
• Carbs: 37 g
• Sodium: 419 mg
• Protein: 24 g

before

after