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!

soup1

• 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!

soup3

The important stuff (per serving):

Makes 12 (1 cup) servings

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

I’m Back with Tomato Basil Chicken Roll Ups

Wow, I have been MIA from the blog world for too long. Between moving, starting a new job and the holidays I have been neglecting ragan’s remarkable renditions! With that being said, I have a new recipe to start off the new year. I got it from the magazine Food and Family and was very pleased with how it turned out!

What you need:

– boneless, skinless chicken breasts thin sliced
*I used 6, we ate 2 each…this recipe is nice because you can easily alter it to work with how many people you are cooking for!
– 4oz cream cheese, softened
– 2 green onions, finely chopped ( I am SO not an onion fan, but add these, they make the recipe!)
– 6 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
– 8oz shredded Italian cheese
– your favorite spaghetti sauce
– garlic (optional)

Then:

– mix cream cheese, onions, 2 tablespoons of basil, 1/2 cup of shredded cheese (or a little more!) until well blended
– shape into logs (I made 6, because I have 6 breasts)
– place one log on one end of a piece of chicken and roll up tightly, tucking in the ends of the chicken to fully cover the filling
– place seam side down in a greased up baking dish (i poured a little sauce in bottom of pan and spread evenly)
– do this with each log and piece of chicken
– top with more spaghetti sauce (I of course mix some garlic in with my sauce before pouring on top)
– bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes
– top with remaining shredded cheese and bake for an additional 3-5 minutes
– sprinkle remaining basil on top and enjoy!!

The important stuff:

Per serving (6 servings)

Calories – 247
Fat – 13.14 g
Carbs – 7.52 g
Sodium – 468.12 mg
Protein – 23.4 g

PICTURES COMING SOON!!!!!