Bulletproof-Esque

I am sure y'all have heard the rage about Bulletproof Coffee.  I had a lot of doubts about it.  I mean how could it not be oily and how in the world could it be good for you?  Well, I bit the bullet (no pun intended) and decided to see what the fuss was about.  I was pleasantly surprised.

Here's how I made mine.  It is not how Bulletproof is supposed to be made, but as someone who is over weight and wants to lose weight, I just could not bring myself to add butter....

I N G R E D I E N T S

1 standard coffee cup full of HOT coffee

1 Tbls coconut oil

M E T H O D

Put the two ingredients into blender and blend for at least a minute until the oil is completely emulsified in the coffee.

Drink it while it is hot.  When it starts to cool down too much the oil will begin to separate.

This drink is so luxurious.  You would think it had a ton of cream in it, when in fact it is dairy free.  Granted, I am skeptical about how healthy this drink is as not enough research has been done on coconut oil to prove that it is more healthy than harmful.  From what I have read, researchers have yet to determine if coconut oil has harmful saturated fats or not.  It does appear, based on some reading, that it can help support weight loss as well as increase the amount of HDL cholesterol in your body (the good stuff).  I will not be making this on the regular, but it is a great treat drink.  It will be especially good on those mornings that I do not have time to sit down and eat.

Have a happy Tuesday!

Butternut Squash Soup with Bacon & Apples

Fall brings out the chef in me.  I love warm and cozy meals, especially if they are easy one-pot meals. This soup is creamy, hearty and decadent..oh did I mention it is semi-healthy...minus the bacon?  You have got to make this soon!  It would be a perfect dish for after the pumpkin patch.  You can chop everything up ahead of time (except for the sage, which has a tendency to turn black around the edges once cut).

I got the idea to make this soup from a Food Network Magazine a couple of years ago.  They had an insert in the mag on 50 ways to use canned pumpkin.  In there was a recipe for pumpkin soup with apples and bacon.  I am not the biggest fan of canned pumpkin unless its being used in desserts, so I decided to swap the squash.

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| INGREDIENTS |

2 Medium Butternut Squash, diced into half inch pieces (roughly 5 cups).

2 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cut into half inch pieces 

(chopped up apples and squash ahead of time, squeezed lemon on them to prevent oxidation)

1 pkg Center Cut Bacon, chopped **

6 C Low-sodium Chicken Broth

2 C Fat-Free Half & Half

1 T finely chopped fresh Sage

1/8 t Cinnamon

Salt and Pepper to taste

| METHOD |

1. In a stock-pot, stainless preferably, cook your bacon until dark brown and crunchy.  Place on paper towels to drain.  You want to have the browned bits on the bottom of the pan to flavor the soup, which is why it is preferable to have stainless.

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2. Remove a little over half of the bacon fat from the pot, leaving enough to saute squash.  Add the squash and cook on medium-high heat for ten minutes.  Do not stir too often, you want to squash to brown a little.

3. Once the squash has began to soften, add apples, sage, cinnamon and saute for another 5 minutes.

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4. Add chicken broth, salt and pepper and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a simmer.  Cook for around 10 minutes or until squash and apples are extremely soft.

5. Remove from heat, ladle a cup of squash soup mixture into the half & half to temper it.  This will help keep it from curdling.  Once tempered pour back into the pot and stir.

6. Add half of the cooked bacon back to the pot, reserving the other half for garnish.

7. Using an immersion stick blender, blend the soup until very smooth.

8. Serve in crisp white bowls and top with additional bacon, apples and sage.

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This dish is such a satisfying fall soup that is hearty without being too heavy. It would make a great appetizer soup too!  The recipe ended up making roughly 7 large servings...or in our case 4 servings with 4 small seconds!

No Chop Potato Soup

We have had nothing, but gloomy rain here in Georgia for the last two weeks.  Its been hot and muggy for some of it, cold and wet the rest.  According to the Weather Channel, there is no end in sight either!  Rainy weather always makes me want warm soup.

Saturday night, Hubs and I had a date night in.  Some of our best date nights have been when we have stayed home.  Normally, we love to cook together, but we both weren't feeling doing all of that so I decided to throw a bunch of stuff in the crock-pot and call it potato soup.  Lo and behold, it turned out delicious!  It tasted very similar to O'Charley's Loaded Potato Soup.

INGREDIENTS

1 bag O'Brien hash brown potatoes (frozen)*
1 can of cream of chicken
32 oz box lower sodium chicken broth
8 oz low fat cream cheese, softened
1 Tbls garlic (I used pre-chopped)
1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
1/4 tsp Chipotle Chili Powder
3 slices of bacon, crumbled (optional)
green onions, chopped (optional)
black pepper (optional)

* O'Brien potatoes are just chopped potato hash browns with bell peppers and onions already chopped up in the bag with them...This is key to keeping your soup chop free!

METHOD

Put everything into the crock-pot, except for the cream cheese, and stir until combined.  Cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 5 hours.  An hour before serving, stir in cream cheese and cook bacon until crisp.  It is good break off cream cheese into smaller pieces before putting into the soup.  Helps it melt into soup quicker.  

When ready to serve, top with shredded cheddar, crumbled bacon and chopped green onions.  I didn't have any green onions when I made it and missed having them on my soup.

This soup is so filling and yummy.  It really hit the spot on a cold rainy night.  I plan to make this as a broccoli cheddar soup next time.  Will post that recipe as soon as I make it!

    *This recipe was adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything