Vegetable Barley Soup Au Pistou - Sub in Brown Rice

I've never made this soup because I'm allergic to barley. I know, poor me I can't drink beer! Last weekend I had so many veggies left over from our Christmas party that I was scouring the GI diet cookbook looking for a recipe that had as many vegetables in it as I could find. This one had alot! It includes carrots, celery, leeks, zucchini, and red peppers.

So instead of using barley I substituted in some brown rice and it worked out quite well. Right towards the end of this recipe you mix in some pesto. There is even a recipe for your own homemade pesto. Since I just happened to have some decently healthy store bought pesto in the fridge I used it instead.

I found this recipe posted on line. So click on the link below if you want to try it out.
Vegetable Barley Soup Au Pistou

SERVED WITH: A piece of spelt toast (Spelt is a yellow light item. I am currently trying to stay sugar free at the same time as staying wheat free due to a suspected wheat allergy in the household so I have had to resort to spelt. It's spelt or starve, so spelt it is for now.)

COOKING TIPS: Don't waste to much time cutting up your veggies. Just give them a quick chop chop and toss them in the pot. If you have any left overs that you plan on eating the next day you may have to add in some more stock or even a touch of water. Because I made mine with rice it soaked up most of the broth. I am not sure if the same thing would happen with barely though as I have never cooked with it.

RATING 7. It was fine, not overly flavorful. I might make it again.

Ham and Split Pea Soup

Making soup is so easy! You just chop every thing up, throw it all in the pot and let it simmer. This recipe does however require a little bit of time as you have to leave it on the stove for an hour and a half. I had the day off so I spent the morning in the kitchen preparing a few things for the week so I would not have to cook every night. I assembled this first and by the time I was done everything else the soup was done. When we ate it the next day I actually had to add in some more water as it was pretty thick. I also added a touch of salt and pepper to taste.

SERVED WITH: A piece of whole wheat toast. It makes a great meal on a chilly fall day.

COOKING TIPS: This was the very first time I had used split peas and I didn't understand why the recipe said to wash and sort the split peas first. So I looked it up on google and found out that the purpose of sorting the peas is to make sure no random stones or chunks of dirt have made it into the bag and inadvertently into your soup.

RATING: 7. It is definitely better then the canned versions I am used to and now that I know it is so easy to make I doubt I will go back.

Quinoa, Bean and Vegetable Chili

The last time I made this vegetarian chili I had a bunch of friends over for dinner. We were so hungry from going on a long run in preparation for our half marathon that I didn't get a chance to take a picture before we ate it. This time I did. So...voila...here it is...

If you want to read my original post on the dish click the link below
Quinoa, Bean and Vegetable Chili

SERVED WITH: I sprinkled some cut up cilantro (also know as coriander) over top for some added flavor.

COOKING TIPS: The smaller you chop up the vegetables the quicker it will cook. I chopped up all my veggies and laid out my spice jars on the counter the night before to make preparing this meal quicker when I got home from work.

RATING: 9. A healthy vegetarian dish that fills you up and tastes great.

Runner's World Meatloaf

This is one of my old stand by recipes. It is not in the GI cookbook. I got it from Runner's World Magazine. It is a pretty healthy dish consisting of lean ground beef, a ton of veggies, and oatbran.
Get the recipe by clicking here.

My dish came out quite wet and didn't serve up in perfect slices but it tasted great anyways. Yes I know it looks ok in the picture but that is only because I squished it together so that it would look appetizing for the photo. What is even better is I have plenty of left overs for lunch for a few days.

SERVED WITH: I had to get a little creative with the veggies this week. I used what I had in the crisper. So we ended up with a side salad, green beans and fried mushrooms. Now that I have been on a healthy eating kick for the past two weeks I am even finding myself eating my veggies plain without any butter or salt. I am learning to enjoy the natural flavor of vegetables. Well I lie, the mushrooms were fried in some butter...that is what makes them taste so good! :)

COOKING TIPS: The trick with the dish is finely chopping the vegetables so that they cook all the way through. I don't have a food processor so I just spend a few extra minutes chopping, chopping and chopping.

RATING: 9. It tastes great and is full of healthy ingredients.