Soup's On

With school in session and a busy schedule of extracurricular activities, I am always looking for easy one-pot dinners. Soup is always a healthy and easy option. Tonight I tried a new one for us - a posole soup inspired by a recipe in this month's Real Simple magazine. (If you haven't already, you should definitely check out this month's issue - there's a full month of easy, delicious, healthy recipes).

Posole features hominy, a dense and hearty corn product. It is a Mexican soup. I had never tasted hominy before, it was very mild and added a nice substance and texture to each bite. The original recipe was a little spicier, and I left out the chili peppers, and added some other veggies to make the soup more family-friendly.

Here is my modified version of the Real Simple recipe:

Ingredients:

3 carrots, peeled & diced

1/2 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, peeled & finely chopped

1-32 oz box of vegetable stock

1-28 oz can of petite diced tomatoes

1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 pkg mushrooms, sliced

1-15 oz can hominy, drained

1 roast chicken, remove & discard skin & bones, shred meat into bite-size portions

Directions:

In a cast iron Dutch oven (or other soup pot), heat up some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), and saute the onion, garlic and carrots until soft (about 5 minutes). Add the stock, tomatoes, pepper and mushrooms and bring to a boil. Add chicken and hominy and simmer for about 5 minutes. Enjoy!

We served this with a beautiful salad with fresh, locally grown greens, tomatoes and cucumbers as well as a freshly baked loaf of ciabatta bread from Omega Artisan Bakery. Gotta love the North Market! A healthy 30 minute meal, from fresh, (mostly) locally grown ingredients!

Today's workout:

33 min. elliptical (3.06 mi)

60 min. yoga private training session

60 min. yoga practice