#FitReaders- Weekly Check-In June 30, 2017

#FitReaders

 

I made another Vitamix soup. This one is much more successful than the first one, and I ate it for lunch all week. I did decide to scale back on the vegetables and be more reasonable about my expectations for getting at least a serving of vegetables at dinner. I also went back to the actual USDA recommendations for vegetables.

Here is my current recipe for what I am calling Sneaky Tomato Soup.

• 1 box beef broth/4 cups (or chicken if you aren’t a freak like me who likes their tomato soup beefy)
• 1 cup broccoli (roasted)
• 1 cup spinach
• 2 cans Basil, Garlic, Oregano diced tomatoes (=3.5 cups)
• 1 cup fresh campari tomatoes roasted
• 1 cup carrots (roasted)
• 2 cups corn (roasted)
• 2 cups celery
• 2 cups onion (roasted)
• 2 cloves garlic (roasted)

Roast any roasted vegetables in the oven at 425 for about 20-25 minutes. Put all ingredients into a pot then add enough water to equal 4 or so quarts (add bouillon cubes if you like yours beefy and salty and your diet can handle it-I added 4 but I am a Campbell’s plebe) and simmer down until you reach 3.5 quarts. Split into two batches and use Vitamix soup program or equivalent. Then pour back into pot and mix well. Then split into seven 2-cup mason jars. Put about half in the fridge and the other half in the freezer.

So for Women 31-50 the USDA recommends the following vs what is in my soup:

Dark Green Vegetables: 1.5 Cups        vs       1.5 cups

Red/Orange Vegetables: 5.5 cups       vs       5.5 cups

Beans and Peas: 1.5 cups      vs            NONE

Starchy Vegetables: 5 cups      vs      2 cups

“Other” Vegetables: 4 cups      vs      4 cups

This leaves me to get 1.5 cups of beans/peas and 3 cups “starchy” vegetables. Beans are easy as I will easily eat refried beans, lentils, or even navy beans. I could even swap them in, in lieu of the nuts I am eating with the soup for lunch now. And of course once I get the rest of the recipe down I can add them to it either whole or mixed in. But since starchy vegetables are only listed as being  corn, green peas, or white potatoes…they are a little trickier than other vegetables to stick into soup. I can and will eat mashed potatoes, but somehow that seems like a cop out. And corn really isn’t the best choice for me, though I do better with it than I used to.

The big sub I am considering making for this week is to trade the carrots out for red bell pepper, which should increase the red color in the soup nicely. I suspect the orange I got was at least in part due to the carrots. But if anyone has any suggestions for what else might constitute a “starchy” vegetable, that would be good.

Stats: Week June 24- July 1, 2017

So another nice consistent week. I should probably adjust my goals since I am so consistently exceeding the set ones, but it makes me a little neurotic that it would make it look like I didn’t previously meet my goals. I am 0.5 lbs from my goal weight  and my actual sleep is still going well. I am very carefully trying to not rock the boat, though eating dinner so early is a struggle. FitBit’s sleep stages unfortunately is on the fritz again, so that is disappointing. But otherwise, a good week. I still need to get June’s 5K, so I will have to double up July, but the weather has been uncooperative. The rain isn’t the hugest issues, but lightening isn’t something to mess with.