Moroccan Carrot Soup

Once again, another delicious soup recipe from my oldest sister.
(That pumpkin one was hers too)
Ingredients:
2 T butter
1 cup chopped white onion
1 pound large carrots, peeled, cut into 1 inch chunks
2 1/2 cups veggie or chicken broth
1 1/2 t ground cumin
1 T honey
1 t lemon juice
1/8 t ground allspice
1/2 cup plain yogurt or milk

Directions:
Saute onion in butter or oil until translucent. Mix in carrots and broth and bring to boil. Simmer until carrots are very tender, about 20 minutes. Remove soup from heat and puree in blender until smooth. Return to pan and whisk in honey, lemon juice, allspice, cumin, and yogurt or milk. Sean with salt and pepper to taste. Can serve over rice.

Crock Pot Version: Saute onion in butter over stove. When translucent, transfer to crock pot with carrots and broth and leave on low for 5-6 hours or on high 3-4 hours. When ready puree in blender and return to crock pot to add honey, lemon juice, allspice, cumin and yogurt/milk. Season with salt and pepper and serve!
I served it with bread from our breadmaker this time... YUM!

Number Of Servings:4 lg servings (155 cals/bowl) or 6 small ones

Once again.. Orange soup is really hard to make appealing- looking in pictures... but trust me... Its delicious!

Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake

Is that recipe title long enough for you?

I got this recipe from the Kraft Foods magazine that I used to receive in the mail... until I moved and I couldn't get the subscription changed over for some reason...Sad.

This recipe makes 4 servings and each serving is only 460 calories! This was delicious- especially for being under 500 calories!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups multigrain penne pasta, uncooked
9 oz. fresh spinach leaves
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1 tsp dried basil
1 jar (14 1/2 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
2 oz. Neufchatel cheese, cubed (you could use cream cheese if you aren't worried about the calorie content)
1 cup Mozzarella Cheese
2 Tbsp. Parmesan Cheese

Right after I took the picture of my ingredients, my little cheese-monger stole a whole bunch of cheese and I had to grate more.
Heat oven to 375. Cook and stir chicken and basil in large skillet. Add sauce and tomatoes; bring to boil. Simmer 3 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked. Stir in Neufchatel cheese.
Cook pasta according to package directions
Add the spinach to the boiling water for last 1 minute. Remember that spinach will boil down to almost nothing when you put it in the water, so put in WAY more spinach than you think you should... TRUST ME!

Drain pasta mixture and add to skillet of chicken, tomatoes and sauce. Add 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and stir until mixed well.
Transfer to a baking dish. I used an 8x8 pan. Bake 20 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese. Bake 3 more minutes.
You could easily make this vegetarian by just leaving out the chicken and it would still be delicious! Enjoy!

(Picture from Kraft Foods magazine, pg. 22 Holiday '08/Winter '09 Magazine)