Friday, January 18, 2013

Low Carb Lunch

Sometimes my diet veers off course and I need to re-focus my efforts. And sometimes I think my metabolism changes. In either case, today I worked at getting a lot of healthy bulk into my lunch, in the form of fresh vegetable soup. I paired it with a wrap instead of a sandwich, making it a lower carb version of one of our favorite lunches.
It is the same soup that I've shown here before, for the most part.  I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned, skipped the flour step and used whatever vegetables were in my refrigerator.
I added them to the pot in their order of density -- celery, carrot, onion, garlic, mushroom, tomato and corn.
When the carrots had lost their crispness, I added about half a carton of veggie broth and an equal amount of water, and let it simmer for 20 minutes to a half hour.  I used my favorite spices, including a half teaspoon of cumin, just for fun.  The bay leaf goes in last, and comes out first.  (You don't ever want to eat one of those.)  It made about 6 generous servings. The wrap has just 10 carbs, 4 of them fiber, and 50 calories.  It's an oat and multi grain mini wrap, but there are lots of different wraps out there.  This was actually a tortilla, and I heated it on my grill pan before adding ham and lettuce and tomato.  Some chopped cucumber or avocado would have been good on it, too.

4 comments:

Jimi said...

Interestingly, I, too, made some soup today, and with many of the same ingredients. I think that I added somewhat more cumin than you did, and I'm pretty sure that my addition of curry paste was not repeated in your concoction. I left out corn, but added some blueberry jam, soy sauce, and white wine. I often get carried away with the extra spices and leftover ingredients, but I'm usually satisfied with whatever level of savoriness that I attain.

I think I made more soup than you did, but I have a few extra faces to feed this week. PP, PW, and Unky Herb are eating with me this week.

Retired Professor said...

I liked the addition on the cumin, and might add more next time. I like it in lentil soup, too. I don't add soy sauce to anything.

It sounds like fun -- a full house. Soup goes fast this time of year.

Mrs Smith said...

Looks delicious and SO healthy. I made some soup today, too, but it was Lipton's Chicken Noodle (see package for directions). Maybe one of these days I will have the time and inspiration to cook like you guys . . .

Retired Professor said...

Mrs. Smith -- You're very amusing. I find it is much easier to eat healthier meals if I cook them myself.