All Quiet on the Midwestern Front

I see that I haven't posted in a while, and in the meantime, some new folks have become followers of this site. Welcome, and I'm sorry I've been so inactive.

Honestly, I just haven't done much that I considered blogworthy. I've been cooking the same old things. They're still delicious, just not anything I haven't posted about already or that wasn't incredibly basic (brown rice with vinaigrette, anyone?). For example, tonight's dinner was zucchini-potato hashbrowns made with a shredded zucchini (liquid mostly squeezed out) and shredded leftover baked potato. I browned them up in a skillet with a little olive oil, grill seasoning and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast. (I'm still trying to find ways to use nutritional yeast.) I also had green beans with Earth Balance on the side. It was a wonderful and filling meal, but very basic and I didn't take a picture.

I've been reading a lot of other blogs lately and frankly, it's intimidating. There are so many well-written, beautifully photographed sites out there that my little blog is pretty rinky-dink by comparison. You'd think that I'd be inspired by all those great sites, but instead I just think that I'm not very creative with recipes and not that great a writer. Sigh.

But enough with this self-pity party...one new recipe I've discovered through my blog surfing has been Green Monster smoothies. Actually, I've only made one, but I was amazed at how delicious it was and how I couldn't taste the greens at all! In a blender, I mixed spinach leaves, a ripe banana, green seedless grapes, flaxseed, almond milk and vanilla extract until super smooth. Even Daughter loved it! This may be my new secret weapon to get some greens into her diet. (Son wasn't interested in it at all. One small victory at a time, I supposed.) I plan to try another Green Monster with kale - a nutritional powerhouse that I just can't stand to eat.

Hot Soup on a Cold Day

Temperatures are in the single digits here in our little corner of the Midwest - sounds like a good excuse to make some tasty, hot soup! Especially when you can just dump the ingredients in the Crock-Pot and forget about it for eight hours. (By the way, I'm most impressed with my soup picture - you can even see the steam pouring off it! Not bad for our lower-end camera!)

Vegetable Bean Soup
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrot
1/2 cup diced onion (I used Ore Ida frozen diced onion)
1 large green bell pepper, cut into bite-sized dice
1 medium potato, skin left on, cut into bite-sized dice
1 container sliced mushrooms
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilis, not drained
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. black pepper
1 carton vegetable stock

Add all ingredients to large Crock-Pot. Cook on low for eight hours. Enjoy!