Blondie Soup and Pizza Tonight

I know the name is pretty lame, but it's all I can think of since the soup is yellow. It's my own creation, but inspired from a recipe a friend gave me called lasagna soup. The lasagna soup is a tomato-based version filled with ground Italian sausage and veggies. I decided to make a hearty wintry version instead. Here's the low-down:

• 32 oz. chicken broth
• 32 oz. butternut squash soup
• Trader Joe's soup mix (2 cups worth of chopped carrots, celery and onion)
• 4 chopped garlic cloves
• 2-4 sliced zucchinis (small slices or chopped)
• 2-4 sliced yellow squash (small slices or chopped)
• 1 cup fresh mushrooms
• 1 cup of rotini noodles
• 1 package of Trader Joe's garlic chicken sausage (or 1lb ground turkey sausage), sliced
• 1 cup of baby spinach leaves
• fresh mozzarella slices
• tbsp cumin
• tbsp cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

It seems like a lot of ingredients, but honestly, you can buy almost all of these items already chopped (have I mentioned Trader Joe's is my obsession, or does everyone get the point?). Plus, once you chop everything up, all you do is toss them in a huge pot and let everything boil. As far as the seasoning goes, just make it spicy as you like it. You don't necessarily need the cumin or cayenne, but I like the kick (I'm a spice fanatic).

Place slices of fresh mozzarella on bottom of soup bowl. Pour boiling soup on top, and let it cool just a bit (trust me, you do not want to burn your tongue on this). ENJOY!

Okay, one more food mention and I'm done for the night... PIZZA TONIGHT.

I recently discovered a new make-at-home pizza and I think I'm in love. I don't usually eat pizza. Pizza was always a trigger for me as an overweight kid. I can never stop eating it, and I like the most unhealthy toppings too. I've even ordered a chicken parm slice and a baked ziti slice of pizza before. Who needs a meal on top of a meal, honestly??? So back to the amazing pizza. It's a dpizza kit you can buy at the Farmer's Market (SOTJ), Belmont Butchery, and Elwood Thompson grocery store. The kit comes with 2 balls of homemade dough, a cup of their amazing marinara and secret seasonings. You provide the toppings and cheese. We made our pizza with sliced sun-dried tomato chicken sausage, fresh garlic cloves, mushrooms, mozzarella and feta cheese. It was heavenly.

So, I will post soon on fitness since I've been talking about food quite a bit lately. I've gotten into a cooking kick ever since I started shopping more at Trader Joe's, and my workouts haven't changed much - spin, run, stair climb. I'm going to transition into run, bike, swim and lifting next month to prep for the 10K and of course the up-coming triathlon season. I'll keep you posted!