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Meal Planning Made Simple
I often hear from friends and clients about their desire to eat healthfully. Yet their busy lives seem to get in the way of doing the planning needed to make it happen. I thought some of you might be interested in a business run by a creative colleague called Eat Well Meal Plans.
Eat Well Meal Plans provides complete, balanced, and healthy meal plans for dinner - 5 days a week by email. Instead of resorting to processed or take-out foods on those busiest
of days, Eat Well Meal Plans does the planning and
provides the recipes along with the corresponding
shopping lists so you can confidently prepare better meals.
The founder of Eat Well Meal Plans, Jennifer Cohen Katz R.D., is a registered dietitian with a passion for food and cooking. She pairs her culinary arts training with her nutrition science knowledge in order to offer nourishing meals which also please the palates of her clients.
She's offering a 90 day free trial so you really have nothing to lose by giving it a try!
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Contact Me
If you or someone you know needs help improving their diet, click here to contact me.
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Cream of Tomato Soup with Toasted Pepitas
About a month ago I picked all my green tomatoes on the vine and put them in an open box on a counter in my basement. Imagine my delight this past weekend when I went to check on them and they had all turned red! Of course these will not be as sweet as if they had been vine-ripened. And since the autumn air was turning a bit chilly I decided to make tomato soup. I love this paired with a grilled cheese sandwich.
- 1 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, smashed with side of a knife and peeled
- 5 c. peeled, seeded, and chopped fresh tomatoes (or two 28-oz. cans low sodium or two-26 oz. Pomi cartons of chopped tomatoes): See NOTE below
- 3/4 c. half and half
- ~2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
- 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp. celery seed
- 1/2 tsp. dried oregano (or 1 tsp. freshly chopped oregano)
- 1-2 tsp. sugar
- 1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 c. water, optional (depending on how thick you like your soup)
- 3/4 cup toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
In a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter and olive oil. Add onion and garlic and sauté until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, half and half, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, celery seed, oregano, sugar. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer and simmer for 15 minutes. Add balsamic vinegar.
Remove soup from heat and purée in batches in blender or in the pan with an immersion blender. Return soup to pot, add water if you desire a thinner consistency, and reheat to a simmer. Season to taste with more salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls, garnish each bowl with 2 tablespoons pepitas, and serve hot. Serves 6.
NOTE: To peel and seed fresh tomatoes, dip tomatoes in a pot of boiling water for about a minute. The skin will easily slip off. Cut in half and gently squeeze the seeds into a bowl. This is pretty messy and depending on the tomatoes may generate a lot of juice. At the end, I strain the juice from the bowl of seeds and add that to the soup pot.
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