One of my strategies for making this a successful journey is utilizing leftovers and trying not to waste food. That is what motivated me on Day 7 to finally make breakfast! Not only that, I even made a nutritional snack! I was quite proud of myself!

The other day I had made Mexican tofu crumbles for some tasty tofu tacos. I had some extra of this as well as the black beans I served as a side so why not throw in some eggs and have a Mexican scramble?! To start, I used clarified butter to scramble two eggs. Although, I am allowing dairy into my diet, I do want to limit it, so by clarifying the butter, you eliminate most of the milk fat. Its actually much healthier for you. I reheated about 1/4 cup of the tofu and a couple of tablespoons of black beans and piled them on top of the eggs along with some chopped tomato. Voila! Leftovers helped me create a very in healthy breakfast in less than 5 minutes,

Since, I had breakfast, I wasn’t super hungry for lunch so I started to prepare a vegetable soup for dinner so it could simmer on the stove for several hours. During my soup prep, I peeled a russet potato and was just about to throw the peels away, when I thought why not air fry them? I got an air fryer in November and it’s super easy to use. I dried the potato peels on some paper towels then in a bowl, sprayed them with a little olive oil and tossed them with salt. It only took 6 minutes to air fry them on 400 degrees! There were the perfect crisp bite and I will start saving those peels from now on!

Now back to my soup…

I LOVE soup! However, I’m not a huge fan of creamy soups so most of my soups are made with a tomato base. Normally, my favorite soup is hamburger vegetable using either beef or turkey but this was going to be vegetarian all the way. I also used to use V-8 juice but too many preservatives for me so I went with organic tomato water. I love that it can be made early in the day and simmer on the stove for hours..such a comforting smell.

Tomato Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeño, chopped (optional but the heat improves metabolism)
• 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 russet potato, peeled and chopped into uniform pieces
• 2 cups Savoy cabbage, chopped
• 2 cups water (more if you like a brothier soup)
• 2 cups organic tomato juice
• 1 can lima beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can white corn, rinsed and drained
• 1 can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp hot sauce
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp dried parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Sauté the onions and jalapeño in the olive for for 2-3 minutes. Add in the carrots and a couple of tablespoons of water and sauté for about 10 minutes, adding water when needed to keep from burning (This adds in cooking the carrots most of the way through so you retain more of the vitamins in the cooking process).

Add the water, tomato juice, potatoes, and cabbage; bring to a boil and keep on a medium simmer until potatoes are almost cooked through.

Add the remaining ingredients and simmer on low for at least 30 minutes (the longer the better).

I served mine with a slice of toasted sourdough bread..yum!

Bottom Line: This soup is delicious in its simplicity of vegetables and natural ingredients. As with most soups, it even better the next day but you may need to add a little water since the veggies will absorb some of the water during cooling. Swap out the veggies for your favorites and enjoy with your favorite sandwich!