Italian Spinach Soup

Tonight's supper was wonderfully fullllll of flavor. It looks like a bowl of bright green moss, but it tastes so good, we finished off two bowls each! :)

Italian Spinach Soup (26 calories)

4c Spinach (26 calories)

2c water

1T chicken bullion

1t dried onion flakes

1T Italian Seasoning

1t fresh garlic, minced

1t garlic powder

Steam spinach until wilted. In separate pot, add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Add wilted spinach to food processor along with broth and blend until smooth. Pour soup back into pot and allow to simmer another 10 minutes, serve hot and enjoy!

Orange Spinach Salad

Today's lunch was absolutely wonderful. We enjoyed a citrus salad alongside Orange Roughy made up like it was the halibut from Herb the Halibut.

Orange Spinach Salad (73 calories)

2c spinach (13 calories)

1 orange (60 calories)

sprinkle onion granuals

sprinkle garlic granuals

vinegrette dressing (below)

Slice spinach and place in bowl. Cut orange with a knife, taking off all the white part. Save the rinds and set aside. Cut orange into quarters going the same direction as the segments, then turn and slice in half so you get small pieces. Put half of the orange into the spinach. The other half of the orange, squeeze over the spinach just a little bit before you add to the salad. Get the rinds and squeeze the juice from the cut out part of the orange over the top of that (not the oils from the rind, but the juice from the little left over parts in the white part of the orange).

Optional: Add 1T chopped sweet onion.

Liberally sprinkle onion & garlic powder over the salad, add dressing (below), toss with your hands and plate.

Vinegrette Dressing (14 calories)

1T balsamic vinegar (14 calories)

1T Apple Cider vinegar

1/8t chili powder

1/4 packet of powdered sweet leaf stevia

salt & pepper to taste

Mix together, then pour over the salad

Balsamic vinegar, generally speaking, is frowned upon in the world of HCG while on the VLCD portion. However, in comparing 1T of balsamic vinegar with the juice of 1 lemon, I found that they're similar in sugars and in calories.

A quick overview is:

1T balasmic = 14 calories, 2g sugars.

Juice of lemon = 12 calories, 1g sugars.

So, you could go ahead and delete the balsamic vinegar from the dressing recipe and just add a little more Apple Cider vinegar, sparing yourself the 14 calories, if you'd like!