I am currently working on making large batches of one dinner to serve on the nights that TJ, hubby, is at school. I was just finding it too hard to get the energy and motivation to cook on the nights he didn’t come home in the evenings. I was making bad choices and just snacking through the evenings, which then led me to have trouble calorie counting, then I just gave up and ate whatever.
It’s time to start battling the evening meals and the evening snacking! So on Sunday I make a large meal – so far I have been focusing on soups. Then on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays I eat that meal.
I thought for sure I would hate it by Thursday, but it has been great. With the soups I can add different toppings or if its a chunky soup I have even served it on top of spaghetti squash.
You can either serve this soup as a chunky broth based soup or pull out your hand blender and blend it to a smooth creamy soup. The seasoning in this also has a nice bite to it, but feel free and alter the cayenne pepper to change the heat. I actually topped the bowl pictured above with some greek yogurt (you can use sour cream if you want to), it was so good!
Cajun Ham & Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 2 cans white beans
- 2 cups ham diced
- 3 cups stock
- 2 carrots chopped
- 1/4 onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoon paprika
- 1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper more or less for hotter or milder
- 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
Directions
- Add carrots, garlic and onions to large pan sprayed with cooking spray
- Cook till start getting tender about 4 minutes
- Add ham and cook for 2 more minutes
- Add stock and boil for 10 minutes
- Add beans and bring to a boil
- Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes
- *Blend smooth with a hand mixer if you want a creamier soup
Servings: 8 | Calories: 179 | Fat: 2 | Carbohydrate: 23 | Fiber: 7 | Protein: 17
That looks really good, and wow, I could really go for some soup right now. =)