The First Day of .... Something

Oh Fall, I'm not sure I'm ready for you yet.

I guess I'm ok with Falls unofficial arrival, the end of summer (or lack thereof for me this year) and the start of something new. I love the crisp cold morning air and the thought of all the sweaters I bought at thrift shops.

This summer brought its share of adventure with the launch of TheJarGirl.com (yay!!) some pacific northwest gardening successes and failures, a 3 week road trip (aka jar buying trip) that took us from our front door to a few miles from the Ontario border, more hours of thrift shopping than I care to admit, a case of pneumonia :( and a family wedding at Green Lake where I am currently sitting.

We are leaving tomorrow, I am trying to rest to make sure I fully recuperate from this cough (easier said than done) but this morning I was inspired to start a little mini project I have had in the back of my head for a while now, and I thought it could use an introduction.

Jesse and I have decided to homeschool when we get to that point in our lives (working on the kids part - impatiently.)  One of the subjects we are both excited about is food education.   It's like math and health put together!   Our diet changes over the past several months have spurred some research on where to best spend our food (health) dollars and I have come to wonder, if others just had more information, would they make different choices?

Well, I will give it a shot. A daily picture guide to better food education. Maybe I should give it a catchy name... I don't see "A.D.P.G.T.B.F.E." catching on very quickly.

Here's the link to day one (A for Apple) I can't get the picture uploaded from my phone.

http://Instagram.com/p/d0C2vOsmqE/

Hopefully friends and family will post and share - and hopefully it will have a positive impact on our collective health.

xoxo Marie

P.S.   Don't worry, I have a slew of new amazing recipes for you too!

Italian Turkey Soup Two Ways

Apologies to those of you who have been waiting for this recipe (Marcy!).  I promised to post it, came home last wednesday to the hubs asking me if I wanted to take a last minute trip to California...very last minute...we left that night around 11!  Between that trip, shopping for new clothes that fit and packing them for our trip to Mexico next week, blogging went on the back burner - but it's here now - here's the post!

So a few weeks ago I had a massive shopping day followed by 3 days of cooking for 2 families. Mine and a family of 8 :) The hubby, MIL and I are not eating any starch or sugar. The other family, The 8's (we'll call them) need carbs to fill up the hollow legs of more than a couple growing boys. So, here are the recipes that we made for both families, keep in mind that we made many many batches at once - freezer recipes are great! The recipes are very similar but I typed them out twice so you can copy and print the recipe easier. :)

All of the ingredients used in these recipes were organic, but most of it was purchased across the border. The approximate cost per recipe for the Bregg version is $13 and the Hungry Bellies version about $8 when I used dried beans.

Italian Turkey Soup 2 Ways
makes 6-8 servings


Bregg (low carb) Version:

1 lb ground turkey
1 diced onion
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
1T Dry Italian Seasoning (we made our own, I will post it and link it up here soon)
salt and pepper to taste
1 can diced tomatoes (15 oz)
2 14oz cans chicken broth  
1 t dry oregano 
1/4 t dry basil or about 
1/4 cup fresh 
1 pkg frozen spinach - I like trader joes organic 

Spoon a little coconut oil into a stock pot and turn onto med-high heat. 

When oil is hot, add onion, garlic and turkey. Stir to combine and the Italian Seasoning and salt and pepper.  Cook until the turkey is completly cooked through and brown before adding any liquid. 

Once turkey is brown, add tomatoes including juice and the chicken broth. Add the rest of the spices and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for at least 10 minutes.

If you are going to freeze the soup then I would reccomend adding the spinach when you reheat the soup. I added it the first time I cooked it and when I reheated it it was a little mushier than I would like. If you are just making a batch to eat now then add the spinach last and serve. Top with a little grated (real) parmesan and enjoy!

Nutritional Info is based on 6 servings per recipe

Calories: 225.8
Total Fat 5.1g
Total Carbs 9.3g
   Dietary Firer 3.6g
   Sugars 4.3g
Protein 33.7g



Hungry Bellies Version: 

1/2 lb ground turkey 
1 diced onion 
4-5 garlic cloves, minced 
1T Dry Italian Seasoning (we made our own, I will post it and link it up here soon) 
salt and pepper to taste 
1 can diced tomatoes (15 oz) 
3 cans white beans or 1.5 cups dried beans soaked overnight (you do NOT need to cook these before putting in the soup, they will cook while the soup cooks) 
2 14oz cans chicken broth 
1 t dry oregano 
1/4 t dry basil or about 
1/4 cup fresh 1 pkg frozen spinach - I like trader joes organic.

Spoon a little coconut oil into a stock pot and turn onto med-high heat. 

When oil is hot, add onion, garlic and turkey. Stir to combine and the Italian Seasoning and salt and pepper.  Cook until the turkey is completly cooked through and brown before adding any liquid. 

Once turkey is brown, add beans, tomatoes including juice and the chicken broth. Add the rest of the spices and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for at least 10 minutes.

If you are going to freeze the soup then I would reccomend adding the spinach when you reheat the soup. I added it the first time I cooked it and when I reheated it it was a little mushier than I would like. If you are just making a batch to eat now then add the spinach last and serve. Top with a little grated (real) parmesan and enjoy!



Nutritional Info is based on 6 servings per recipe

Calories: 266.2
Total Fat 4.3g
Total Carbs 31.6g
   Dietary Firer 10.8g
   Sugars 5.1g
Protein 20.2g


This nutritional info is meant to be a guide, not exact.  It is based on ingredients through myfitnesspal.com.