A Fresh New Week

Good Afternoon! It's Monday and I'm back in the office. It's hard getting back into the swing of "normal" work day, "normal" life. I worked 80 hours in 7 days last week (for a total of 13 days straight of work), so this normal 40 hours in 5 days takes some getting use too. Don't get me wrong, I love the extra free time, I just have to adjust my time clock because I'm usually packing my days minute for minute. So when I find myself off of work with hours of sunshine left, thanks to the additional one added yesterday, I feel almost anxious sometimes. What am I suppose to be doing now?? But I'm trying to plan fun & healthy activities to keep me busy the next few weeks!

I forgot to bring some breakfast to work with me this morning. So breakfast was some black tea with soymilk and local honey. I've been trying to find ways to work this local honey into my diet in hopes of helping my allergies. I also had a Kashi granola bar I found in the bottom of my purse.

Lunch was super yummy! I pulled some of this Lasagna soup out of the freezer last night.

This soup has tomato, onion, bell pepper, spinach, ground turkey, whole grain pasta, and, of course, cheeeeeeeese! I also had 1/2 whole wheat english muffin with butter spray, garlic salt and melted cheese.

Lasagna Soup

1 pound ground turkey, beef or sauasage
1 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
3 cups spinach
4 cloves garlic
1 box chicken broth
2 - 14oz cans of diced tomatoes
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp of Italian Seasoning
1 tsp Thyme
2 cups whole wheat pasta

Brown meat and drain grease. In a stock pot add broth, diced tomatoes, cooked meat, pepper, onion, garlic and spices. Cook 10-15 minutes till vegetables are tender, then add spinach and cheese and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. In a separate pot, boil water and cook pasta to package directions.(I keep the pasta and soup separate to keep the pasta from expanding and getting mushy)

To serve, use 1/2 c. of pasta and top with 1c. of soup broth. Top with mozzarella or parmesan cheese.
Option, add a scope of ricotta or cottage cheese to bottom of the bowl, pour pasta and soup over cheese. You can also make this soup vegetarian by using vegetable broth and adding more vegetables such as zucchini, squash, eggplant and eliminating the meat.