Turkey Tortellini Soup

SOUP TIME!  Now this is a season-appropriate meal for chilly fall.  This soup has a good amount of vegetables, is lower in sodium than any soup you'll buy in a store (yikes, holy hypertension) and tastes so good.  I made a huge batch of it and we had leftovers whenever we wanted a quick warm cup of soup.

Ingredients:
1 Lb. lean ground turkey breast
3 Tsp. Italian Seasoning (or combine parsley, oregano, garlic powder, and onion powder)
2 Cans (sodium-free, or extra low sodium) Tomato Soup (+1 can water)
4 Cups (sodium-free) chicken or vegetable broth
2 Cans Diced Tomatoes (no sodium-added)
1 Cup Diced Carrots
1 Cup  Diced Celery
1 Cup Chopped Green Beans (or cut-leaf spinach)

1 Large Pkg cheese-filled tri-color tortellini (20 ounce package I believe)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Season your thawed turkey breast with the Italian seasoning.  Shape into 3/4"-1" balls and place on lined baking sheet.  Place turkey meatballs in oven for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned with no pink inside.  Meanwhile...

2. Turn stovetop to medium heat.  Combine broth and tomato soup in a stockpot.
3.  Add in your tomatoes, diced carrots and celery, and chopped green beans.  Cook for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
4.  Add in the tortellini pasta and continue cooking for 5 minutes.  Stir occasionally.
5.  Place cooked turkey meatballs in the stockpot and cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve with a crusty loaf of Italian bread and enjoy!

For freezing, divide soup into two large freezer bags.  Once at room temperature, cool completely in the refrigerator.  Once cold, put soup into a second freezer bag (better safe than sorry with freezer burn) and be sure to label and date the soup (I include the date I made it and the "eat by" date).  Freeze up to 3 months.

To reheat, dip the bag into hot water for 5 minutes.  Then, put soup into stockpot.  Cook over medium heat for about 25 minutes, or until hot, stirring occasionally.

Southwest Chicken Salad

Ok, summer's pretty much gone and I promised more salad recipes.  Oops, sorry. I made a lot of salads this summer and didn't post a lot of recipes for them.  I absolutely love how healthy and filling salads are, as well as how great they taste and how good they make you feel (and look).  This recipe is filled with veggies, fiber, lean protein (beans and chicken) and the spiciness is a metabolism-booster.  I know there aren't photos-but I'll post when those when I make it again.  I hope you enjoy it on one of our last warm days!

Ingredients (4 servings):

• 1 Head of Romaine Lettuce
• 1 lb. Chicken Breasts, cut into 1-2" cubes
• 1 Red Bell Pepper, cut into strips
• 1 Green Bell Pepper, cut into strips
• 2 Ears of Corn, cooked with corn cut off
• 1 Tomato, diced
• 1 Can Black Beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese (reduced fat or fat-free)
• 3 Tbsp. Chopped Fresh Cilantro
• 1/2 cup Fat-free sour cream
• 1/2 cup Salsa
• 1 Lime, quartered

Directions:
1. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat.  Place cubed hicken in skillet and cook for approximately 10 minutes, or until chicken pieces are no longer pink.  Remove from heat.
2. Rinse and cut or tear the romaine lettuce.  Divide onto four plates.
3. Evenly place the red and green pepper strips on each of the salads.
4.  Add the cooked corn (Cooking note: Place ears of corn in boiling water for approximately 5-7 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Once cooled, use a knife to cut the corn off the cob, rotating the corn as you cut each additional row).
5. Add the black beans to the salads.
6.  Place 1/4 of the cheese on each of the 4 salads (1/8 cup each).
7.  Add the cooked chicken to each of the salads.
8. Sprinkle fresh cilantro on each salad.
9. Combine the sour cream and salsa and stir well to create the salad dressing.  Drizzle on top of salad, or place on the side in a small ramekin.

10. Squeeze one lime wedge on each salad.

Serve immediately!