Soup!

Happy New Year! We have drank, eaten and polar-bear plunged our way into the New Year, so it's time to get to business. Gym tomorrow. Really.

And a recipe that I have been obsessed with lately. Slow-cooker veggie chili, from myrecipes.com.

This recipe is for a 3-qt. crockpot, and makes about 8 servings at 1 1/2 c. each. It's open to endless variations, I'll mention a few of mine at the end.

1 carrot, diced
1 celery rib, diced
1/2 medium size sweet onion
vegetable cooking spray
1 8oz. package fresh mushrooms
1/2 zucchini, chopped
1/2 yellow squash, chopped
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. seasoned pepper
1 8oz. can tomato sauce
1 12oz can V8 juice (I use low sodium whenever possible)
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cans beans of your choice (pinto, cannelini, black, navy)
1/2 c. corn

1. Saute first 3 ingredients in a large, nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat for 10 minutes or until onions are translucent. Add mushrooms, zucchini, and squash, saute 3 more minutes. Add chili powder, basil and pepper, saute 5 more minutes.

2. Stir together tomato sauce and tomato juice in 3 qt. slow-cooker. Stir in diced tomatoes, beans and corn, and carrot mixture. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours.

Note: Cool leftovers, and freeze in plastic freezer containers or zip-top plastic freezer bags for up to 2 months.

This is my favorite recipe lately, since it has only 124 calories and 7 g fiber with almost no fat. I use a whole zucchini instead of half of one plus half a squash. I have used pinto, navy and cannelini beans. I added half a can of vegetable stock to make it a little soupier. I preferred baby portabella mushrooms, but the regular ones are fine. I also experimented with green beans and potatoes, both of which were good.

Ok, back to watching football. Go Bearcats!