Spinach & Chickpea Soup with Sausage

The only requirement for tonight's dinner was that it needed to be simple, simple, simple.

So soup it was!

Inspired by this recipe, here's what I did:

I sauteed some onion, garlic, red pepper, frozen corn and sausage in my soup pot:

This is my favorite brand of chicken sausages...They have some great flavors
: 

Then I added some veggie broth and chickpeas and let them simmer for a little bit:

 Remember these bad boys? Perfect time to try out my fire-roasted tomatoes!

 I added the tomatoes (and the juice! since there was no salt added I didn't need to rinse them off) and some chopped baby spinach to the pot and left it alone to let the spinach wilt.

Stir and let simmer for an hour or so...or pretty much until whenever you're ready to eat. Add more broth or water if you need more liquid and season with pepper and a little salt:

 

 

 

The result? Good! The juice from the tomatoes adds some extra flavor to the broth and each bit was full of veggies. I'll make this one again for sure.

Also on the menu: Balsamic & Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower 

Remember waaaaay back when I was talking about trying new vegetables? Well I took a little hiatus but I'm back at it and this week I decided to give cauliflower a try. I have no real memory of ever eating cauliflower so I figured it was time.

I cut the trees off the stem, tossed in olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and roasted them  at 400 degrees for 18 minutes, stirring once. When they were done, I grated some Parmesan cheese on top and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. There's just no way to make a white veggie look all that pretty but here you go:

 

 

 

The verdict? Pretty good. I think I over-cooked it just a little but I was pleasantly surprised when I didn't mind eating it!

Today Lindsay's Lunchbox was the home lunch edition. It was quite a treat to have something warm for lunch since 4 days a week I'm eating cold lunch out of my car. I had oatmeal and yogurt. 

I like this kind because it's low in sugar, has lots of fiber and protein and tastes good!

The boys also had a yogurt treat:

Those are Tucky's "I'm in heaven" eyes :)

And finally, in case you were wondering why bananas split easily into 3 parts when you squeeze them:

...it's clearly so that he can have a taste:

and so can he:

 

 

and there's still a piece left for me!

 

What's that? You weren't wondering about that at all? Oh well...I bet you're going to give it a try next time you eat a banana now aren't you? :)

Enjoy!

--Lindsay--