In The Kitchen: Broccoli Cheddar Soup Recipe

When it's cold outside I always like to warm up with a nice bowl of hot soup. An easy one to make at home is broccoli cheddar. To make a bowl you'll need to:

• Heat 1 tbsp of butter in a small pot
• Add 1/2 cup of chopped onion (not sweet) to pot and saute for 5 mins
• Add 3 cups chicken broth to pot and bring to a boil
• Add 1/2 cup of shredded carrots
• Add 12 oz. of broccoli (frozen or fresh) seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to pot and cover for 4 mins
• Add 8 oz of cubed Velvetta cheese and stir
• Lastly, add 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

(serves 4)

Let things cook until soup is your desired temperature. Enjoy!

CALORIES: 200

In the Kitchen: Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad Recipe

Now that I'm more conscious of what I eat, I like to add new fast low calorie snacks to my diet. Here's the recipe to a strawberry salad I've been eating a lot of lately. It's easy to make, plus cheap, which is always a plus. To make it you'll need:

• 3/4 cup of strawberries (diced and marinated in 2 tsp of sugar for at least an hour), make sure they're good and sweet after marinating, feel free to add more sugar if needed.
• 1.5 cups of mixed greens
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp balsamic vinaigrette 
• 3 tbsp goat cheese
• sprinkle with salt and pepper

Enjoy!

CALORIES: 270

In the Kitchen: Sweet Potato Fries

Today I'm sharing a quick and easy recipe a friend shared with me for baked sweet potatoes fries. If you haven't had these before you must try em'. They are healthy and chocked full of flavor. Here's how you make them (serves 1-2):

-Cut one sweet potato into thin fries
-Sprinkle fries with salt, paprika, and a small amount of cayenne (more if you like a lot of spice)
-Place fires inside of plastic bag (I reuse grocery bags that are used to weigh produce) and add 1tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Then shake contents inside of bag.

Place fries on baking sheet and cook at 450 degrees. Flip fries after 5-7 mins, then cook an additional 5-7 mins or until fries taste done.

I like to dip these in a side of sour cream sometimes, but they taste great alone. Enjoy!

CALORIES:  232 (without sour cream), 264 (with 1 tbsp sour cream)