Bean and Bacon Soup

I am slowly venturing into Beanland, since I have found some that I like the taste of. Kidney beans and black beans are definitely out, but small white beans are okay. I decided to make some soup today for lunch. Who knew that you could cook beans super fast in the pressure cooker? I didn't! I will definitely try some more recipes with beans knowing how quick the pressure cooker gets them done.
Anyway, I cooked up 1/2 pound of small white beans with some salt, pepper, and a bay leaf.

I reserved half of those beans in the fridge for another day. For John and I for lunch I put in 1 cup of beans and 2 cups of veggie broth in a saucepan. Added a bit of S&P. Brought to a boil and used a potato masher to smush the beans up.
I then cooked up 2 slices of bacon.
After dividing the soup into 2 bowls, I crumbled 1 slice of bacon into each bowl.
Calories were about 230, 6 grams of fat, 15 grams of protein, 18 (!!!) grams of fiber. I wish the soup was a bit thicker, but either less broth or more beans would probably take care of that.
Quite tasty and pretty easy with the cooked beans.

CC's Coffee house

Anyone who knows me knows that I loves me some coffee!

CC's - or Community Coffee House is a Louisiana chain that started in New Orleans. They have some great coffee and lattes - and about the only healthy food I had all weekend!
A yummy whole wheat bagel, paired with a skim milk latte.

Dragos in the French Quarter

Dragos in New Orleans.
This is a newer location for Dragos into the French Quarter.
They are the home of the charbroiled oysters. That actually didn't seem appealing to me, as I tried oysters once and didn't care for them.
However, my sister likes oysters, so she got some and I tried them.

They were fabulous! You could taste the chargrilling and they had the most wonderful buttery garlic sauce on them, plus parmesan cheese. Soaking up the sauce with the french bread on the side was heaven!

For dinner, I had the
CRESCENT CITY SHRIMP
Large Gulf shrimp seasoned with fresh herbs and spices, served the “New Orleans Way” with French roll and a baked potato.

These were quite spicy instead of regular bbq shrimp, which is more garlicky and buttery. This dish had a ton of blackening seasoning. Quite good. The potato on the side was okay, it was on the edge of it's holding time.

My sister had the Shuckee Duckee
Blackened duck breast over linguini pasta
with oysters and cream sauce.

Cafe du Monde

Back from the trip to New Orleans. What a great time! If you have never been, you must go - it is so much more than Bourbon street.

The very first stop we made was, of course, Cafe du Monde for warm beignets with piles of powdered sugar and cafe au lait. For those that have never had a beignet, they are like a french donut. A cross between a cake and yeast donut. Dense, moist and a bit chewy, but with pockets of air in them, and no hole.

Pumpkin Oats!

One of my favorite brekkies!


1/2 cup oats with brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice cooked in.
When done I stirred in protein powder and 1/4 cup of canned pumpkin. Normally I do 1/2 cup of pumpkin, but this was the end of the can and I'm going out of town, so I didn't want to open a new one.
Topped with toasted slivered almonds.

Getting ready to go to New Orleans tomorrow!!

Panera Bread Dinner

Went to Panera for a You Pick Two meal combo.
I tried the Lowfat Chicken Tortilla soup. Very tasty! Paired with a Cafe Classic Salad and an apple on the side.
Did not like the apple at all. It had soft spots and was too sweet for me.

Loribar - Chocolate Coconut

Yummiest Loribar yet!


This time I soaked the dates. I have noticed a big difference in dates as far as moisture content goes, so keep that in mind when you make these. I currently have Amport Foods Pitted Dates, and these are drier than say the Dole brand. I poured boiling water into a dish with some dates, and then let them sit for several hours. Then drained off the water.

Ingredients:
20 grams of dates (about 4)
13 grams of Designer Whey natural
28 grams of almond meal
15 grams of coconut flakes
6 grams Giardhelli cocoa powder

In a food processor, pulse the dates, almond meal and cocoa powder until well combined. It will ball up into the processor, then you will know it's mixed. Put into a bowl and add the protein powder. Mush thoroughly until well combined. Keep mixing - it will add in, even though it will seem dry at first.

Toast the coconut in a fry pan and allow to cool. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and roll into bars. Divide the coconut in half and roll each bar into the coconut - pressing to make it stick.

Voila - 2 yummy bars! These are almost like under done brownies. A bit chewy, chocolately and good. I really couldn't taste the dates in these at all with the cocoa.

Stats:

Approximately 175 calories, 10 grams of fat, 15 carbs, 3 grams of fiber and 8 grams of protein per bar.