Mangia Monday: Thanksgiving Detox

Raise your hand if you're suffering a little from a turkey hangover. I started Thanksgiving off right by running a 5 mile race, but headed downhill at warp speed after that with 2 Thanksgiving feasts, 1 huge tailgate at the Bama game, and then a Christmas Party last night. For the next few weeks I'm gonna be running for my thighs and away from the scales. As Beth over at Feels Like Home To Me said "I ate 'til it got ugly."

So what do you do to get back on track after a food orgy? Head straight for the jar of nutella, of course. I kid, I kid. The solution that always works for me is to detox the fat & calories by making a delicious, healthy winter soup. My Mom has been making this one for decades. She calls it 100 calorie soup, in fact. It's a simple, hearty, vegetable-stocked soup low on the calories but packed with great tomato flavor & nutrients and only 100 calories per serving. The best part: it makes a big enough batch for you to freeze half for later. Here are the deets:

Ingredients:

• 46 oz Tomato Juice
• 1 can Beef Consomme
• 1 large can peas
• 1/2 large head of cabbage, chopped
• 1 large can green beans (french or fresh cut)
• 2-3 stalks celery, scrubbed & chopped
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2-3 large carrots, chopped
• optional: parmesan rind for flavor

Directions:

1. Chop & prep your vegetables. 
2. Dump all the ingredients in a large stock pot & bring to a boil. Simmer on medium for 2 hours. All you want to do is marry the flavors and cook the cabbage until tender.
3. Garnish with fresh herbs & serve

I always double the recipe so I can freeze individual servings. And if you use fresh parmesan, never throw away the rind. Just freeze it and use it in soups for added flavor. Typically I serve this low-cal soup with buttery cornbread or maybe even a twice baked potato, but around the Holidays I'll be sipping this along side a fresh salad or a baked sweet potato. 

Speaking of salads, if you follow me on twitter you might have seen me tweet this over the weekend:

You might remember a couple of months ago I profiled Gina's site Running To The Kitchen in my Blog Lovin' series. She always creates such healthy & delicious dishes and her Day After Detox Salad is no exception. All the Ladies in my family loved this Friday night! Head over to Gina's site to check out her recipe y'all. Her salad & my Mom's soup would make a great low-cal dinner.... enough to even justify just one last piece of leftover pie ;)

Mangia Mangia y'all!