recipe

Roasted Pepper Vegetable Tomato Soup

/ ktbuchs87

Roasted Pepper Tomato Vegetable Soup | Life Healthfully LivedYou guys know I’m having a thing with soup lately.  Especially now that Christmas and New Year’s are over.  Brothy soups chocked full of vegetables, herbs, and spices sound pretty amazing right now.  Plus, winter has finally decided to come out to play and cold temperatures always make me crave warm meals like soups or stews.

This is my soup of the moment because of two reasons.  1.  It is absolutely delicious and 2. It is quick and versatile. While the base always stays the same, I can change the vegetables up to whatever I have in my fridge.  Sometimes that includes mushrooms or leeks, other times it’s more peppers and some corn.Roasted Pepper Vegetable Tomato Soup | Life Healthfully Lived

If you can’t or don’t want to do a certain vegetable I have in this recipe, then don’t put it in your soup.  If you want to add a vegetable that I haven’t included, go for it!  That is the beauty of this meal.  As long as the main components are there, you can play around with the other flavors.

If you’re looking for a lighter meal that will still fill you up, give this soup, or any soup for that matter, a try!

Roasted Pepper Vegetable Tomato SoupRoasted Pepper Vegetable Tomato Soup | Life Healthfully Lived

  • 2-3 red or orange bell peppers
  • 1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced
  • 1 cup celery, sliced
  • 1 cup onion, diced
  • 1 leek, green top cut off and white part sliced thin
  • 8 oz package of bella mushrooms
  • 1/2 cup corn kernels
  • 2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
  • 6 to 8 cups vegetable broth or water
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 2 tsp chili powder
  • 2 tsp roasted garlic or 3 cloves minced
  • 2 tsp Mexican oregano (regular if you can’t find Mexican)
  • salt and pepper
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 and arrange the peppers on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat.  Roast the peppers until the are slightly brown and starting to collapse. Remove and let them cool.  Once they are cool, remove the skins and slice into strips.
  2. If you would like, you can toss the mushrooms with a little oil, salt, and pepper and roast those for 15 minutes.
  3. Heat a little olive oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot.  Saute the carrots, onions, leeks, and celery until they are soft and starting to brown on the edges.  Sprinkle with a little salt and add the roasted peppers, mushrooms, and corn.  Stir everything together.
  4. Add in both cans of roasted tomatoes and then the vegetable broth or water.  Make sure all the vegetables are covered with liquid.  Add all the seasonings and bring the soup to a bowl.
  5. Once boiling, cover with a lid and lower to a simmer.  Let it simmer for 20 minutes.  Taste the soup and adjust the seasonings as needed.Roasted Pepper Vegetable Tomato Soup | Life Healthfully Lived

DIY: Lemon-Ginger Tea

/ ktbuchs87

We almost escaped the holidays without getting sick.  Almost.  It’s tough because during the holidays you’re around so many people and eating foods that might not be the healthiest and not sticking to your normal exercise routine.  It’s almost like inviting germs to take up residence in your body.DIY: Lemon-Ginger Tea | Life Healthfully Lived

The Monday after Christmas, Adam started feeling a little funny and by Tuesday was knocked out with a cough and cold.  He had the works, stuffed nose, sore throat, nasty cough, and achy all over.  The doctor said it was a virus, but not the flu, and only gave him a nose spray to relieve congestion.  So he pretty much had to ride it out on the couch for a week.

While taking care of him and seeing his misery, I knew that I had to take action to make sure I wasn’t the next visitor to the sick couch.  I upped my intake of vitamin C with oranges and lemons, made sure I got turmeric in as many dishes as possible, and tried my best to exercise and eat well to make sure that I stayed healthy.DIY: Lemon-Ginger Tea | Life Healthfully Lived

I have a little congestion, but I think I missed the worst of the virus and I’m going to chalk that up to the steps I took to ward it off.  One of the things that I did was down this tea every morning first thing.  You can buy lemon-ginger tea at the store, but it is so easy to make and I think that fresher ingredients make a bigger impact on your immune system.

So if you’re looking to make sure you don’t get sick this winter, try this tea in the morning and if you do feel something coming on, up your self-care routine.  Take extra rest, don’t go run a marathon, but do move a little, and try to eat as much real food as possible.  Your body will thank you!

Lemon-Ginger Tea- if it’s available and you can afford it, try to get organic ingredients.  If not, don’t stress too much over it, this tea is still better than no tea. DIY: Lemon-Ginger Tea | Life Healthfully Lived

  • One-quarter of a lemon (half of a half)
  • 3 thick slices of ginger
  • 8 oz hot water
  • Optional add-ins- honey, sprinkle of cayenne, fresh or powdered turmeric (fresh tastes a little better if you can find it because powdered might not dissolve as much and leave a gritty feeling)
  1. Boil the water.  While the water is heating up, slice and peel the ginger and put into the bottom of your mug.  Slice the lemon and get any add-ins that you want.
  2. Once the water has boiled, let it sit for a few minutes.  Then, pour it over the ginger slice and squeeze in the lemon juice.  I like to put the whole lemon wedge in the water after I’ve squeezed it.  Add in the honey, cayenne, or turmeric if you want and stir everything together.
  3. Let it steep for a few minutes and cool down before you drink it/

Italian Pasta Bake

/ ktbuchs87 / 1 Comment

MozzarellaItalian Pasta Bake | Life Healthfully Lived that isn’t really mozzarella.  Confusing I know, but totally awesome.  There are tons of recipes out there for fake cheese as well as plenty of products that you can buy.  My issue with store bought “cheese” is that it’s usually full of ingredients that I would rather not ingest.

I’ve made cheese sauce before for my Fusilli N’ Cheeze, but I wanted to make a cheese that was a little thicker.  My goal?  To try and recreate the mostaccioli that Adam made for me when we first started dating.Italian Pasta Bake | Life Healthfully Lived

About a month or so into our relationship, Adam decided he was going to cook for me.  He made me his mom’s mostaccioli and it was delicious.  It was super simple, but watching him make that meal for me was one of the first times that I started to fall in love with him.  When I stopped eating gluten and dairy, mostaccioli kind of went out the window. But not anymore!

Don’t be freaked out by making “cheese” that isn’t really cheese.  It isn’t difficult and there really aren’t any weird ingredients unless you think tapioca starch is weird. It isn’t.  It’s just a thickener and helps make this cheese stretchy.  You could also use potato starch, but I like tapioca better.  Once you make the cheese, this is a really fast meal and a great one to prep early and pull out for a quick weeknight meal.

Not-Mozzarella, Mozzarella Italian Pasta Bake | Life Healthfully Lived

  • 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked in warm water overnight
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp roasted garlic
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 2 1/2 tbsp tapioca starch (or potato starch)
  • 1 cup hot water
  1. Add everything to a blender and blend for 2 to 3 minutes until it is completely smooth.
  2. Pour the mixture into a medium saucepan and heat over medium-high heat.  Cook while constantly stirring.  After a few minutes, the mixture will start to thicken.
  3. Turn the heat to low and keep stirring it until it is very thick and stretchy.  You can use it right away or keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 to 3 days.

Italian Pasta BakeItalian Pasta Bake | Life Healthfully Lived

  • 1 batch of Not-Mozzarella, Mozzarella
  • 1 batch of my tomato sauce
  • 1 package of gluten-free pasta, I used brown rice shells
  1. Preheat oven to 350.  Cook your pasta according to the directions on the package.  Drain and set aside.
  2. Get a 9 x 13 casserole dish and spoon a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom.  Next, put a layer of pasta and then top with tomato sauce.  Spread some of the cheese on top of that.
  3. Keep layering the pasta, sauce, and cheese until it’s gone.  Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes.
  4. Remove from oven and take off the foil.  Cook for another 5 minutes until the cheese on top is starting to brown on the edges.
  5. Take out of the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes before you serve it.Italian Pasta Bake | Life Healthfully Lived