All I Want for Christmas...Soup?

I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate. --Julia Child


Chris and I are heading to a lovely Caribbean paradise in about 2 weeks for our annual trip for two, and so about a week ago we started our annual "Cleanse," which includes a version of Good Housekeeping's Amazing Soup Diet and allows only 2 glasses of wine/week.

It is not horrible, and I am looking/feeling great. There are special meal options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Chris is doing it all, but I'm not a big breakfast person and I rarely have time for lunch, so I'm focusing on the dinner part...which has been soup for the past 8 days.

You start with 2 cups of a plain vegetable soup base and then, following recipes they include, you can add lean meat, starch, etc. to make it interesting. One night we had a "goulash" version with 1/2 c ground turkey breast, 1/2 egg noodles, a pinch of caraway seeds and 2 TBS lite sour cream, with a side of 20 red grapes--everything is precisely measured out. Last night, it was "Chili" with 1/2 c ground turkey breast, 1/2 c black beans, and 1/4 c salsa. And, 5 large baked tortilla chips. It could be worse. But, that's all you get. No cornbread slathered with butter, no chocolate, etc...no glass of wine.

Okay, seriously, it is absolutely terrible...this is the season I want to cook and cook and cook, with lots of butter and cream and cheese...but if I'm anything I'm stubborn, and I will not cheat. So, sorry for the pause, but stay tuned.  I'll be back in full swing after Christmas.

In the meantime, feel free to share your favorite holiday recipes/foods in the comments below.  I want to live/eat vicariously through you for the next couple weeks.

Happy Christmas!

xoxoxo