One thing I love about working from home is the ability to eat healthy for lunch. When I work in New York City, I can certainly bring lunch from home, which is healthier than getting takeout. But when I’m working in my own apartment, I can cook up whatever my little heart desires. Today’s menu? Zucchini soup.
I got this recipe by Googling around for something to do with zucchini, since I have a ton of it in my fridge. What I ended up making was so easy, though; instead of pointing you elsewhere, I can explain it for you right here.
1. Put some chicken stock on to boil (2 cups).
2. Add some tarragon (1 tsp). You could also use dill.
3. Roughly chop some zucchini (1 pound or about two zucchini) and throw that in the pot.
4. Let it boil for 10 minutes while you start a conference call.
5. Get distracted by the call, realize that you’ve let it boil for 15, and go back to the kitchen to turn it off. No harm done.
6. Get the mini food processor out, but be careful not to use it until the call is done. Then, blend.
7. If still piping hot, put it in your bowl and stir in some cheese (1 oz, I used artisan cheddar). If your call went long and it’s no longer hot, put it back in the pot and heat it up while you stir in the cheese.
8. Feel like it was way too simple and consider adding seasoning of some sort (salt, pepper, garlic, thyme?). Taste it to see what it needs. Gasp. Consider eating the whole thing straight out of the pot, but reconcile yourself to putting it in a bowl and eating it in a civilized fashion.
9. …At least until it cools down enough to start drinking it right out of the bowl. Hey, you’re working from home – no one to see!
10. Consider using less cheese next time – it was so creamy and decadent, it must be terrible for you! Then calculate nutrition stats. 217 calories? PERFECT AS IS.
P.S. If you used low fat cheese or Laughing Cow or something, this would be like 100 calories. FOR A HUGE BOWL. Awesome.
Hi Laura!
The receipe looks very good! Quick question for you: Is there a webpage out there to calculate nutrition stats and it shows the result in a label like you have it in your blog post?
Have a great day!
Kathrin, I use the About.com recipe analyzer – it takes generic versions of whatever you type in, adds it together, then divides by the number of servings. It can be a little tricky to get the ingredients right (it will tell you if you put in something that’s not found), but it does a pretty good job if you’re just copying/pasting a recipe. Then, I just take a screenshot of the nutrition label and post that on my blog. Hope that helps!
THANK YOU!