Red & Green Soup

Sooooo...our dinner last night turned out to be not QUITE as festive as our SALADS (again, who knew??:), but that can't take away from the fact that it was aweeeesommmeee:)

I combined 2 recipes from Rachael Ray & Giada (seriously, how cute was her Christmas special this year??) to come up with our own

CHRISTMAS Soup:)

• 1 Teaspoon of olive oil
• 1 diced potato
• 4 oz. of diced pancetta
• 1 diced onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• A spring of rosemary
• 14 oz can of diced tomatoes
• Diced Tuscan Kale (we had about 2 cups leftover in our freezer)
• 1 can White Beans
• 5 or 6 Roasted Red Peppers
• 2 cups beef broth
• Parmesan Cheese
• Handful of diced fresh parsley

First we began by sauteing the onion, potato, pancetta, garlic & rosemary in the olive oil for 8 minutes or so....(your house will smell AMAZING at this point;)

Next is was time for the "festive ingredients":  Add the Kale & diced Tomatoes, and allow to cook about 10 minutes....

While the tomatoes & kale were cooking, I tried out a trick from both of the recipes:  I combined a 1/2 cup of the drained white beans and a few diced red peppers along with 1/4 cup of beef broth and pureed in the blender until smooth...

The mix adds a little silky element to the soup, that you would normally only get from cream!  Love that:)Add the bean/pepper mix, Parmesan cheese and beef broth to the soup and bring to boil.  Next let it simmer for about 10 minutes before adding the rest of the white beans and diced red peppers until warmed through...and wallah:  A warm, silky and festive soup that warms the heart and soul!  This was DEEEEELICIOUS!  You sooooo want a pot of this simmering away when you have company coming over...it smelled amazing and tasted even better:)  TRY THIS!

And our side dish was just as yummy, as I just happppened to be wandering around TJ's anways;) ... (for the record:  You MUST try TJ's Chewy Eggnog Cookies with white Chocolate drizzle!  Better yet, try one and give the rest to your co-workers like I did, cause they. are. TEMPTING! :)

I heated the bread for 10 minutes for this cheesy, crunchy and yummy onion coated focaccia...yum:)  Perfect accompaniment!

Annnnnnddddd since we finally started decorating our tree AND Charlie Brown's Christmas was showing on TV, it was time to try out my "Double Peppermint Dessert" idea, in the form of a Peppermint Vitatop filled with Peppermint Whipped Cream...

DELISH...and all that Peppermint/festive goodness for about 130 calories....not too shabby, right??

Well, I never thought I'd see the day where I was actually SAD about ending my 17 week stint as a Grand Juror...but can you believe it:  I am! :)  Crazy stories & cases, but met some really nice folks.  Who woulda thought???  So don't panic if you ever get those dreaded letters in the mail...it's really not so bad:)  Or at least make the best of what ya gotta do;) hahahahha....

Annnnyway, enough of my musings:)  Have a good Wednesday:)