Dinner for the UHG

My apologies for cutting short my last post and not giving many details about dinners. (I was running late and my ride home was waiting for me! Such is life!)

As I mentioned in my previous post, I will often have soup for dinner. Sometimes it's just a can of soup (in which case I prefer the chunk styles), or sometimes it's from the grocery store deli. We have a GREAT deli nearby that makes amazing homemade soups and there are usually about 6 different choices each day. I love their tomato bisque, but I've also tried their Thai coconut soup, beef barely, and a few others that weren't on my radar until I tried them there.

I do also make some homemade soups, stews, and chilis, but prefer to cook them in the fall and winter. One of my favorite soups started with a recipe from my Uncle Bryan. It's a vegetable soup with a V-8 base; I buy the low-sodium variety. Then I'll throw in whatever veggies grab my attention, either fresh or frozen. If using fresh I will sometimes saute them before throwing them in the pot.

When making chili I like to use red kidney beans and black beans. I also like to saute my veggies for chili before adding to the pot. I throw in mushrooms, onions, bell peppers (red, yellow, or orange), and sometimes celery (not that it adds flavor, but it adds bulk for few calories). When I make stew I also usually saute the veggies. A fun version I now almost always make includes sweet potatoes or yams in the stew and season with herbs de provence. Of course, a splash of red wine (or two) goes a long way, too!

This spring and summer will bring new adventures in dining as I still need to work on what the Urban Hiker Girl eats. Warmer weather seems to elicit cravings for other foods (not soups and stews). Please share your favorite warm weather healthy dinner ideas in the comments!