Our Nurse Bloggers Share Their Favorite Winter Recipes
The chill in the air may stir an appetite for a comforting, healthy and tasty meal. Some of the RN Remedies nurse bloggers share their favorite winter recipes for you and your family to enjoy and savor!
“The kids love this soup.”
Ingredients
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 pound ground turkey meat
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 egg
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup orzo pasta
1/2 package of spinach
2 carrots, chopped
1 jar turkey gravy
Preparation
Add chicken broth, water, turkey gravy, carrots to a large pot over medium heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add orzo and simmer for an additional 10 more minutes.
In a bowl, add the turkey meat, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and egg. Mix to combine. Roll and make one inch meat balls and add to broth. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add the spinach and cook until spinach is wilted. Serve and enjoy!
“This tastes almost like mashed potatoes, but with fewer calories!”
Ingredients
1 head of cauliflower, chopped
Margarine or butter to taste
Fat-free, low-fat or regular sour cream, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste
Preparation
Steam the chopped cauliflower until soft. This takes about 20 minutes. Make sure the water doesn’t boil because cauliflower burns easily. When the cauliflower is soft, mash it and add margarine or butter and sour cream, to taste. I like to use fat-free sour cream and margarine. Serve warm.
“We make this all winter long. It’s tasty, healthy and easy! It makes a big enough batch to last a few days for lunches or dinners.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium white or yellow onion, chopped or minced
2 zucchini, chopped
1 large handful of fresh green beans, chopped into bite-sized pieces
2-3 stalks of celery, chopped
4-6 large cloves of fresh garlic, minced
4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
2 15-ounce cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (fun fact – rinsing removes a good portion of the sodium!)
2 15-ounce cans white beans (kidney, great northern, etc.), drained and rinsed
1 large can diced tomatoes, with juice (you can use reduced-sodium canned tomatoes)
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
3 cups water
1/2 cup small shell pasta
4-ish cups fresh baby spinach (I just throw a few handfuls in)
Preparation
Heat olive oil over medium heat in a medium to large pot. Add all the veggies and garlic to the pot and sauté until the onions begin to look translucent (around 5 minutes). Add broth, tomatoes, beans, water, herbs and salt and pepper, to taste. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add pasta and cook for 20 more minutes or until pasta is done. Turn off the stove, add the spinach and stir until the spinach starts to wilt. Serve the minestrone topped with fresh grated Parmesan cheese, accompanied with warm bread.
“The fun part of this recipe is that by altering the type of ingredients that you use, you can make it as low-fat, low-sugar, organic etc. as you want…..or not! I have used this in small decorative cups, as filling in small individual pastry cups and you can even use it as a topping for large sugar cookies for a creative dessert.”
Ingredients
2 boxes (1.5 ounces) of fat-free/sugar-free Instant Vanilla Pudding
2 cups non-fat or low fat milk
1 15-ounce can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling, just plain pumpkin)
1 container of cool whip (or use the whipped cream of your choice)
Ground cinnamon, to taste
Preparation
In a bowl, mix pudding and milk until smooth. Add the can of pumpkin and mix well. Fold in the cool whip or whipped cream. Add cinnamon to taste and enjoy!
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Filed under: Gloria Verret, Kelli Anderson, Nurse Bloggers, Rachel Blackburn, Tere Jones on February 25th, 2013
