New Years Resolutions Doesn’t Have to Start January 1st!

I’m certain all food lovers feel polarized during the month of December. The dilemma? Enjoying all the sweets and fabulous meals of the holiday season and not feeling the weight of having to loose all the pounds for the New Years resolution to get into shape! If it isn’t all the chocolate and snacks at the office, the multitude of holiday parties is bound to make your waist line uncomfortable in your new tight New Year’s Eve dress. Ladies, black dresses might make you look slim, but you still know it’s a tighter fit! Gentlemen, unbuckling your belt as soon as you get into the car is a sure sign you had one to many slices of fruit cake!

My solution? Start your diet now! Instead of letting loose completely on what you eat and then killing yourself with a strict diet in January, enjoy yourself now; but also try my recipe for a slimming cabbage soup. All my friends know I can’t resist a good meal or a scrumptious morsel of sweet chocolate. Therefore, I don’t torment myself. I snack at the office and I go to all the holiday parties and enjoy the blessings of the holidays. However, everyday for lunch at work, I have my tasty cabbage soup. If I have been extra naughty with the sweets, I even have the soup for dinner. Not only does cabbage soup have very few calories and is soothingly warm during the chilly season, but it also helps to cleanse your system.
Here is a basic version of my cabbage soup. Experiment with different vegetables to change the flavors so that you don’t become sick of having the same soup everyday. I like to make the basic batch Sunday, and then through out the week, I add different chopped herbs to my daily serving such as parsley or cilantro to change the taste. I avoid starchy vegetable such as potatoes to limit my carb consumption. However, I do like to add kaffire lime leaves and mushrooms for the Asian taste or basil and zucchini for the Mediterranean flare for variety.

So have fun with this recipe and have yourself a merry holiday season with out the guilt!

Ingredients:

2 medium yellow onions- chopped into small cubes
4 stalks of celery- chopped finely
5 cloves of garlic
2 medium tomatoes- chopped into bite size pieces
1 medium red bell pepper- chopped into bite size pieces
1 large cabbage; purple or white, can use half of each
6 – 8 cups of boiling water
5 leaves of Kaffir Lime (can be purchased at any Asian Market)
1 tablespoon of coriander powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoon olive oil
optional: lemon juice to taste

1. In a large pot over medium heat, add oil and sauté onions, celery and garlic.

2. Five minutes later, add the coriander and stir, followed by the cabbage. Minutes later add boiling water to the mix. Once the soup mix has come to a boil, add lime leaves, tomatoes, bell pepper, salt and pepper. Cover and allow simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.

3. Before serving, remove lime leaves and add lemon juice if desired.


Happy Holidays!
Marjan

From our partner: LO+JUNE

From our partner: LO+JUNE
Artisanal French products in our Swiss fine food boutique