It's Foodie Friday--Tasty Tomato-Tortilla Soup and Chocolate Chip Kale Cookies

The weather certainly has been frigid this past week. I hope you all are safe and sound.  Dangerous temperatures kept many of us inside our warm homes and out of work or school for a few days as the national average temperatures plummeted. Snuggling with warm blankets and a good book was definitely in order.

On frigid winter days I love a one pot meal. There is nothing like the smell of soup cooking on the stove and cookies baking in the oven on a cold day. With Pinterest, the plethora of cookbooks now available, along with old family favorites from years ago, our  recipe choices are endless. While searching for soup recipes, I try to keep the calories under 300 per serving (which is usually 2 cups or under).

The Tomato-Tortilla Soup from Ellie Krieger's book The Food You Crave,  fits that bill, coming in at 220 calories per 2 cup serving. The soup is light and tasty.  Accompanied with a warm corn muffin and a small leafy green salad, the meal is complete.

 http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/tomato-tortilla-soup-recipe/index.html

Now what about that sweet tooth!  Ahhhh......is it really possible to have a chocolate chip cookie with Kale in it that tastes good? I have to admit I had my doubts. My husband bought me the Fifty Shades of Kale book for Christmas. As I browsed the pages, when I came across this recipe, I
just had to try it.

I found that the recipe states that it makes 24 cookies with 141 calories per cookie. But when I dropped the cookies onto the cookie sheet with a measuring tablespoon they looked small and would make alot more than 24. So I made the last batch larger using a silverware tablespoon which was much more generous. If you take a look at my cookie plate you will see the difference in size.

The taste is actually pretty good. The bottom of the cookie has a nice crunch to it because it browns more. I didn't taste the kale at all. I also couldn't find small 70% semisweet chocolate chips in my grocery store so I used 60% bittersweet, and I thought it was sweet enough.

Article with recipe can be found at---http://www.cbsnews.com/news/recipe-chocolate-chip-kale-cookies/

After I made these, I browsed the internet for the good old fashioned Toll-House Chocolate cookie nutritional info and found the information on Fitness Pal.The calories were 120 per cookie, however, it does not state the cookie size. In comparing all of the nutritional values, I saw no reason that the Kale cookie would be better for you in any way.

In the future if I want Kale, I will have it in a salad or side dish. If I want to splurge on a chocolate chip cookie, I will stick with Nestle Toll House!

Hope you enjoyed today's blog.

Have a wonderful and healthy weekend!

Cheers,

  Kathleen

****Feel free to leave a comment. We love to hear from you!