Drinking Diet Soda Is A BAD IDEA

Anyone who drinks diet soda, even one can a day, should kick the habit pronto. The New York Times today reported the findings of a study conducted by professors of epidemiology at the University of Minnesota and guess what, they "found a correlation between drinking diet soda and metabolic syndrome. Surprisingly, the risk of developing metabolic syndrome was 34 percent higher among those who drank one can of diet soda a day compared with those who drank none."

This is shocking! There should be lots of fallout from this. If you don't know what metabolic syndrome is, here's a definition from wiki: Metabolic syndrome is a combination of medical disorders that increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. It affects a large number of people, and prevalence increases with age.

Anyone who has kids in school knows we've just got to keep the soda out of our schools.

10 Minute Broccoli & Cheddar Soup

This simple and yummy vegetable soup can be made in 10 minutes. No kidding! Cook the broccoli in the store bought broth, puree it, add some yogurt and spices and top with good cheddar cheese. I urge you to get a hand-held immersion blender if you don't already have one because pureeing soup in the blender is absolutely dangerous, messy and now unnecessary thanks to these kitchen gadgets. I love my Braun. Amazon's got them on sale for about $30 so don't be cheap; be safe and quick. Oh yes, the kids absolutely love to use it. I let them stand on a chair next to the stove and puree while I keep one hand on them and the other on the blender with them. They actually squabble over who gets to use it!

This is not the super creamy, fat laden broccoli cheddar soup you get at most restaurants. It’s a much lighter and quicker version that uses bread as a thickener instead of roux (butter and flour). It uses low fat dairy instead of cream so your family’s hearts will thank you. If it seems strange to add yogurt to soup, take comfort knowing that the Turks have been eating yogurt-based soups for thousands of years. Indians use yogurt extensively in their cuisine and this combination of broccoli with garlic and cumin is common in western India.

My kids joke about this soup because I called it Emerald Soup for months to hide the fact that it had broccoli in it. Kids who won’t eat a vegetable off a plate somehow find vegetable soups palatable and even yummy!

Yield: 4 large servings or 8 appetizer-sized servings

Ingredients:

• 4 cups Trader Joe’s organic low sodium vegetable or chicken stock (1 container)
• 1-12 oz. bag Trader Joe’s organic broccoli florets or about 8 cups broccoli florets. You can also use cauliflower florets.
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin seed
• 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
• 1 slice Trader Joe’s whole wheat bread, ripped into 4 pieces
• 2 cups Trader Joe’s low-fat or fat-free organic yogurt
• a few drops of hot pepper sauce, like Sriracha (optional)
• fresh ground pepper to taste
• ¼ cup Trader Joe’s shredded aged cheddar cheese (optional)

Preparation:

1. Heat stock in a medium saucepan until boiling. Add broccoli, garlic, cumin and salt, cover and lower to a simmer. Cook 6 minutes or until just tender. Don’t overcook or it won’t be a beautiful green color!
2. Add bread and puree in the saucepan using an immersion blender (preferred). Or remove from heat and transfer in batches to a blender to puree.
3. Return to saucepan (if using blender), add yogurt and puree or whisk to combine. Reheat and serve. (Yogurt curdles when boiled unless there’s some flour in the mixture!) Add salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste and serve hot.
4. Top with some shredded aged cheddar cheese and serve with bread.