Lucky Black-Eyed Pea Soup Recipe with Chicken-Garlic Sausage and Bell Peppers

A quick and tasty Black-Eyed Pea Soup for good luck on New Year's Day, and it's Phase One!

I need to give Meatless Monday fans a raincheck this week so I can share this Lucky Black-Eyed Pea Soup with Chicken Garlic Soup and Bell Peppers before New Year's Day.  I've been cooking black-eyed peas on New Year's Day for several years now, usually my favorite Hopping John Soup or Black-Eyed Pea Hummus, and I can promise you, it has definitely brought me good luck.  And if you use portion control, this new lucky soup is even good for Phase One (which I'm guessing some of you may have on your mind!)  If you're cooking black-eyed peas for New Year's Day, let us know in the comments how you're fixing them this year.

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The Top Ten Recipes of 2012 from Kalyn's Kitchen (plus Ten Honorable Mentions)

Narrowing it down is tough, but here are my Top Ten Recipes for 2012 and ten more Honorable Mentions!

I love those end-of-year lists that pop up between Christmas and New Year's Day, so each December I scan through the monthly archives and save recipes that were my personal favorites from the past year.  Sounds easy enough, but then every year I have a hard time narrowing it down, even though three years ago I started allowing myself to expand the top ten list with ten honorable mentions!

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Red and Green Christmas Rice with Bell Peppers, Parmesan, and Pine Nuts (and Happy Holidays!)

Christmas Rice is loaded with flavor from red and green bell pepper, Parmesan, and pine nuts.

I want to share one more recipe before I take most of next week off the enjoy the holidays with my family, and if you're making any kind of formal dinner this week, I recommend this Christmas Rice with Bell Peppers, Parmesan, and Pine Nuts as the perfect holiday side dish.  The rice is loaded with flavor from red and green peppers, thinly sliced green onions, Parmesan, pine nuts, and just the right seasonings.  It cooks in the oven (along with your main dish if you'd like) and doesn't require much watching.   And of course it's red and green, which is always fun for this time of year.   And before I talk more about the recipe, let me wish all my readers and friends a great holiday season, plenty of time with those you love, and lots of delicious food in 2013!

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Navy Bean and Refried Bean Stew Recipe with Ham, Leeks, and Tomatoes

This Phase One Navy Bean and Refried Bean Stew with Ham, Leeks, and Tomatoes would be a great use for leftover holiday ham.

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites.  If you're having ham during the holidays, this is a great phase one soup to make with the leftover ham.  If you wanted to try this in the slow cooker, I would reduce the amount of ham stock to about 2 cups.)

When it's winter in Utah we often have a short little taste of warm weather, and then the lawn is covered with snow again and it seems like soup or stew is back on the menu. I created this recipe for a bean stew with leeks, ham, and tomatoes on a winter day when I was having guests for a soup and stew lunch. The recipe was partly inspired by an abundance of leeks and leftover ham, and the photo (which I was not crazy about) might have kept it from making an appearance on the blog, but when my nephew Jake and my brother Rand (two confirmed foodies) both raved about the flavors in this stew, I knew I should post it even if the photos didn't really show off its inner beauty.

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Fifteen Delicious Low-Sugar or Sugar-Free Cookies to Bake for the Holidays (many are gluten-free)

Fifteen low-sugar (or sugar-free) cookies to bake for the holidays, and many are gluten-free as well!

In more than eight years of food blogging I've probably tried about 50 different variations for low-sugar or sugar-free cookies, and yet only 15 cookie recipes have been posted on Kalyn's Kitchen.  That might be partly due to my poor baking skills, but it's also because I feel there's not much sense in making a low-sugar or sugar-free cookie if it doesn't really taste good.  Admittedly, nothing tastes quite like real sugar, which I'm sure is why so many people have a hard time avoiding it.  But these fifteen cookies are all delicious, and all of them can be made with either Stevia-in-the-Raw Granulated Sweetener or Splenda (or sugar, if you don't care about the whole low-sugar thing.)  Many of the cookies are also flourless, which makes them gluten-free as well.  Of course making a cookie that's low-calorie is another matter indeed, so use portion control when indulging if you're trying to avoid holiday weight gain!

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Spicy Vegetarian Butternut Squash Soup Recipe with Black Beans, Red Bell Pepper, and Cilantro

Spicy Butternut Squash Soup with Black Beans, Red Bell Pepper, and Cilantro is a great meatless meal.

I'm a well-documented fan of butternut squash, so you might be surprised to hear this is only the second time I've made a soup using my favorite winter squash.   I love savory squash dishes, but I don't really understand the appeal of those sweet butternut squash soups that many people like.  No surprise then that this Butternut Squash Soup with Black Beans, Red Bell Pepper, and Cilantro is savory and slightly spicy from the Green Tabasco Sauce that's stirred in at the end.  I ate my soup with a generous dollop of low-fat sour cream, but if you skip the sour cream this meatless soup is vegan.

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Low-Sugar and Flourless Chocolate Coconut Drops with Almonds (Gluten-Free)

These Low-Sugar and Flourless Chocolate Coconut Drops are also gluten-free!

In December many food blogs are featuring an ongoing series of sugary treats, and I've been resisting the Christmas cookie baking fever for a few weeks now.  But every year at Christmas I try a few new recipes to add to my collection of Low Sugar Desserts for those of you who have a sweet tooth but are trying to limit sugar in your diet.  These Low-Sugar and Flourless Chocolate Coconut Drops do have a small amount of semi-sweet chocolate chips that keeps them from being sugar-free, but I switched out the powdered sugar for Stevia In the Raw Granulated Sweetener and used unsweetened coconut to create a chocolate cookie with less than 4 grams of sugar each.  These cookies were easy to throw together, and if you're a chocolate fan I think you'll enjoy them for a holiday treat.

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Recipe for Easy Garlic and Lemon Shrimp

Extra-large shrimp, simply sauteed with garlic and lemon.

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites.   This Easy Garlic and Lemon Shrimp couldn't be more simple to make, but the taste is special enough that you can serve it for any kind of occasion.)

I grew up in a family where my father loved shrimp and my mother hated them, and it was a sign of how much my mom loved my dad that periodically she would heat up a big pot of oil and make deep-fried shrimp for Dad and the other family members who liked it.  I was always daddy's girl, so I loved everything my father ate, including rare steak, Roquefort dressing on salad, onion sandwiches, and shrimp of any kind.  When you splurge on big shrimp like these (called prawns in many places) there are many good ways to serve them, but I loved this simple recipe of shrimp sauteed with minced fresh garlic and then served with lemon juice and lemon zest added at the very end.

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Easy Recipe for Spicy Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Chicken-Garlic Sausage

Easy and delicious Spicy Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Low-Fat and Gluten-Free Chicken Sausage!

Do you like sweet potatoes?  My nephew and cooking assistant Jake has never really been a fan, but when we made this simple recipe for Roasted Spicy Sweet Potatoes and Chicken Sausage, he loved it just as much as I did.  This no-fuss recipe was inspired by my love of Sweet Potato Fries, plus a really delicious new low-fat chicken sausage from Costco (with no nitrates!)  Every cook needs some quick and easy dinner ideas for this time of year, and this is pure comfort food without much effort.

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Vegetarian Curried Brown Rice and Broccoli Casserole with Creamy Curry Sauce

A layered casserole with curried brown rice, broccoli, a creamy curry sauce, and just enough low-fat cheese!

Now that I have officially been given the title of Casserole Queen, it seemed fun to challenge myself with creating more meatless casseroles.  This Vegetarian Curried Brown Rice and Broccoli Casserole with Creamy Curry Sauce is an idea that just popped into my head one day, although it's definitely a riff on the Better-than-Mom's Chicken, Broccoli, and Quinoa Casserole with Creamy Curry Sauce that I made nearly two years ago.  Once I had the idea in mind, it actually took Jake and I three tries to get this one just right (although we happily gobbled up the first  two tries as well.) 

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Recipe for Easy Brown Rice Casserole with Turkey Italian Sausage and Green Bell Pepper

This casserole with brown rice, turkey Italian sausage, and green bell pepper was one of the Ziplist Best of 2012 Recipes!

(Updated December 2012) Today's my birthday, which makes it even more fun that Ziplist has named me Casserole Queen for this recipe, which received one of the Ziplist Best of 2012 Recipe Awards!  Everyone should be Queen for the Day on their birthday, don't you agree?  I hope everyone will enjoy seeing this recipe from the past while I spend some birthday-celebrating time with family and friends.  And if you're not already one of the many people using Ziplist, I recommend you check out the Ziplist Recipe Box, Shopping List, and Grocery Deals features, which you can use on thousands of blogs and other food sites.  (On Kalyn's Kitchen those Ziplist links are located at the top of the left sidebar where it says Save Your Recipes.)  I'll be back tomorrow with another new recipe.

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Recipe for Chicken Egg Foo Yung with Mushrooms and Green Onions

If you like Egg Foo Yung in restaurants, this is a delicious version to make at home.

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites.  If you've never thought of making Egg Foo Yung at home, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by this recipe.)

In 2001 I went to Hong Kong and Beijing with my brother Rand, and it didn't take long to realize that most of what we consider to be "Chinese food" in the U.S. is definitely Chinese-American food. I know Egg Foo Yung is one of those dishes that falls in the Chinese-American category, and although it doesn't get much respect compared to more exotic items you find on menus, it can be one of my favorites when it's made well. I learned to love Egg Foo Yung at The Pagoda, a Chinese American Restaurant in Salt Lake (with a Japanese name!) My family went there for special occasions, and I remember eating Egg Foo Yung at the Pagoda as a reward for making the honor roll in high school. In all the years since then, I don't think I've thought of making Egg Foo Yung myself until I saw this recipe from Fine Cooking. Their version was a little different than the dish I learned to like as a teenager but equally delicious, and if you like Egg Foo Yung, you should try this recipe right away!

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Slow Cooker Lentil Soup Recipe with Turkey Bratwurst, Leeks, and Sherry Vinegar

A delicious Slow Cooker Lentil Soup with Turkey Bratwurst, Leeks, and Sherry Vinegar.

If I had to narrow down my pantry to only ten ingredients, one thing that would definitely make the cut is lentils.  There are so many interesting ways to cook this humble little legume; in fact you could probably built an entire blog around lentil soup recipes.   I've posted my share of lentils soups in the past, but this version of lentil soup that's adapted from a recipe in The French Slow Cookerhas the interesting combination of turkey bratwurst and leeks.  This is a tummy-warming soup that could cook all day on low while you're at work.

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Kalyn's Kitchen Picks: Anchor Hocking 12 Cup Bake-and-Store Glass Casserole Dish

This little square dish I found at Home Goods has become my favorite baking dish for casseroles!

This week my nephew and cooking assistant Jake were working on a new vegetarian casserole when Jake remarked again how much he liked the new square casserole dish I bought a few months ago.  And since I am also crazy over this handy glass baking dish, I decided it was worthy to be recommended as a Kalyn's Kitchen Pick (and even as a possible holiday gift for any foodies you might have on your list.)  I originally got the dish with a certain recipe in mind, but since then it's almost the only casserole dish I've used, and I like it so much I recently bought a second one!

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Recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash Wedges with Tahini-Yogurt Sauce, Sumac, and Aleppo Pepper

Roasted Butternut Squash Wedges with Tahini-Yogurt Sauce, Sumac, and Aleppo Pepper is a satisfying meatless dish.

Raise your hand if you're a member of the Roasted Butternut Squash Fan Club.  Of course my own hand is wildly waving in the air, which is pretty obvious if you check the Vegetables archive page for the blog.  I don't think I've ever had roasted butternut squash that wasn't good, but this recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash with Tahini-Yogurt Sauce, Sumac, and Aleppo Pepper has to be the most unusual butternut squash dish I've made.  I would love this as a Meatless Monday main dish, but it would also make a nice side dish if you're not quite sure about roasted squash as a main dish.

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South Beach Diet Phase One Recipes Round-up for November 2012 (Low-Glycemic Recipes)

Phase One Recipes from Kalyn's Kitchen or other blogs during November 2012!

Let's all wave goodbye to November.  And since another month has ended, it's time for another round-up of South Beach Diet Phase One recipes I've posted during the month or found on other blogs.  Since it's the month with a holiday where overindulging in food is part of the tradition, you might think November would be slim pickings when it comes to South Beach Diet Phase One Recipes, but this round-up has surprisingly good assortment of dishes.  And just in time, since my normal December plan is to be ultra disciplined the first three weeks of the month (since I know the days from Christmas to New Year's will be pretty indulgent.)  For anyone else who's doing a little pre-holiday dieting, I hope these recipes will be useful. 

(You can use the label Low-Glycemic Recipe Round-Ups to see all the posts like this one.)

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