Brrrrr....Good thing the soups on!

I'm proud of this one!  In an effort to clean out the freezer, eat clean and avoid a grocery store trip pre paycheck I created this last night.  This is a "redo" of some smoked pork loin I had in the freezer.  The smoke adds a wonderful flavor but if you don't have a smoker just add a drop or two of Liquid Smoke.  Also, I think this hearty soup would be wonderful with any meat source.  My hubby likes broth soup but you could thicken it up if your family prefers stew.

Pork and Bean Soup

approx. 5 cups roasted pork

1 can fat free refined beans

1 can garbanzo beans

1 can butter beans

1 can kidney beans

2 48oz low sodium fat free chicken broth

Bay leaves

Seasoning of your choice: I used WildTree's Rockin'Moroccan Rub. Just dumped a couple of tablespoons in the mix.  I placed the ingredients in the crockpot and let cook all afternoon.  Perfect for such a cold evening!

This is really just an example of how with a little bit of an adventurous spirit you can throw pantry and freezer items together.  We served this with a wonderful Whole Wheat Bread Machine loaf.  

One of my goals with our clean eating lifestyle is to reduce waste and tighten our grocery budget.  I'm amazed at what happens if I cut veggies and place them in clear containers in the fridge.  They get eaten!  I'm also trying to be more efficient with our leftovers.  To me this means having a plan for anything we don't eat within 24 hours of originally serving it.  Last week my daughter had her wisdom teeth pulled.  This was a perfect opportunity to make my from scratch chicken soup.  Maybe I'll post that on another date but it would be difficult because I don't measure anything!  I use a pressure cooker to make my concentrated chicken broth.  It takes two whole chickens however the soup only uses the meat of one.  This was my solution for the remaining chicken.  Yum. Yum. Yum. 

BBQ Chicken on a whole wheat crust.    

The pizza consisted of the following:

crust via bread machine (John is still working on perfecting the recipe.  When he has it, I'll post it).  thinly sliced red onion

chopped cilantro

cooked chicken and tossed with a bit of BBQ sauce

bit of olive oil/garlic brushed on crust

mixture (to taste) of goat cheese, feta and skim mozzarella (We have found that using cheese with a strong flavor allowed us to decrease the overall amount of cheese needed for the pie)

We enjoyed this one so much we made it again the next night. Served with a big salad, of course!  This weekend we are going to create a Portobello, blue cheese and walnut pizza creation for the adults and a chicken sausage pie for the kids!  Can't wait for Friday!