If you want to eat healthier stuff, don't forget about mashed veggies...rutabaga mashed with butter and nutmeg is a favorite of mine. Mashed cauliflower with butter and parsley is delish. Of course mashed white potatoes, but I love mashed sweet potatoes with maple syrup and nutmeg. And you can mash up butternut squash and acorn squash too. What a great excuse to have something like cream of rice cereal...haven't had it in years, but loved it as a kid, esp with chocolate sprinkles on it. I have a fruit smoothie every a.m. with kale in it for health along with whey protein powder, chia seeds, coconut oil, a half of a banana, and a passel of frozen fruit. Very tasty and satisfying, even without chewing. Also, can you do plain yogurt and small curd cottage cheese? I mix my yogurt with vanilla and honey....delish. And who can forget ice cream? As long as it doesn't have nuts or other crunchies.... And there are all kinds of cream soups you can make...haven't had cream of carrot soup with ginger in awhile, but it's sweet and delish. Or cream of mushroom soup. Yum! Man, I'm getting hungry!

Here are a couple of soups we've been making. Both are recipes from Elephant's Deli here in Portland, favorites of daughter and mine. Elephant's publishes the recipes, so we decided to duplicate them at home. The exact wording is not Elephant's, I simply copy/pasted from ''My Recipes'' on Calorie Count where I've been storing recipes lately. I've noted where I tweaked the recipe a bit. Also, my serving sizes may be inconsistent. Mama Leone's Soup Makes 6 servings, each 160 calories. 1/2 lb chicken breast 15 oz canned diced tomato 1/2 cup flour 3/4 cup heavy cream 1 onion 3 stalk celery 1 tbsp garlic 1/2 tsp oregano 1/2 tsp tarragon 2 tsp paprika 1/2 tsp black pepper 2 tsp salt 1 tbsp vegetable oil 1 tbsp butter 6 cups chicken stock 2 cups spinach 1. Lightly salt and pepper chicken breasts, bake 20 minutes at 375F, dice meat and set aside. 2. In large pot over medium heat, heat oil, melt butter, and cook onions and celery (both diced) until onions translucent (about 7-10 minutes). 3. Add garlic (minced or crushed), tarragon and oregano (dry or fresh), paprika, black pepper, and 1 tsp salt. Stir and cook a few more minutes. 4. Add flour, stir until absorbed. 5. Add chicken broth, stirring and scraping bottom of pot. Bring to boil. 6. Add tomato with the sauce (I give the tomatoes a buzz in the food processor to smooth them out) and cream, stir, reduce heat and simmer for at least 30 minutes. 7. Add diced chicken and simmer for at least another 10 minutes. 8. Adjust seasoning, adding rest of salt if desired. 9. Finely slice or shred spinach, add shortly before serving. 10. Note: 11. Chicken may be dark meat. 12. Cream may be replaced with half and half, but it won't be as good. Elephant's Tomato Orange Soup Makes 6 servings, each 220 calories. 1/2 cup butter 1 onion 28 oz canned diced tomatoes 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper 1/4 tsp baking soda (I omit this, because I never have any around) 1 tsp dried thyme 3/4 cup orange juice (recipe says 1 cup, I find that a wee bit much) 1/2 cup heavy cream 1. Melt butter, add diced onion, cook to translucent. 2. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, baking soda and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered 15 minutes. 3. Puree in a food processor or blender. If you want a particularly smooth soup, strain through a sieve or food mill. 4. Return to pot and add orange juice and cream. Adjust seasonings, and serve. Lastly, this is a tomato orange soup that does not use cream or butter. Not an Elephant's recipe. Tomato Basil Orange Soup, Creamless Makes 8 servings, each 80 calories. 56 oz canned whole tomatoes 1 medium onion 3 cloves garlic 1 tbsp basil 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes 1 tbsp brown sugar 3 cup chicken stock 3 slice bread 1/2 tsp salt 1 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp orange juice 1. Place canned whole tomatoes (two 28-oz cans) on baking sheet, sprinkle with brown sugar, roast at 375F for 45 minutes. Save the canning juice. 2. Roughly dice bread, after removing crust. 3. Heat oil in large pot on medium heat. 4. Rough chop onions and garlic, cook in oil until soft. Add a bit of stock as needed to avoid burning. 5. Add reserved canning juice, basil, red pepper, bread, and salt. Reduce heat to low, add 1 cup stock, and simmer. 6. Add roasted tomatoes and any juice released during roasting. Roughly mash tomatoes, simmer for 20 minutes. 7. Transfer to blender and puree to smooth. Add remaining stock as needed to achieve desired consistency. 8. Squeeze orange and add juice slowly, stirring and tasting as you go. The juice adds a bright, sweet, tart flavour, which you can make subtle or bold. 9. Serve with garnish of bread cubes, chopped chives, and/or orange peel/zest. 10. Notes: 11. Basil may be fresh or dried. A tangerine may be substituted for the orange, as can commercial orange juice. Vegetable stock may be used. I've also recently made the above soup as a sweet tomato bisque, leaving out the bread and orange, but adding plenty of brown sugar and/or honey and some cream.

Elena- that is it! Thanks. Just- I originally was going to get a panini maker until I went into the LeCr outlet and decided on this as it seemed multi functions. The best part is I tossed it in the DW at the end of the meal and it was all clean. I did soak it for a few minutes just to loosen the food a bit. Can't wait to try a panini on it. WS is having a demo tonight so I might try to get there, although my bicycle us calling me :-). We might have decent weather this afternoon. I have until May 6th for the special deal. I am still leaning towards the 750 unless I get cold feet (wallet...). This will be the only year we get a significant refund as we failed to change deductions and DH usually calculates this so we owe and get back ~ $0.00. Cauliflower soup - yum!

This has gotten to be a big challenge - probably due to the length of my post. I posted this yesterday and thought I fixed it this morning, but only part 2 shows up. Here is the first part I posted, but I think I'll have to divide it as well, so I'll entitle it Part 1A and 1B. Sorry for the delayed response and mix up. -Grainlady Part 1A There is an abundance of information on the subject when you start to study it. In fact, it is quite an interesting subject when you get into it. What we think of as a tasty broth/stock to enhance the flavors of sauces, vegetables, and soups, is really much more than that. So when you see someone cooking/poaching a few boneless chicken breasts for broth/stock, that's one time they're doing it wrong. I look at broth (especially bone broth) as a supplement to my diet - a gelatin-rich food that helps just about everywhere in the body. These are foods that have all but disappeared from the modern dinner table and we are less healthy for it. Here's information according to "Nourishing Broth" by Sally Fallon Morell and Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN. I would suggest it for further reading on the subject. -You want bones that have lots of cartilage along with those small amounts of meat for flavor. Meat contains only about 1% by weight of collagen, while bones contain about 20%. Skin - like chicken skin (think schmaltz) and pig skin (think pork rinds), contains up to 30%. Veal knuckles contain up to 40%. What this means is when making chicken stock include the backs, wings, and necks. For beef and veal stock, use cartilage-rich knuckles or oxtail (tailbones) along with more cartilage-rich meaty bones like short ribs or shanks. -To ensure plenty of gelatin - include feet -- chicken feet (and heads also! - although I've never used the head - even when we raised our own chickens). For beef include calves' feet. For pork broth use split pig's foot (fresh, not smoked). You can add a split pig's foot to any kind of broth to increase the gelatin. -Some ingredients yield gelatin more than others, some add flavor and color. Adding vinegar helps extract minerals from the bones as well as the vegetables you add. Any kind of vinegar can be used. -You will get better gel using pasture-raised chickens than conventional (battery-raised) OR simply organic chicken. Pasture-raised will also be more nutritious.