Intermittent Fasting Diet Plan Example

This new phase one recipe for Italian Sausage Soup with Green Pepper, Chickpeas, and Pesto is something I came up with a few weeks ago when I found turkey Italian sausage on sale at the store and I wanted a hearty comforting soup that I could make and eat for dinner that same night.  I've made a few soup variations with similar flavors, but what made this soup especially enjoyable for me was an idea that popped into my head to mash some of the chickpeas so they kind of dissolved into the soup.  (I like chickpeas, but I don't always like biting into a whole chickpea in a bowl of soup or a salad.)  I shared some of this with Jake when he came to cook with me, and we both thought it was a keeper!

If  you saw the Phase One Recipes Round-Up from yesterday, you know I made the commitment to post Daily Phase One Recipes during January again this year.  I hope this is useful for anyone (like me!) who's getting back on track in the new year.  And since this is my third year of Daily Phase One Recipes for January, I'm going to share Phase One Flashbacks every day (after the recipe) to spotlight the Phase One Recipe I posted on that day in 2012 and 2013.  So healthy January, here we come!  (If you're not a South Beach Dieter, Phase One recipes are often Low-Carb or Paleo, and they're always delicious, even if you're not trying to lose weight.)

I've been a little distracted by the new design for Slow Cooker from Scratch, and now it feels like I went to bed in November and when I woke up there were less than two weeks until Christmas!  And I do have a few new holiday recipe ideas I want to share before things get too crazy, starting with these Sweet Potato Appetizer Bites with Feta and Green Onions.  Yum!

I love this combination of flavors, and if I went to a holiday gathering or Superbowl party and found a table loaded with sweets and chips staring me in the face, I would be so excited to find a deliciously healthy option like this to eat instead.  The hardest part of making these might be finding the thin sweet potatoes, but you can make them into two-bite nibbles if needed!  (And I do try to focus on meatless main dishes for Meatless Monday, but I could make a meal out of these, so this is my Meatless Monday idea for the week.)

It's now been two weeks since I slipped on my icy steps and landed flat on my back with a broken arm.   Before that I'd been doing well with my yearly return to Phase One of the South Beach Diet, but I confess the broken arm did trigger a few days of total comfort eating.  Then I got over it and decided I really DID want to get back on track.  I've been even more grateful than usual to have Jake to help with recipes I've been trying out for A Month of Daily Phase One Recipes, but there are also times I have to cook for myself if I want to stick to Phase One.