Ingredients

• 2 cups double smoked bacon and/or lardons
• 1/4 lb butter
• 1 cup carrots, diced
• 1 cup celery, diced
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 2 cups potatos, diced (we just use the baby potatoes and half or quarter them)
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tblspn dried or fresh thyme (we use 1/2 tblspn of ground thyme)
• 1 tblspn black pepper (or more if you like it spicy)
• 1 tblspn salt (we don’t add any)
• 1 tblspn dried or fresh parsley
• 1 litre of chicken stock
• 500 ml milk
• 500 ml cream

Directions

• Cook bacon and lardons on high until crispy.
• Lower to medium-high and add butter.
• Add carrots, celery, onions, thyme, salt, pepper and parsley.
• Cook for 5 minutes.
• Mix in flow to make roux and cook for 5 mintues.
• Add chicken stock, let thicken.
• Add milk, let thicken.
• Add cream, let thicken.
• Add corn and potatoes, cook on low simmer for 15 minutes.
• Adjust seasoning with additional salt and pepper if required.

Made by The Cape Herb & Spice Company, in Cape Town, Africa, this mixture of rock crystal sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, chocolate or butterscotch turns the simplest of desserts into something new.

Using the bottle’s grinder, it’s easy to sprinkle this crunchy topping onto ice cream, coffee, fresh fruit and anything else that tickles your taste buds.

Not only is the topping delicious, but the company itself has a good focus on social responsibility — whether it’s their use of recycled and recyclable products or the free assistance and programs they offer their employees — the whole package is just plain sweet.

Check them out at: The Cape Herb & Spice Company

Microscopic flecks of vegetable, squishy chewy bit of “meat” and enough salt to exceed your daily recommended value hardly make for a healthy comfort food.

Soup stocks, on the other hand, are a great way to make your own soup. Open a box of chicken or beef broth, throw in some fresh veggies, meat and noodles and you’ve got a quick and nutritious meal.

Soup stock is pretty basic stuff — there’s not much more that needs to go in beyond water, chicken or beef bits, a few veggies and some herbs.

A can of Campbell’s Herbed Chicken with Rice soup has more than 66% of the daily value for sodium. Their Tomato with Cheese and Portobello Mushroom Ravioli soup has over 70%. (Add a few crackers, and you’ve met or exceeded your sodium daily value with just the one meal!)
Compare that to their Chicken Broth, which for roughly the same amount of liquid, will give you only 20% of the daily sodium value.

My typical chicken veggie soup recipe will feed about four adults.

• Chicken broth — 1 box (900 ml)
• Brocolli — as much as you want
• Carrots — as much as you want (whole baby ones , or slided)
• Chicken — about four breasts (cut into small pieces and browned before adding to soup)
• Baby potatoes — as much as you want (halved)
• Udon noodles — two packs (you can use regular pasta, too.)
• Fish sauce — 1 tbsp
• Oregano — to taste
• Cook everything except the noodles for about 30 mins, add the noodles and cook for another two to five minutes.

Now that’s a statement that probably won’t keep many people reading, but if you’re looking for a cheap, quick and healthy breakfast, read on…

Oatmeal packs from companies like Quaker are available in almost every grocery store, but they’re often loaded with processed sugar and salt. They’re also (for me anyway) nowhere near enough to fill me up.

My recipe is as follows, and to make it even easier, we usually prepare 30 or so Ziploc baggies at a time. Into each baggie, goes:

• 1/3 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/3 cup Kellogs All-Bran Buds (with psyllium)
• 1 tsp brown sugar (optional)
• 1 tsp flax seed

That’s about it. Each morning I dump the above into a small thermos, and add about 1 cup of boiling water. By the time I get to work, I have a delicious, steaming thermos of healthy oatmeal ready to enjoy.

Update: I’ve also been adding a variety of dried berries which really adds to the flavour and interest factor.  Dried blueberries, cranberries or goji berries are great choices.

Ingredients
All purpose flour 3 cups
Baking Powder 4 tsp.
Salt 1/2 tsp.
Grated medium or sharp cheddar cheese 1 1/2 cups
Milk 1 1/2 cups
Butter or margarine, melted 2 tbsp.

Directions
Combine flour, baking powder, salt and cheese in large bowl. Stir thoroughly.
Add milk and melted butter. Stir to form soft dough.
Put in greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.
Bake in 400F oven for 35 to 40 minutes.
Remove from pan to cool.
Serve with butter

Modifications
You can increase the “cheese gob” factor by grating the cheese thickly or finely, depending on your tastes.

Add different cheeses — I often add a bit of romano cheese.

I’ve also added up to an extra cup of cheese before, and it didn’t seem to change the loaf too much.

I usually grate up garlic coil sausage and add that to the recipe. If I add 1/2 grated sausage, I take away 1/2 of grated cheese to equal things out.

I’ve also added red chili pepper flakes before to add an extra bit of zing

Enjoy!