Curry Chicken Soup and Rosemary Almonds

Continuing my healthy lunches and snacks for work, I made a Curry Chicken Soup and Rosemary Almonds today.  I've cooked oatmeal with golden raisins and dried cherries for breakfast for the week--each morning they'll go in the microwave and just get some skim milk added.  I'll pack a slice of whole-grain toast with a light spread of peanut-butter and add a banana at work for a mid-morning snack. My soup will be a light lunch.  In the afternoon I'll have a cup of hot sweet tea with a handful of rosemary almonds.  After school I'll eat a pear or apple to hold me until a light dinner. 

Curry Chicken Soup

I've made of a habit of prepping all veggies before I start cooking:

The ingredients are:

1 pound cooked chicken (I used rotisserie chicken this time--had some leftover)
2 chopped yellow onions
4 large chopped carrots
l large potato cubed.  I used Idaho Russet
2 cups cauliflower florets
1 cup frozen peas
1 32 oz. box chicken stock or broth
1 cup water
2-3 Tblsp. Olive oil
2 tsp. curry powder
salt and pepper to taste

Swirl some olive oil into a large dutch oven. Add the carrots and onions and sautee about 5 minutes until softened.  Add the curry powder and potato with 1 cup stock and 1 cup water.  Simmer, covered, about 10 minutes until the potatoes and carrots are soft.  Use an immersion blender to puree the soup in the pot.  (Or cool slightly and puree in a blender and return to the pot.)  Add the rest of the stock with the cauliflower florets.  Cover and simmer until the cauliflower is tender, about 20 minutes.  Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.  Add the peas and chicken and simmer about 5 more minutes.  Check for salt and flavor.  To serve, sprinkle some grated parmesan on top if desired.  Cool and pack into individual servings in small canning jars to take to work and refrigerate. 
I love the creamy yummy texture of this soup when the carrots, onions and potato are pureed together.  Another of my favorite soups now. (This recipe was adapted from my Reader's Digest book of Food Cures.)

The Rosemary Almonds are from a recipe I found
 in my Williams-Sonoma Christmas Entertaining cookbook.  I mixed 3 Tblsp. olive oil with 2-1/2 cups almonds and fine seasalt.  I mounded it with 4 sprigs of rosemary onto a cookie sheet and roasted it for 15 minutes.  I stirred it and roasted 10 minutes more.  I'll take handfuls of these almonds to work and snack on them with my afternoon tea.  I love these.