I enjoy cooking. I truly do. It's fun to plan, shop for and prepare a special meal for my family. It's also time-consuming, and we moms just don't always have that kind of time. That's why it's so great when I come across a great time saver product like Bertolli Meal Soup. These soups are found in the frozen food aisle and can be prepared in minutes. What I love is that they taste homemade. That's quite a compliment coming from me, as I love my soup and am rather picky!

Bertolli Meal Soup comes in three varieties - Chicken Minestrone, Tuscan-Style Beef & Vegetables and Tomato Florentine & Tortellini With Chicken. I chose the Tomato Florentine & Tortellini With Chicken because it sounded so different from most soups I've purchased at the store. I was not disappointed!

I decided to make this soup last weekend on the day we got our new kitty. It was an exciting day, and I didn't want to spend much time on dinner. I wanted to play with our new friend. Bertolli Meal Soup was just fabulous for a hearty meal in a hurry. It comes in a bag that's easy to open. Just pour the contents in a pan and add a cup of water, then heat. So easy. Take a look at all those zesty ingredients! After cooking, the soup comes together and looks like this.

Yum! There are pieces of tomato in a smooth, creamy tomato soup. There's lots of spinach, and the cheesy tortellini is the perfect texture. It was SO good. So good, in fact, I picked up two more this week at the grocery store! I knew my husband and son would want a little more to sink their teeth into, so I prepared grilled cheese while the soup was cooking, and we had a tasty, fast meal.

I absolutely recommend Bertolli Meal Soup and can't wait to try the other varieties. You can catch up with Bertolli:

On their Facebook page

On Twitter

And at the Bertolli website.

I was compensated by Bertolli to participate in the Weeknight Meal Special Challenge. All opinions are my own.

I've been officially done with the hCG diet for the past couple weeks, but there are still some recipes I haven't shared with you. I know there are many people who would like to consider trying the program but aren't sure what they would eat on the 500 calorie a day regimen. I can honestly tell you that I didn't have any trouble coming up with things to eat. Here are some examples of beef recipes I prepared while on the hCG diet.

Filet with Grilled Radish

Ingredients

7oz beef filet

7oz fresh radish

1 garlic clover minced

2 pinches of rosemary

1 tbsp chicken broth

1 ice cube

salt  & pepper

Directions

1. Preheat grill to medium high.
2. Bring beef to room temperature, season with pepper and rosemary.
3. Slice up the radishes and place in foil. Add garlic, rosemary, chicken broth and ice cube. Wrap and place on grill for 20 minutes.
4. Grill filet for 3 - 5 minutes on each side, remove from grill and wrap in foil for another 5 minutes.

I actually don't have a grill and cooked this on the stove top with a little water. It turned out just fine, as pictured above, and was very tasty. Turns out I kind of like cooked radishes. That's one thing I really liked about the hCG diet; it really exposed me to new tastes and ways of cooking I hadn't tried before.

Grilled Top Sirloin

Ingredients

7oz sirloin (fat removed)

7oz onion

pepper

kosher salt

Directions

1. Trim any fat off the steak and weigh out two 3.5oz pieces.
2. Let steak warm up to room temperature, should take about 30 minutes. Add only pepper to steak prior to grilling. Adding salt will make the meat less moist.
3. Preheat grill to high heat.
4. Place steaks directly over the heat and place onions either on the top rack or off to the side. Grill steaks about 3 minutes on each side to desired doneness. Once steak and onions are done, place in dish and cover for 5 minute. Garnish steaks with kosher salt and pepper. Serve with onions.

Again, I chose to cook this on the stovetop, rather than the grill. I believe it would work well in the broiler as well.

These recipes were adapted from the book, Easy hCG Diet by Celeste Wilson.

As many of my friends and readers know, my husband Bill and I have been on the hCG diet for about a month now. In that month, I've lost about 18 pounds and 5 inches from my waist. The diet is kind of radical in that it allows only 500 calories to be consumed per day and limits the kinds of foods you can eat while on the program. So you can imagine that Bill and I are beginning to miss some of our old comfort foods. We'll be on the program for for two more weeks of low calories before beginning the maintenance phase in which we can begin to add a wider variety of food into our diets. That's why I was excited when I was issued a challenge by Hunt's to create a healthy recipe using Hunt's tomatoes and dedicate that recipe to a loved one.

According to an article published in the March/April 2011 American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine called, "Tomato Consumption and Health: Emerging Benefits", there are a number of health benefits to increasing tomato consumption. Adding tomatoes to one's diet has been associated with reduced risk of certain cancers, heart disease, ultra-violet light induced skin damage and osteoporosis, among other conditions. When you think of red tomatoes, keep in mind that tomatoes are good for your heart. They're low in calories and rich in nutrients like potassium, fiber and the antioxidant, lycopene. The lycopene found in canned tomatoes like Hunt's products are easier for your body to use, and higher amounts of lycopene are in canned tomatoes than the raw version. In fact, new dietary guidelines recommend adding an additional serving of tomatoes each day. Tomatoes are a superfood, and I love the convenience of Hunt's canned tomatoes. That's why I chose to use Hunt's canned Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes With Garlic in the chili recipe I create for Bill.

Bill's Hearty Sweet and Spicy Chili

Ingredients (makes 4 servings)

14 oz. 92% lean ground beef

2 14.5 oz. cans Hunt's Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes with Garlic

1 6 oz. can Hunt's No Salt Added Tomato Paste

1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Brown ground beef in large skillet

Drain ground beef and return to skillet.

Add diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir well.

Next, add broth and continue stirring until throughly combined.

Add spices, cocoa and vanilla exract. Mix well and cook to boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

The chili turned out really good, and it was so easy and convenient. I wanted to make a hearty meal my husband would enjoy. He's done so well on the diet. He's given up a lot of his favorite foods, and I hoped he would appreciate a nice bowl of hot, stick to your ribs chili. He did. The cocoa and vanilla were a nice way to add a bit of sweetness since we aren't permitted to have sweeteners like honey or molasses. Even our daughter liked the chili!

For more information on the nutritional value of tomatoes, you can check out this webinar from ConAgra Foods. I was compensated by The Motherhood for my time and participation in this campaign. I'm thankful for this experience. It allowed me to use my creativity and to show that I could create a nutritious and tasty recipe for my family. I dedicated my recipe to my husband. Who would you dedicate a healthy tomato recipe to?

I don't know where my head is lately. I was so busy preparing to go to the Type-A Mom Conference that I forgot to blog about something really cool that happened to my kids. We won VIP tickets to meet Reed Alexader, the actor who plays the evil Neville on the Nickelodeon show ICarly! I won them from my friend Beth's blog, Plus Size Mommy.

Reed Alexander was promoting his new cook book at the Giant Eagle Market District at Robinson, so we all piled in the van the weekend before the conference to go meet him. We were treated to a breakfast by the wonderful Market District staff, where Reed stopped by to say hello to us all. Then the kids got to go and meet him, one group at a time, to ask questions and get his autograph.

Here's the kids getting their chance to chat with Reed!

And here he is signing their picture.

Reed Alexander is doing a number of media tours lately to to promote his yet-to-be-released cookbook and website, KewlBites. At the Market District appearance, he demonstrated some of his recipes. He's personally working toward a healthier lifestyle and showed the audience how to make some really tasty and healthy foods.

I highly recommend checking out his site with your kids. It's got a lot of fun activities and fabulous recipes. I can't wait to try the chicken nugget and smoothie recipes he showed us at the event!