Smothered Green Beans with Ham and Potatoes

I have always loved this dish and finally decided to make it. For full nutrition information, I entered it at Spark People. Second picture in pot is before cooking down.

1 tbp EVOO
Approx 50 fresh green beans, cleaned (I'll use more next time)
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
8 oz mini cubed ham (you can use bacon or sausage too)
2 white potatoes, peeled and diced
1 tsp salt (use less if using bacon or sausage)
.5 tsp black pepper
2 cups water

Heat up EVOO in a pot and add garlic, onion, and ham. Let sautee until onion is translucent.
Add potatoes, green beans, salt, and pepper.
Pour in 2 cups of water. Stir, turn heat to low. Cover pot and let cook at least 45 minutes stirring every so often.

You could cook all day in crock pot on a low setting.

Creamy Basil Tomato Soup with Gorgonzola

The original recipe was from sparkrecipes.com and I am posting but this batch had way too much gorgonzola cheese for me. Might have been better without so much cheese.

56 oz diced tomatoes, no salt added, drained
1 tsp EVOO
2 tbsp tomato paste
6 cloves garlic - pressed
1 pint fat free half/half
2 tbsp fresh chopped basil leaves (I used 1/4 cup)
3/4 cup cumbled gorgonzola (I used 4 oz)

Pulse the drained tomatoes in a food processor until smooth.

Cook garlic, EVOO, and tomato paste in saucepan over medium heat about 2 minutes stirring constantly.

Stir in pureed tomatoes and cook about 5 minutes or until bubbly. Stir in cheese and mix until its all melted.

Add 1 pint of half and half and remove from heat before boiling.

Stir in basil and serve. I added some crouton and parm cheese on top of mine.