Summer Vegetable Soup

Welcome to another Super Soup Sunday. 

Sunday, the day where we get a jump on the week by making a luscious soup that will get us through a few meals in the upcoming week. I am really liking this new routine. Even though it sometimes takes some time to prepare, it feels like I am taking the pressure off myself for the next few meals to come and that brings a welcome sense of relief.

Last week's Quick and Easy Black Bean Soup required very little effort and was made from ingredients that could be kept on hand in the pantry and the freezer for a meal and soup in a pinch.  This week, I am doing the opposite.

This Summer Vegetable Soup is made from almost entirely fresh in-season Summer ingredients. It didn't dawn on me until I took the ingredient line up photo that I missed an opportunity here to make it all fresh. I had chosen to use some frozen roasted corn. Darn! While the roasted corn added a different flavor, and saved me some work, fresh corn would have been lovely.

Also this soup uses very little seasoning other than fresh garlic, fresh basil, onion and lemon, pepper and if you choose, salt. It's truly a soup that benefits from farm fresh seasonal ingredients. It just tastes like summer.

We are fortunate that we still have some of the last fresh lemons on the trees as well. One of the benefits of living in the California desert. That and the fact we have summer vegetables already.

Summer Vegetable Soup

Recipe adapted from the cookbook, Forks Over Knives, The Cookbook

It serves approximately 6.

Ingredients:

6 medium tomatoes, chopped
3 ears of corn, kernels removed from cob (about 2 cups)
2 medium zucchini, diced
1 medium yellow squash, diced
1 large onion, diced
6 cups low sodium vegetable broth or fresh no salt stock
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh basil
zest and juice of one lemon
pepper to taste (salt to if you must)

Directions:

Sautee the onions in a couple of tablespoons of the broth over medium heat for about 7-8 minutes.

Don't let them dry out, add more broth as necessary. Add the garlic and sautee another minute.

Add tomatoes and cook for about 10 minutes, just until tomatoes break down a little.

Add the zucchini, yellow squash, corn and vegetable broth.

Bring the pot to a boil on high, then reduce to medium and cook 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Add the freshly chopped basil, lemon juice and zest and pepper and salt to taste.

And Enjoy!

Fresh Summer Vegetable Soup

This is another entry for Healthy Vegan Fridays.

Cooking Tip:

About this time, you might notice that you have left over broth. This seems to happen a lot as often 6 cups of broth is required for soup bases and a carton has 4 cups. I make broth cubes with the left overs and keep them in a bag in the freezer to use for sautéing vegetables. Also they come in handy to flavor the dog's dry food. What can I say, my dog is very spoiled. :-)

Left Over Broth Cubes

Personal Note:

I saw this quote over on FB this week, and it's stuck in my mind. It applies to me and this blog. I am definitely starting before I am ready and quite honestly if I waited until I was ready, I probably would never start. This is all a learning curve for me and quite frankly that's the point. 

So please bear with me as I improve my skills as I go along. This refers to camera operation, lighting, writing, cooking, media, graphic design, the list goes on and on. I am by no means a professional blogger, chef, or whatever and nor do I profess to be.

I am someone who is trying to heal myself with nutrition, learning new habits and tastes that I hope will last a lifetime and by sharing this adventure, I hope I can also inspire others in the process.

It's just me doing my thang.

So until next time… just be. (deep breath) ;-)

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Spicy Peanut Zucchini Noodles with Broccoli and Carrots

Slightly spicy peanut and ginger sauce over freshly made zucchini noodles with added broccoli and carrots.  Doesn't that sound good? 

I thought so.

I was perusing through a new book by the producers of the must see film, Forks Over Knives called applicably, Forks Over Knives, the Cook Book, when I ran across this recipe by Julieanna Hever.

First let me say, if you are looking for inspiration with a plant based diet, there are a lot of great looking recipes in this book- 300 to be exact. This one was the first to make me get up out of my chair and actually make a shopping list.

Bonus: This is good hot, cold and even raw. You can't go wrong.

The recipe calls for brown rice noodles but I decided to up the veggie content and go with fresh zucchini instead. I also added some carrot shreds and garnish. You could make this totally raw if you prefer but I did steam the veggies and veggie noodles to lessen the crunch and chewing.

For the raw version, just forget the stove instructions. And of course you can substitute a cooked noodle of your choice for the zucchini.

Spirooli in Action

While you can always use a hand vegetable peeler or even a julienne peeler to make noodles, I decided to use the Spirooli. This is a new toy for me that I instantly loved. It makes long noodles out of lots of different vegetables in minutes. It's easy to clean, dishwasher safe and I like that the three different blade types fit in a little drawer type set up in the machine itself for simple storage. Little suction feet help it to stick to the counter top too so it doesn't move around on you. For someone wanting to move away from gluten, or packaged food this is a great gadget to have around.

Spicy Peanut Zucchini Noodles with Broccoli and Carrots

Adapted from the book Forks Over Knives, the Cookbook

A delicious and refreshing noodle bowl whether served hot or cold. Slightly spicy peanut dressing adds a great flavor to the zucchini, broccoli and carrots. 

Ingredients:

5 medium sized zucchini (also called courgettes, and green summer squash) or 8 ounces of noodles

4 cups broccoli florets, about 2 large heads

2 large carrots, julienned (if organic there is no need to peel)

1/2- 1 cup coconut water, fresh or bottled is fine

3 tablespoons peanut butter, or nut butter of choice. (I used some nothing added peanut butter.)

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup ( B grade), or liquid sweetener of choice

2 tablespoons of Bragg's Liquid Aminos or low sodium soy sauce or tamari

1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or to taste

Garnish: (optional)

1 chopped green onion, green part only

1 tablespoon chopped cashew pieces

1 tablespoon raw sesame seeds

Start with making your noodles. Figure about 1 zucchini per person but plan for left overs too.

If using grain based noodles, start the water on the stove top and follow package directions. When the noodles are done, add the broccoli and carrots to the water and cook about 1 minute. Drain and set aside.

If steaming your veggies including zucchini noodles, set a large pot and steamer on the stove with enough water to cover the bottom and bring to a boil.  Add individually zucchini noodles, broccoli and carrots until lightly steamed, a couple of minutes. Drain and set aside in a large bowl.

For the sauce:

Blend 1/2 cup of coconut water, nut butter, maple syrup, Bragg's Aminos, ginger and red pepper until well combined, adding more coconut water until desired consistency. Serve cold or heat gently in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until warmed through. Note: heating may make the sauce thicker.

Pour sauce over noodles and toss well. Plate and garnish with cashew pieces, green onions and sesame seeds, if desired.

So there you have it; a great fresh noodle dish with loads of flavor. Perfect for summer.

This is my entry for Healthy Vegan Fridays  blog party and also for Raw Food Thursdays

So have you made noodles from veggies? or is there another great gluten free noodle that you've discovered? I'd love to hear what people are trying and liking.

Until next time…keep it real, the food that is.

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Breakfast of Champions and Firefighters

I have been trying to decide what recipe to be my first post of the blog and so this morning as I was preparing breakfast it became clear... 

Breakfast should be first, of course!

Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue

Recently at the suggestion of my good friend, Marjorie I was watching a film, The Forks over Knives Presents The  Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue with Rip Esselstyn. Highly recommend.

If you are not familiar with any of these names: Forks over Knives, Engine 2, Rip Esselstyn or his dad Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, II, I highly recommend googling them (or keep checking back as I will eventually be sharing more about all of these.) They all are worth learning more about but let me just start with Rip, his dad, and the Engine 2 diet.

Rip is the son of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, II of the renown Cleveland Clinic, who did a land mark 20 year study with reversing "incurable" advanced stage heart disease in a group of patients. He did this with a strict plant based low fat diet. These patients that were given less than a year to live are still well and thriving 20 years later, (actually all but a couple that slipped back into a Standard American Diet and did indeed die of cardiac complications.)

Rip, who was raised on this diet is not only an accomplished athlete and Iron Man competitor, is now a firefighter in Austin, Texas. After learning than some of his fellow firefighters had some unhealthy cholesterol and blood pressure issues, he decided to do his own study using buddies from the station, Engine 2 along with some local citizens that were willing to take the 6 week challenge. The results were remarkable. Not only did they all lower their lipid numbers and blood pressure in a short amount of time, they lost weight and became much agile.

Rip's book, The Engine 2 Diet

Rip's Book

has become a phenomena proving that real men do indeed eat and thrive on plants and now their firehouse has a steady stream of book fans (and media) knocking on the doors looking to meet these veggie studs.

But let's get back to the film I first mentioned, shall we?

So in this documentary, Rip travels to two households wanting to make the switch to a plant based diet to give some tips on how to do it.  In one, he was working with a family with 4 kids and showed them how to replace the cupboard full of sugary cereal with a high fiber cereal they would all like. It was a hit with all the kids and parents. This looked so good, I knew we would have to try it.

So it all started with these:

Whole Grain Cereals with a variety of textures

I actually purchased all these from Trader Joe's, since we do not yet have a Whole Foods, but you can probably find similar cereals anywhere. What you are looking for is whole grain (must say "whole..." in the list of ingredients and be the first listed) also low sodium, and low fat and as little sugar as possible, better if you can find no sugar added.  And no oils. You want any sugar or oil to be one of the last ingredients if you can't find a cereal box without either.

These grains will be the little brooms that clean out your cholesterol as well as your digestive system. To be honest, I could not imagine eating any of these on their own- plain.

Whole Grain Cereal Mix

I mixed them all in a big bowl and then put it into a giant well sealed jar for storage. This should last a while.

I know what you're thinking: Yeah, okay but how's it taste? And how am I going to get my kids to eat twigs?

Just hold on... here comes the sugar.

Fruit  Cereal Toppings

This is the important part: Flavor.

Chop up an assortment of fruits (or use frozen if you have to) into bite sized pieces. You can get really creative here. The more variety the better. Think of them as fruit loops! They will taste better the more flavors in there and I promise your kids will love this.

I used, apple, blackberries, strawberries, banana, kiwi. I even used raisins and cran-raisins but make sure to look for unsweetened. We are trying to leave the processed sugar out. I also added some heart healthy walnuts. This is brimming full of antioxidants in a tasty way.

Let's talk about milk here for a second. If you do nothing else please give up the cow's milk! Please?
There is so much that is dangerous in cow's milk. I don't want to go into all the ugly things linked to milk in the presence of such pretty pictures and spoil your appetite. Later I promise! But please for your kid's sake give it up. Spare them the health complications associated with it (development of type 1 diabetes is the most shocking! and also lowfat milk implicated in prostate cancer...but I did promise.)

I prefer nut milks. Almond being my favorite. Look for unsweetened in your stores or better yet make your own. It's very easy and tasty.

So here it is! The new Breakfast of Champions and Firefighters. It will give you a great start to your day, keep you satisfied until lunch and do wonderful things to your body.

And your kids, big and small will love it! Promise!

Give it a try and then come back and tell me what you think.

Have a beautiful day!

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