Souped Up Soup!
Yesterday I posted about my "take a peek into the produce bins and concoct some sort of soup for dinner" experience in the kitchen. I commented that tonight's soup would be similar but with sautéed celery instead of the kale. (My apologies on the typo about "now add the onions and garlic" as it was supposed to be add the onions and kale. I fixed that boo-boo.)
OK, so the planned soup just got souped up. I discovered 4 buttercup squash, from Old Market Farm, in my garage last eve. Now I did not exactly lose them, they were just momentarily forgotten. I decided to get them into the house before they froze and started rotting on me.
So I roasted the squash this AM. Revving the oven up in early AM helps to warm the chilled downstairs after a cool night.
To make this soup quickly, on an eve after working all day: get the squash steaming first, before you sauté the celery and onions. Cut a small to medium buttercup squash in half, remove seeds, and put into a pot of water that has about 1 inch of water on the bottom. When water starts to boil, reduce heat to a gentle simmer, and cook squash for about 20 minutes. It will be ready when you finish with the sauté and soup prep.
Kitchen Advice: Never boil your veggies in a pot full of water; steam in the least amount of water you can get away with and not go dry. This goes for potatoes you are cooking to mash. Less water means less nutrient loss. Pour off cooking water into a coffee mug, let cool, and drink. Get every cell enhancing mineral and nutrient any way and every way you can!
Now get going on the celery & onion saute'!
- Sauté the medium sized onion, cut into small chunks, and the celery leaves in bacon fat from local, pasture raised pigs, no nasty curing chemicals added. (Use whatever you like for gentle sautéing: pasture raised butter, coconut oil... I would avoid most vegetable oils but that is another blog post and story!) The celery will sauté quickly, add the celery after the onions are just about finished. This way you do not over cook the celery leaves.
- Add approximately 3 1/2 cups of goat's milk to the blender with 3 big cloves of the Birdsfoot garlic.
- Add the onion and celery to the blender.
- Plop in big scoops of the squash, at least use one half of the cooked squash. Be careful scooping the squash out of the shell as it is hot and a steamed squash gets mushy not rigid like an oven roasted one. (Add lots of butter and sprinkle with curry, the other half of the squash, while it is still hot so the butter melts. Mash the butter and curry into the squash. Put into a dish and take to work tomorrow!)
- Sprinkle in, oh maybe 1 tsp. of medium heat curry powder (Nature's Storehouse or the Potsdam Food Coop). I use more curry with squash or pumpkin soup because the squash flavor can handle it without being overwhelmed. Besides, the spices in curry are amazing healers!
- Blend until the consistency and smoothness you want in a cream soup is achieved.
- Pour in soup pot and gently warm.
- Ladle into soup bowls and add a pinch of unrefined sea salt, if desired.
Don't forget the beet gratings! Beets soup up the soup in several ways:
- fiber
- nutrients
- raw veggie with dinner
- contrasting color to the pretty orange soup (this artsy cooking style feeds the heart, mind, and soul!)
- beets are used as cancer therapy in Germany and Russia! Why wait to use as therapy; prevent health problems now!
Quickly grate the beet using my metal cheese grater. I sprinkled the beet gratings on top of this generously curry seasoned cream of squash/celery soup.
If the pot is big enough, or the eaters few enough, you will have left overs for lunch or later dinners this week! OR... freeze in a wide mouth, quart Ball canning jar (leave head space for expansion during the freezing process) and enjoy in a week or two!
Cheers and happy, healthy cooking!
Cooking and Eating at Home IS the Life for ME!!
Try to sing that title to the tune of: "Farm Living is the Life for Me....!"
I confess, I do not like to eat out. The idea of eating out is fabulous: someone else doing the shopping, cooking, and washing the dishes AND I get someone to serve up the food to me!
Who can say no to that?
This writing idea came to me as I was driving my kids to school. It started off as 4 simple reasons to eat at home. And then... my mind wandered...
11 Reasons Why I Prefer to Cook and Eat at Home:
1. I truly love to cook, to stretch my kitchen artist's muscles and create fun and tasty food with what I have on hand.
Ethiopian carrots and Brussels Sprouts: First cook up a pot of red lentils (keep them firm, not mushy), then saute' up some onions, carrot coins, and Brussels sprouts in butter. Add in some mild curry powder to the veggies, mix in the cooked lentils, and toss with some cashews. Yummy, easy, seasonal dinner! Serve with a side of whole grain pita bread, warmed and slathered with butter, and a dish of local yogurt.
2. I like knowing my body cells, and my kid's body cells, are being nourished with real food. I like knowing my food is being made with high quality ingredients.
3. The vegetables and fruits I cook with... I know:
- who grew them: the Martins, the Kents, Dulli and her crew at Birdsfoot Farm, John Dewar (the local Doc gone veggie farmer)... and so many more chemical free, northern NY growers,
- where the farmer lives and grows food (no, I do not stalk my famers!) but I like to see the land, know the soil my food was grown in... that kind of picky stuff,
- how they grow the food (chemical free).
4. The animal products I use I like to know:
- see the above farmer information and
- that the meat, eggs, milk, and dairy products came from animals that are pasture raised... out there eating grass and all the plant life that they like to eat and is their natural diet.
OK, so these goats ARE wandering in the snow... but, they are free wandering, pasture raised goats when the snow melts!
5. Whole grains: when I cook at home I know the bread, pasta, noodles, pie crust, cake, cookies or any food made out of flour is 100% whole grains. Whole foods nourish our body cells for health and healing. Refined foods deplete our body cells and set our bodies up for chronic, degenerative diseases. I have yet to find a restaurant that serves 100% whole grain foods with pasta dishes, bread for sandwiches, buns for burgers and such, bread that is served at the beginning of a meal, etc.
6. The minimal amount of sugar being used in my kitchen is not refined, white, cell destroying sugar. I cook with the highest quality of cell nourishing ingredients in all my food prep and cooking.
7. I know my food is not being nuked in a microwave. Microwave cooking is best avoided in a whole health lifestyle. To learn more about microwave's impact on your food and health, click here.
8. I know my food is seasonal and local allowing my body to follow the natural rhythms of the seasons and nature. My food is living and growing in the same climate I live in and that is just good vibrational energy!
9. I use oils that contribute to my vibrant health and avoid cheap vegetable oils such as soy and canola. I use high quality olive oil for making salad dressing. Most food establishments do not invest in high quality oils.
10. I do not have to go anywhere. Home is where the heart is and my heart is happy at home!
11. I can dress up, or down, in any clothes I want. PJs at the dinner table? Sure, why not!
Reminds me of an early morning breakfast when I was 20 at McDonald's in Canton. (Yes, I had a rocky start to independent, whole food eating lifestyle. My Mom did not bring me up on McDonald's food!) A high school girl friend and I went to breakfast in our long, flannel night gowns. Made sense to us, it was breakfast and we were in our PJs. Apparently the manager was not on board with our logic! We were asked to leave and not so politely either!
Love yourself and everyone you feed with real food!
Like my blog posts? Share with like minded family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, people you pass on the streets... The healthier and happier we are, the better world we will have!
My boys baking at home. We prefer home made, whole food birthday cakes over bakery made, refined food cakes!
PS The Radiantly YOU Telesummit has been a hit! Only 2 days left to listen, BUT...To purchase, and listen to these fabulous women healer's recorded words of wisdom, over and over and forever, for only $9, click on the buy now button below!
Enjoy! You will be eternally grateful for these healing words of wisdom!
Ode to My Farmers
Ode to My Farmers
Farmers are my (everybody's) lifeline
worth more than silver or gold
the food they feed me now
will keep me young as I grow old
I write of real farmers
true stewards of the land
farmers who love their animals
sustainability is their stand
Food IS our best medicine
to prevent and heal disease
farmers are the keepers of our health
hug your farmer(s) today, please
Rob & Winny Sachno
PS Compensate your farmers well for the food they grow you.
(It IS hard work!)
Good food IS your preventative medicine,
Your farmer is your best Doc!
Even the wee ones make awesome farmers!
Gramma's Grass Acres, the Lynch's, processing chickens!
PPS This is a mere sampling of the amazing farmers in my life. To find your own farmers use your local farmer finding resources: farm markets, Co-ops, Health & Natural Food Stores, etc.
In St. Lawrence County, NY, we have Gardenshare!
Celeriac LOVE Update!
Celeriac LOVE Update
I am determined to create celeriac lovers out of you! The below saute' was made with 100% Kent Family Growers veggies and Kerry Gold butter from Ireland (not very local but I am having a tough time finding local butter from grass fed cows!).
Dinner:
1. Gently saute' onions in much yummy butter, 2-3 minutes.
2. Add grated celeriac and saute' gently for 2-3 minutes.
3. Pop in some chunks of frozen red peppers and green beans (Thank you Megan Kent for putting these veggies up!).
4. Crush one large clove of garlic and stir it all up.
5. Cover cast iron pan & turn off heat.
6. Finish making my root veggie slaw, the rest of dinner selections, and serve up the yummy celeriac dish, see below!
My Advice: LOVE your celeriac. It will LOVE you back!
Check out the Kent's interview on North Country Public Radio!
PS For those of you who have been following my lust of root veggies, fear nothing, I have not abandoned my love for the humble beet!
Medicine or Poison? How will you LOVE your body cells?
I had a few comments about the healthy kid's birthday parties that went something like this... "Oh come on, shouldn't kids be allowed to have fun once in a while?"
My question was and always is this: "When did fun become an opportunity to poison our bodies?"
When it comes to making decisions about health, healing, and disease prevention is not common sense a space to work from?
This is not a harsh mindset, in the least. Read on for a holistic healer's reality check on cell nourishment.
Close your eyes and visualize a holiday or family celebration 200 years ago. See and smell all the foods being served to celebrate the occasion or event.
All those foods ARE 100% whole, locally grown and produced, and in season! There was absolutely no other way.
200 years ago Twinkies, gummy worms, soft drinks, Dorito chips, hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, etc., etc., etc. absolutely did not exist.
Visualize that party again. People ARE having fun AND they are not filling their bodies with modern, factory made, food "products" poisons. They are whooping it up, dancing, singing, merry making with friends, family, and neighbors all the while surrounded by whole, cell nourishing foods.
It is your choice with every fork full: poison or nourishment?
Say NO to refined, corporate sponsored, factory made, cell degenerating products.
Say YES to healthy, cell enhancing, whole, local foods and party it up with the ones you love... all at the same time!
The possibilities are endless! Focus on what you are inviting into your life: real food and the vibrant health that comes from indulging in them!
Be Well. Eat whole foods and make your body cells sing and dance. Love yourself and other people; prepare them healthy food!
Paula
eBook Give Away
Have a friend sign up for my health and healing blog, both of you receive a free eBook!! I have 10 copies to give to the 1st five pair of "referral friends!"
When I email the book to your friend, have them reply to my email and give your name as the referring friend. I will zap a book off to you too!