I am on a crusade to cook up as many soups that look good ( great photos) and sound good from,The Cook’s Encyclopedia of Soup. I began this crusade for many reasons….
most important reason: they are simple to cook
they are nutritious
they are yummy
everyone loves them in my family ( although Pearl is slightly picky)
The first soup I tried was the Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup. Ok, it sounded good to me because I enjoy the occasional nibble of blue cheese on my salads. But when I started cooking it up I started to think about the others in my family. At the last minute I almost threw in goat cheese instead of the blue cheese but I thought about the movie, Julie and Julia, and decided to stick with the recipe.
I should have gone with my instincts.
It was ok but the kids really truly disliked it ( I would write their comments but hmmm…they were not pretty).
My second soup attempt was, Pasta and Chick-Pea Soup. And it was a family pleaser!
Heat the oil in a large pot and add the chopped vegetables. Cook over low heat ( don’t forget to stir) for 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the chickpeas, cannellini beans, stir well, and cook for 5 minutes Stir in the purred tomatoes and water. Stir and cook for 2 to 3 more minutes
Add 2 cups of stock, the rosemary and salt an pepper. Bring to a boil and then smiimer for 1 hour.
Pour in the remaining stock, add the pasta and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, and simmer for 7 to 8 minutes ( pasta is al dente!)
Remove the rosemary and serve with the Parmesan cheese.
I was telling a friend of mine this recipe and she thought some swiss chard, kale or spinach would be a great “colorful” addition. Brilliant, I thought. Next time I will definitely add it.
I wrote about how I like to look at food list..how they inspire me to buy and cook with foods that I may have forgotten. I thought it might be a good idea for me to create my own list - my favourite, everyday foods. Once I started typing away at my list I realized it was quite big! I thought about categorizing but well….nah.
My favourite super nutrient packed and yummy foods!
avocados
fuji apples
blueberries
broccoli
almonds
red onions
tomatos
good olives
salmon
spinach
basil
cilantro
thyme
egg
goat cheese
brown rice bread
butter
olive oil
dark chocolate
licorice mint tea
coffee
cream
sugar ( for my coffee!)
*** these foods I readily have in my pantry or fridge***
The foods I would like to eat more of:
kale
swiss chard
cabbage
beans
more fruit - kiwi and such ( I am not much of a fruit eater except in my daily smoothies)
leeks
root vegetables: squash, pumpkin ( not potatoes though - not my thing)
seeds
I am sure I could think of more but for now, that is about it.
I try to purchase all my foods/produce from the local farmers and organic. I really feel that when I buy local and/or organic I am not only helping to keep my family healthy but also the planet.
Be well,
PS If you have any simple recipes to encourage me to eat more of the foods I want to eat more of, please send them my way!
I was walking with a friend of mine the other day and I was telling her about a woman whose doctor, 10 years ago, did not write in her chart that she discovered some endometriosis while doing surgery on her ( the doctor told the present doctor this). She didn’t, of course, realize this at the time but since that surgery she has had growing abdominal pain and has finally found a doctor who decided not to give her pain meds but to find out what the cause of her on going pain.
Anyway, she is doing great now but it is a reminder of how important it is to get your medical records and labs from your doctor. I think it gives people more ownership of their health - which it turns may have people become more proactive in taking care of themselves.
To get your medical records you will need to sign a release form that all hospitals and most doctor offices will have. This should not be a problem and it is very important that you have a record of what your doctors have written about you to make sure nothing has been overlooked. Once you have these records, create a folder of all of the papers and put in a safe spot.
I have consciously and officially started to train my hair to part in a different spot. I am not doing it for fun or to get a new look. I am doing out of pure necessity - to cover my ever growing gray hair strands.
How can I be feeling the best I have felt…really in my whole life ( and I have a few more than a couple decades) …. yet glance in the mirror and see someone completely different? It is complete craziness to look into the mirror, thinking I will see my 25 year old self, and actually see my gray hairs sticking up, slighly droopy eyes and many wrinkles. What has happend?
Life, I suppose…a pretty happy life in that. Yes, my life has been a complete roller coaster ride with as many ups as downs. And I get that, but how do you make that leap into fully accepting all the physical/outward changes? Actually it is all quite amusing to me….on most days that is. On the good days, I can look in the mirror and say, ” that freckle is from that amazing trip I took with my sisters’” and “those deep smile wrinkles ( or creases!) are from me laughing and giggling at my kids everyday craziness!” The bad days…well that brings me to my question for all of you
I love cookies. Always have but really I only nibble on a few types…mostly chocolate chip and macaroons. Funny though, I have never baked macaroons before. So the other day, I decided to buy some coconut, find a recipe and bake up a batch.
Off to allrecipes I went, found the recipe below and got baking. For some reason I thought macaroons had no flour in them but this recipe called for a little. I used spelt though with no problem. And I was quite surprised to see what few ingredients it did have and how simple they were to make ( and fast…although that is extremely dangerous for me!)
Coconut Macaroons
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups flaked cocnut
1/3 cup sugar
2 TBSP flour
1/8 tsp salt
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp vanilla
Directions:
In a small bowl, mix and combine the coconut, flour, and salt. Stir in the egg whites and vanilla.
Drop a rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased ( really grease them because mine stuck) baking sheets. Bake at 325 degrees F for 18 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack.
Merrin and I love these but we have decided to fiure out the best way to dip half of them in dark chocolate. That would be super yummy!
I like these types of articles. Lists with foods we could be eating more of or ones not to be eating so much of. It encourages me to cook more of the super nutrient packed foods….like swiss chard which I love and so does most ( not so much Pearl) of my family.
Looking down the list, I see beets on the very top. Uggggg. I think my mom tainted me from beets for the rest of my life. I have tried them in many different ways ( and if you have a recipe that you think I couldn’t resist, please send it!) but nope, I have never been able to eat them.
Next time I head to the market, I am going to get some cabbage and dried plums. Cabbage, I know will get eated and if I wrap up the dried plums in some prosciutto and baked them, I think my family would love it.
Bring on the new year with some new ( or more of) these great foods!
Love it! Ever since my childhood friend introduced me to the world by pretending to mail ourselves somewhere every time we passed a mailbox, I have been intrigued with cultures and wildlife of different countries.
My mother-in-law is in Antartica right now and a good friend of mine is from Bahia ( Brazil), which are both on the list, ” The 31 Places to Go in 2010.” Happy to say, I have visited many of the places on the list ( like walking around Cali, Columbia, alone as my husband lay sick in our hotel - maybe not safe but I survived and it was interesting!) Embarrassed to say, I needed to grab an atlas for some places and finally, some I have always dreamed about going to ( Sri Lanka!)
My husband would love to go to South Africa to watch the games in the World Cup ( summer 2010). And I would love to get my feet in African soil again ( LOVE this country!) I was surprised not to see Buenos Aires on the list, although they are calling Cartegena the next Buenos Aires and the architecture is so beautiful there!
Well, I will keep dreaming and trying to stock away some money because I look forward to seeing more of the world… especially with the kids!
Your kids will love this article! I loved the article - it brings me back to my childhood and my twenties. One of my truly amazing life highlights was seeing the mountain gorillas in Rwanda.
I arrived in Kigali, Rwanda overland from Nairobi, Kenya with 2 good friends. It was 1990, so the place was alive and full of tourists. However, most of the tourists were on planned trips and we were some backpackers just rolling into town to see the famous Dian Fossey gorillas. Luckily, Colin, loved to speak the 3 languages he knew and that the Rwandans spoke, and as we stood in the middle of a dusty road, we could hear Colin and our future tour guide make some deals in French, English and Swahili.
The next day we began our hike into mountain gorilla territory. It was rainy and actually quite miserable. The gorillas were usually seen within a 2 hour hike and we were hitting that mark. But when our guide turned to us with his index finger to his lips, I didn’t care if a storm broke out! All of a sudden, right in front of me, 2 black hands gently pushed away the branches that covered his face. And there, framed with greenery, was the magnificent creature’s beautiful face.
The clouds drifted away and the sun began to shine as we watch this mountain gorilla family eat and play in the dewy bushes. It was a sight and the feeling of true natural bliss, I will never forget.
OK, back to this article in the New Your Times. The article talks about all the different voices/calls monkeys have for predators and such. Maybe monkeys could talk if they wanted too but are choosing not too. Interesting! And it would not have surprised me if one had said hello to me…they are brilliant.
My friend Eric Bonnici interviewed me a few months ago. We sat down for about an hour! - so he broke up the interview into 5 segments. I will be posting the interviews, one by one, in the next few weeks.
Hope you enjoy them and if you have any questions for me or Eric please email us.
The holidays have been full of late nights - at least in our house ( but I am sure we are not alone)! This coming weekend will be about getting the kids back on schedule so they are not tired and grumpy in school. Below are some things I did when when they were small and what I usually re-introduce after a school break.
BEDTIME!
I remember the nights, very well, when it was impossible to get my kids to go to sleep. I actually think it was the true test of my patience! I never let my kids “cry it out” as it was just too painful for us all. So I decided to come up with a plan that really worked for us. I allowed myself to relax and realize that bedtime was a special time for me to have with my kids. I focused more on peacefully reading to my tired kids instead of focusing on them going to sleep. Two books and a short discussion of the highlights of their day would work…so I thought. Well, I needed to devise a more diverse plan. I realized the number one solution was to find a ritual that works for everyone and then stick to it. Here are some suggestions for settling the mood for sleep:
* Having a tea party with a sleepy time tea (or something similar)
* Purchase an 8oz spray bottle and place 1oz of essential oil mixture (rose, chamomile, vanilla and lavender work well) in the bottle and fill the rest with water. Spray on your child’s bedding, but only for naps and bedtimes
* The essential oil mixture can also be put in the bath tub for night time soak
* Purchase a lullaby or a calming cd (better without lyrics) to play in the bedroom when the lights are turned off. Only play this music for nap and bedtime
* If all else fails, let your child colour or look at a book in bed but tell her them they may not leave their bedroom (make sure they have water so they will not holler for some)
Last year, I spoke to a class of 4th and 5th grades at a local school. We talked about the digestive system, foods and nutrients, and acute and chronic disease. They were all over it asking a million questions. It was a brilliant hour I spent with these inquisitive kids.
The next day the teacher called me and said that the talk had made a huge impact on the kids and she had some happy parents calling her. But there were a handful of kids who said their parents were too busy to purchase the whole foods we talked about and that they were still eating at fast food restaurants.
These poor kids want to eat whole colourful foods and I think we as parents need to make a big effort to provide them these foods. I realize parents are busy and tired….I really get it but we, as parents, need to make a conscious effort to break the bad food cycles we may be in.
Here is a quick meal I whipped together last night. I was in no mood to cook but I had some polenta, tomatoes, cheese, peas and lettuce. I quickly sliced the polenta, put some tomato sauce and cheese on it and put it in the oven. While waiting for the polenta to heat up, I cooked the peas and washed the lettuce. In 15 minutes, I had a great satisfying and tasty meal for everyone.
Let’s really try to give our kids a chance to feel and be healthy. They really deserve it!
Be well,
PS Save those nights where you really really cannot bare to cook for going out!
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