Not Butternut Squash Soup and Broccoli Sprout Salad

Today was a day of improvising. I started out in the sewing room. I am still working on that dang roman shade. I was all set to make a big dent in the project until I realized the fabric glue required a drying time of 24 hours. OK. So I glued on the trim, set it all to the side, and I made two pillows for a friend.

My plan was to make Red Lentil and Curry Butternut Squash Stew. That was my husband’s request and what he thought he was going to get when he got home! But alas, we were out of squash! So time to improvise, again! He loves quinoa and beans, so based on that, the following soup happened!

Although he says he likes the Red Lentil and Curry Butternut Squash soup better, he had no problems having a second good size helping of this soup! I liked it too, and it was a pretty fast throw together soup! Very thick and hearty.

This is how I made Not Butternut Squash Soup:

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 
• 1 medium sweet yellow onion, chopped 
• 3 cloves garlic, minced 
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced 
• 3 small zucchini, chopped 
• 1 ½ boxes vegetable broth (6 cups) 
• ½ cup quinoa, uncooked 
• ½ lentils, uncooked 
• 1 15-oz can diced tomatoes 
• 1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed 
• ½ - ¾ tsp curry powder 
• ¼ - ½ tsp cinnamon 
• Salt and pepper 
• Sprinkle of ground nutmeg 
• 3 cups baby spinach leaves (or kale would be good too!) 

Directions: Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Add the chopped onion and sauté over medium-low heat until translucent. Stir often. Add the chopped carrots, chopped zucchini, and minced garlic, and continue to sauté, covered, stirring often for about 10-15 minutes. Enough so the vegetables are almost, but not quite done.

Add vegetable broth, quinoa, lentils, tomatoes, black beans, and seasonings. Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

Stir in the spinach and cover. Simmer on low for about 15-30 minutes. Makes about 10 cups.

A day just isn't complete without a salad. I wanted to use my sprouts and my broccoli. I couldn't find any recipes for that combination, so time to improvise again, and Broccoli Sprout Salad was born.

Broccoli Sprout Salad

The ingredients are rough because I did not measure! Exactness is definitely not crucial with this salad.

Chop and add to a large bowl:

½ red pepper
2-3 green onions
1 carrot
½ cucumber
1 c broccoli florets (little pieces)
1 tomato
2-3 c sprouts (mine were a combination of mung beans and lentils)
¼ c sliced almonds

Stir it all together

Dressing

1 avocado diced
1 lemon
Sweetener (optional: agave or honey)
Olive oil
Salt
Garlic powder
Cumin
Cayenne Pepper

Dice the avocado and place in a medium bowl. Add the juice of a lemon. Add some olive oil – maybe a tablespoon or so – and the rest of the seasonings.

Stir it all up and add it to the veggies.

That’s it!



My lemon was rather big and the lemon juice was quite overpowering so I added some agave to take a bit of the tartness away – and not enough because my husband still thought it was too tart! I thought it was just right, so I ate his!

It is a wonderfully crunchy salad with lots of flavor. I love sprouts and this was a perfect way to use them. If you have never sprouted mung beans or lentils before, it is really easy to do. They are a powerhouse of nutrition, and way better than any you can buy. Watch this great little video on YouTube that shows how to make a sprouting jar, and also how to sprout. The same procedure shown on the video for the alfalfa sprouts would apply to mung beans and lentils. I use the plastic netting from the bags of limes or lemons for the screen. You could always improvise with anything that would work!!

So after some minor improvising, everything turned out OK.  Like the saying goes, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade." 

I could also say, "when you are out of butternut squash, make not butternut squash soup" or "when your sprouts and broccoli want to get together, make broccoli sprout salad."

(Does that even make sense? I can tell I lost that hour of sleep with the time change! Yikes!)

Are you a nutritarian?

I love leftovers. It makes fixing a meal so fast! The Quinoa, Kale and Sweet Potato Salad from yesterday made a nice addition to a quick throw together salad.

I combined spinach, cucumbers, red onions, avocado, mango, slivered almonds, and dried cranberries, tossed it with a dressing made from the other half of the avocado, apple cider vinegar, and a splash of honey, and then sprinkled it all with gomasio (I love that stuff!). Some leftover hummus and carrots, and a couple of olives, rounded out the square plate. Definitely an oral exercise with all that chewing! The point: it was fast and delicious! Oh, and healthy!

Speaking of healthy, I watched Dr. Joel Fuhrman's, Eating Like a Nutritarian, this past weekend. (Thanks to my sweet husband for buying it for me!) It is full of good information and the major part of it is filmed in a Whole Foods. I learned a few chopping tips. The onion one really worked.  I really admire this doctor. He played a big role in my health journey. His book Eat to Live was life changing for me. He coined the word nutritarian.  Do you know what that word means? Do you know if you are a nutritarian?

Another one of my favorite documentaries, FoodMatters, has a blog on their website. They post some really good discussions, publications, and articles. Today I linked to them through Facebook to read the article: The Best and Worse Foods for your Heart. It is written by a doctor. Heart disease is an epidemic these days. The statistics are staggering. I know too many people dealing with heart disease. The article is really a quick read. Take a second and check out the link. Do it for you.

Oh, and by the way, I am, and love being, a nutritarian.

Recipe try-outs!

With the holiday break I found some time to try out a few recipes.  None of which were disappointing!

Marinara Sauce, from Eating for Energy, not only tastes great but the smell, oh my gosh, is awesome in itself!  I like it better that the other marinara sauce recipe I used previously.

It was so pretty in the food processor!

I wish you could smell this!!!

I had this over some zuchinni pasta that I made with my spiralizer. Delightful!

Another new recipe I tried was Waldorf Salad from Raw for the Holidays, by Penni Shelton. It is full of the usual Waldorf Salad ingredients, however, the dressing is not mayo!

The dressing is created in the blender using cashews, that have been soaked, garlic, sea salt, lemon juice, water, agave and olive oil.  Very creamy.  And everyone ate it!  It was quite the hit actually.

Also from Eating for Energy, I made a great dip, which I will also use as a salad dressing, Creamy Cucumber Dressing. Cucumber, avocado, cilantro, basil and dill are just a few of the great ingredients that give this dip such a great fresh taste.  

Marinated Portobello Mushrooms, from Eating for Energy, end this post. So easy and so delicious.  I think it is the apple cider vinegar and the Braggs Amino Acids that give it the pizazz. I will have it on top of zuchini pasta for lunch tomorrow.  It will also go great in salad too!

I am having a blast trying out all these new recipes. I have more bookmarked then I can possibly make and eat!!!

Green wave hits Florida, and internet shopping

By the way, for those of you who don't know, those three awesome kids in my last post are my grandchildren who live in Florida. I had a wonderful visit. I, naturally, made my green smoothie the first morning I was there and I am delighted to say they are all hooked! The second morning I came into the kitchen to see Cameron waiting for me to make his green smoothie. He had everything out of the refrigerator.  Such good choices he made!!!

Leaving was so hard.  I cried the whole way through airport security and all the way to my gate.  I really don't do goodbyes well!

Since I have been home I have done some internet shopping. So fun!!

Two books are headed to Florida to fuel their green smoothie addiction: The Green Smoothies Diet by Robyn Openshaw, and Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko. Two of my favorite books.

Two gadgets are heading to my house, and I can't wait for them to arrive.  I found then both on the Raw Gourmet Website. 

This is a Saldacco Spiral Slicer. It will be a great way to turn vegetables into  "raw spaghetti" to add to salads.  I can't wait to play with it!

The other new toy is called a Toss and Chop. 

Click on the picture for a video of how to use it. 

 Doesn't it look like a time saver???

As a side note, I have been watching the Simply Raw Video Series, which I found on the Raw Gourmet website.  Fascinating.  I would encourage you to watch it.  It is free.  Great information.  Anyone who is diabetic, knows someone who is, or just wants to be informed, should really see this. Please check it out.

OK, back to shopping.  My last purchase is a yoga DVD.  I have never done Yoga before, but I am feeling so good these days that I am ready to start exercising.  The women's club at a local church are doing "chair yoga" and love it, so I thought that would be a good start for me.  Sitting Fit - Chair Yoga  should be here by the end of the week. Yahooooo!

My ride on the Green Wave continues to be amazing.  I feel so good.  I am energized.  I sleep well, eat well, and live well. 

Nutrition is a powerful thing.  

More powerful than any drug! 

Try it. You can be amazed too!

I want to be the hummingbird, not the hibernating bear!

I follow a few blogs, and the Green Smoothie Blog is one of my favorites.  I just recently bought her new book, Green for Life, and this link will take you to an article that is from her new book.

It is pretty lengthy, but I think really worth reading.  If nothing else, check out the blog while you are there.  Fantastic source of all kind of information  and recipes. You might  also visit  the The Raw Family of Victoria, Sergei, and Valya Boutenko, otherwise known as The Raw Family, in addition to the blog.



So do you want to be a hummingbird, or a hibernating bear?

. . . and eat your cake too!

Today was one of those remarkable, memorable days.

I started out with a Dr.'s appointment that was delightful.  Dr. Malloy inspires me.  I am so grateful to him in many ways.  I cannot wait for his website to be launched, and I have high hopes that one of his other patients, Mary, will contact me.  He told me about an organic  Tulsa Coop , that I can't wait to check out.  This was my first return visit since he suggested I read "Eat to Live" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, and he was quite pleased with my improvements: feeling great, energized, and 18 pounds lighter!  Yay Me!!!!!!!!

A really thing nice happened to my oldest son today.  He is certainly due for some nice happenings.  And my youngest son did something really nice for me.  Tickets to Florida to go visit them.  It was a good feeling to have both of them in my day today.

So to celebrate, I made a cake!

It is from my newest cookbook: Raw Food Made Easy by Jennifer Cornbleet, page 138.  This cookbook, -  ha, nothing in it is cooked yet I still call it a cookbook!!  -  anyhow, it is filled with great dishes.  I love it!

Here's the recipe:
In a food processor blend 1 1/2 c. raw walnuts and a dash of salt until finely ground. Add 8 pitted medjool dates, 1/3 c. cacao, 1/2 tsp vanilla and 2 tsp water. Process until the mixture begins to stick together.

Transfer to a plate and form into a 5-inch round cake. Add raspberry sauce.

Raspberry sauce: Process 1 c fresh or frozen (thaw and drain) with 1/4 cup pitted medjool ates, soaked, until smooth.

So you can have a great day . . . and eat your cake too!

A New Start

Since this is how I start my day, with a Green Smoothie, I thought it appropriate to start my blog with this picture. My new start began July 19, 2010.

This new start is a combination of results: tired of dragging myself around from the pain of fibromyalgia and not willing to take drugs for it, my Dr.'s recommendation to read "Eat to Live" by Dr. Fuhrman, running out of my Crestor, and the discovery of Green Smoothies.

I committed to eat only fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts for a 6 week period. The results have been remarkable. After less than a week my energy level doubled and my pain level significantly was reduced. After 3 weeks, my cholesterol dropped by 113 points and I no longer need to take medication.  To date, I have dropped 15 pounds!

While the goal was to feel better, the other benefits resulting from changing my dietary habits have given me back the spring in my life that I thought was gone.  For six weeks is now changed to a life time.  I have no desire to go back to old habits because I feel so good! It only gets better!