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Treasures From The Sea & Chana Dal Soup
Why are fish so good for you? Because they eat sea vegetables! Skip the middle-man and save money by eating the sea vegetable yourself!
Did you know that sea vegetables contain up to ten to twenty times the minerals of other foods? These veggies from the sea are absolutely loaded with minerals like calcium, magnesium and zinc. They are also the richest whole food source of iodine, a mineral that helps to keep the thyroid functioning properly. Sea vegetables are SO good for you, but for many they are an acquired taste. I confess, I do not LOVE the taste of sea vegetables on their own, so I typically hide them in recipes, like cooking my beans with the sea vegetable Kombu. By cooking bean based soups and stews with kombu, you can add valuable minerals to the beans, which soften them and make them more digestible (read: less gas!). When the soup is ready, you can take out the kombu, cut it up and put it back in the soup or remove it completely.
Want to learn more about sea vegetables? Join me on February 16th from 6-8 pm for a Sea Vegetable Cooking Class. You will learn about the different varieties of sea vegetables and how to add them to your diet effortlessly. We will prepare several tasty sea vegetable dishes from recipes that you can take home to replicate. Prepare to feel GREAT after this mineral intensive class! For more information and to register, please click here.
Enjoy the following delicious soup recipe that uses Kombu. Until Next Time, Eat Well, Be Well and LOVE Every Bite!
~Jennifer
Chana Dal Soup
Serves 6
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Equipment Needed: Soup pot
Chana Dal are baby chickpeas, very cute indeed! If you can’t find them, you could substitute yellow split peas.
FREEZE RIGHT THERE! This soup will freeze well without the baby spinach, so add spinach leaves to each bowl instead of the whole pot.
1 Tablespoon unrefined coconut oil
1 large leek, washed well and sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dry chana dal (baby chickpeas) or yellow split peas
1 strip kombu (See What is It? Below)
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
2 1/2 cups water
1 15-oz can coconut milk
1-2 Tablespoons thai chili paste**
1 Tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups baby spinach leaves, washed
Melt oil in a large saucepan. Add leek, celery, carrots and garlic and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add dal, kombu stock and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until dal is tender.
Reserve 1/4 cup of the coconut milk and put it in a small saucepan. Now add the rest of the can of coconut milk to the soup along with the lemon juice.
HAVE KIDS OR PEOPLE WHO CAN’T TOLERATE SPICY FOODS? At this point, take out enough soup for them. It will need some salt and pepper but will be pretty tasty even without all of the other stuff. Then, just follow the rest of the directions.
Heat the 1/4 cup coconut milk over medium heat and add the chili paste(**In small batches of 1-2 teaspoons at a time), whisking until paste is completely dissolved. Stir this mixture into soup pot thoroughly, heating through. Taste for spiciness and for salt and pepper. If you think it needs more spice, take out some of the hot soup liquid, put it in the small saucepan and dissolve more chili paste into it. Then add that to the pot. In other words, don’t add a blop of chili paste into the soup without making sure it is dissolved 1st. This is NOT something you want to take a big bite of, for sure! And yes, I am speaking from experience!
When ready to serve, remove Kombu and Serve in bowls with a 1/2 cup baby spinach leaves (ask kids to find the buried treasure!) on the bottom. The hot soup will wilt the greens. Enjoy!!
What is it? KOMBU? Kombu is a sea vegetable (otherwise known as kelp) that is a rich source of minerals, including calcium, magnesium and iodine. By cooking soups and stews with kombu, you can add valuable minerals to the pot of soup. Plus, kombu actually helps to make beans more digestible. When the soup is ready, you can either take out the kombu, cut it up and put it back in the soup or remove it completely.
This recipe is from my Weekly Meal Plan. You get 4 healthy recipes, an organized shopping list and coupons to New Leaf Community Markets. You can try it free for a month by going to www.nourishingnutrition.com.
Goodbye Yo-Yo Diets, Part 3
Okay, here it is: The last part in our 3 part series on how to lose weight this year without dieting and keep it off. To review, the steps we have discussed so far are: Focusing on what you GET to eat, Planning your meals, cooking at home and eating when you are hungry. These last 2 steps will ask you to tune in to how food makes you feel and include the foods you love in your eating plan.
The last 2 steps for losing weight without dieting are:
~Trust your Instinct: Traditional weight loss and dieting tend to be left-brained activities-this food has this many calories, grams of fat, etc. Add some right-brained intuition to the mix. Start by simply asking yourself, “how does this food make me feel when I eat it?” Generally, we want to feel good (right?) so you will find yourself naturally gravitating towards healthier foods because you are in tune with how they make you feel. The more you do this, the easier it becomes to choose foods that your whole body wants, not just your taste buds.
~Accept who you are and the types of foods you love: One of my favorite go-to diets in my early years was the low-carb diet, mainly because it worked so well for me (since it eliminated like 75% of what I would typically eat-I LOVE CARBS!). I could lose weight like crazy on that diet. But, I was seriously neglecting a part of me that loves bread and starch. Now I realize that I just can’t eliminate an entire group of foods that I LOVE and expect to feel peaceful about it. And I also know that I feel better (trusting my instinct) when I choose carbohydrates that are whole and minimally processed, like brown rice or sprouted grain breads. Find a way to have the foods you love the most be a part of your life.
If you have resolved to make changes to support a happier, healthier, more vital you this year, then congratulations! Knowing you want a change is a crucial step, and isn’t making changes always easier when we feel supported? I would love to make the process of eating healthy, satisfying meals easier for you. That’s why I created my Healthy Meal Planning Service. Every week, I send you healthy recipes, a shopping list and a dose of inspiration to support you on your journey to eating healthier. You also get weekly coupons for New Leaf Community Markets valued at twice that of the cost of the subscription! The best part is you can try it absolutely free for an entire month at www.nourishingnutrition.com.
Here is an example of one of my delicious meal plan recipes:
Two Potato and Chard Chowder
Serves 6
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Equipment Needed: Large soup pot, blender (optional)
I love soup with potatoes in it. This soup is extra special—there are 2 types of potatoes! The Yukon Gold Potatoes are buttery and yummy, while the red potatoes (because you leave the skin on) add color and texture.
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 lbs red potatoes, cubed, unpeeled
1/2 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed, peeled
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
3 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
1 bunch chard, sliced very thinly
1 15-oz can white beans
Salt and pepper to taste
Gather ingredients and dice onion and mince garlic. Heat oil in a in a soup pot and saute onion and garlic until tender. Meanwhile, wash and cube potatoes. Add potatoes, tarragon, broth and water to soup pot, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and cover for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
Add chard (and beans if using) to soup and cook until chard is wilted (about 5 minutes or longer depending on size of the pieces).
To Puree Or Not to Puree? The soup can be enjoyed as is now, filled with chunks of potatoes. But, if you are in the mood for a creamy soup (great for chilly weather), that is great too! Just puree soup using an immersion blender or regular blender. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve. Like eating a bowl of mashed potatoes, how great is that?
Jennifer Brewer is a nutritionist and natural foods chef who is on a mission to change the way people lose weight. After years of yo-yo dieting, Jennifer found that by eating REAL food that she LOVED, she could finally stop dieting and start living! Through cooking classes, interactive workshops and her online Healthy Meal Plan, she educates and inspires individuals to prepare healthy foods that unlock their body’s optimal potential AND taste amazing. Jennifer’s recipes have been featured on numerous websites and in publications and books, such as Free To Eat: The Proven Recipe for Permanent Weight Loss. She is a graduate of the Chef’s Training Program at the Natural Gourmet Cookery School in New York City and has a Masters Degree in Nutrition. Meet her at www.nourishingnutrition.com.
Lose weight without dieting–Part 2!
Hi! I hope you are having a great week! Here are your next 2 steps for losing weight this year without dieting. To review, the first two steps were focusing on what you GET to eat instead of what you can’t and planning your meals.
The next 2 steps are:
~Warm Your Kitchen: Does your kitchen feel like the heart of your home or the appendix? As a happy chef I may be a bit biased, but I truly believe that cooking at home is one of the healthiest things you can do for yourself and your family. And I am not talking about warming things up in the microwave. Cooking, you know, from scratch–with amazing smells! Cooking at home allows you to eat fresh, less processed foods, which in turn can help you lose weight and have more vitality. Cooking also allows you to feel more connected to your food, and in my experience, much more satisfied with the entire process of eating.
~Eat When You Are Hungry: Sounds simple, right? But how many times have you thought to yourself, just one more errand, meeting, phone call…then I will stop and eat?” When we repeatedly ignore our body’s signals we lose touch with our inner signs of hunger and fullness. In my opinion, eating when you are hungry is the best way to STOP eating when you are not hungry.
Of course, both cooking at home and eating when you are hungry are easier when you have a plan, which takes us back to the step of planning your meals. I think planning your meals is SO important for health: I have seen peoples lives change simply because they put a food plan into place (that they are excited about….not a diet plan!) and follow it as much as possible throughout their busy day-to-day life.
If you could use some support in losing weight this year without dieting, be sure to check out my meal planning service. You get 4 healthy recipes, an organized shopping list and coupons to New Leaf Community Markets (in Santa Cruz, CA). The best part is you can try it free for an entire month by going to www.nourishingnutrition.com.
The next email will have the last 2 steps to losing weight this year without dieting and keeping it off for good. 2010 is going to be your healthiest year yet–can’t you just feel it?
Until Next Time, Eat Well, Be Well, And LOVE Every Bite!
~Jennifer
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