Crab and Apple Soup with Curry

I have a confession to make. Last week I was running late and was just totally unprepared. I didn't bring lunch and I went to a franchise restaurant and got a bowl of soup. I haven't had commercially prepared soup in at least a year. I could taste every single chemical in that soup and after being away from it, it was pretty awful. Not only was it made from processed ingredients, I felt like I was eating a chemistry experiment. I didn't follow my own rule of IF THE EARTH DIDN'T MAKE IT, DON'T EAT IT! I know better. So, not again! Plus, I love making my own soup. When I grow up I want to be a soup chef!! I can picture myself making it in a huge cauldron over an open fire dancing around and stirring it with an oar! Soup for all!! Or perhaps maybe I should just stick to a soup pot on the stove in the kitchen. Less scary for any observers. Anyway, yesterday I found a recipe in one of those old fashioned things called a cook book. It had actual pages and was written on paper! The one that I found was quite different and when I saw the ingredient combination (crab AND apple), along with curry, I thought that's got to be pretty strange. Well, I put it together putting my own spin on it and it's DELICIOUS! The apple blends in very nicely and along with the curry adding a little heat, you get the additional health benefits from the curry. Don't be afraid to try it.
 

CRAB AND APPLE SOUP WITH CURRY

1 T coconut oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 T curry powder
1 apple peeled, cored and finely chopped (I used a Granny Smith)
1/4 cup arrowroot
4 cups of chicken broth
6 ounces crab
1 1/2 T pimento
1 cup unsweetened cashew milk
1/2 cup white cooking wine
toasted sunflower seeds and feta cheese for garnish

Cook the onion and garlic in the coconut oil until the onion is translucent. Stir in the curry powder, the apple and the arrowroot and cook until the apple is beginning the get tender (3 to 5 minutes). Add the remaining ingredients (except the cashew milk and the wine) and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the cashew milk and the white wine and bring to a simmer. Top with toasted sunflower seeds and feta cheese. This soup COULD be used as a fancy dinner starter. But you can also bring it to work with you for lunch. Is it noon yet?

Soup is So Simple! Organic Chicken and Portobello with Rice Soup

For whatever reason I find chicken soup to be a serous comfort food. I think because one of my grandmothers always gave it to me when I was sick, so I associate that with a loving and caring grandmother. But she did give me canned soup. Maybe canned soup back then wasn't so bad, maybe it wasn't so good. I just don't know. But one thing for sure, I wouldn't touch that stuff while wearing a hazmat suit now. And, whether or not this can be associated with processed food that my grandmother ate, she did die of Alzheimer disease. Maybe an association, maybe not, but I make my chicken soup from scratch while still retaining the fond memories of time I spent with her, whether she gave me canned soup, or not. Plus, there's not a doubt in my mind if she had thought there was anything wrong with it, she certainly would have never given it to me. But, I'm not getting to the point. Here is the soup I made. It's organic, healthy, very simple and it's good!!

Organic Chicken and Portobello with Rice Soup

1 cup pasture raised cooked chicken breast cubed

1 cup organic Portobello mushrooms chopped
1 organic carrot chopped
1/2 cup organic uncooked rice (I used basmati  rice for this particular soup)
1 tsp organic onion powder
1 tsp organic minced garlic

2 cups organic chicken broth
4 cups organic mushroom broth

1/2 cup white cooking wine

Put it all in a pot except the wine. Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer and cook until the rice is tender and the carrots are done. Add the wine at the end. Season with pepper and salt (if you used low sodium broth) and enjoy! I bring it to work for lunch and it makes the day (especially a Monday) much nicer!

Organic Chili Stuffed Green Pepper

This is really simple. I love simple recipes when I've worked all day and don't have a lot of time to cook in the evening. So, last night I took my own homemade organic chili straight from the refrigerator and made stuffed peppers with it. Took very little effort and I could just hang out while they were baking.

CHILI STUFFED GREEN PEPPERS

One large organic green pepper per person, topped and seeded.

Organic chili soup (your favorite variety and recipe, just don't use canned, chemical filled processed chili! Unhealthy and disgusting.)

Shredded cheese (1 tablespoon per pepper)

Chopped green onion, sliced olives, tomatoes, other veggies of your liking for garnish.

Organic tortilla chips**

Parboil the peppers for 5 minutes in boiling water. Put them in a deep baking dish (or individual large ramekins) and fill with cold chili. Top with 1 tablespoon of shredded cheese (I used raw cheddar) and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Top with chopped veggies and serve with organic tortilla chips. Delicious!!

**Organic tortilla chips - I never, ever (although I used to) eat tortilla chips made from processed ingredients because they're full of chemicals, unhealthy fats, they're addictive and because when I start eating them I can't stop!! However, I've found that with organic chips, I can stop with one serving (and I do pay attention to the serving size). They don't haunt me, they don't call to me from the cupboard and there are times I even forget I have them and they go stale. But, if they don't work that way for you, don't eat them. They really aren't worth it and this is good all on its own without the chips!

Organic Wheat and Sunflower Seed Bread and in defense of...BREAD

I love bread! BUT I don't eat bread unless I make it myself. Is that over the top? Maybe, but maybe not. Commercially prepared bread is processed (the earth didn't make that!), has no naturally occurring nutrients and is loaded with chemicals and refined sugars depending on what kind you buy. I do know that if I eat processed food, including bread, it sets me up for craving. I want to avoid that because I don't want to fight thinking about food 24 hours a day until I go through withdrawal and the processed food I ate that set me up is out of my system. I also know that if I eat processed bread I begin to have gut issues beginning with an almost immediate cramping sensation. I used to think perhaps it was gluten. Now I think it may not be gluten but it may be something that's in the processed bread. So, I make my own. And, since I only eat the bread I make myself, I don't eat a lot of bread. Therefore when I do take the time to make it I want it to be something I'm going to enjoy. This past weekend I made this...

ORGANIC WHEAT

AND SUNFLOWER SEED BREAD

Makes one loaf

1 cup of warm (100 - 110 degrees) filtered water

2 tsp yeast

1 tsp honey

3 cups of organic stone ground wheat flour

1/8 - 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds, toasted (use less or more seeds depending on how seedy you want your bread)

1/2 tsp salt

Dissolve the yeast and honey in the warm water and let it set until the yeast begins to bubble (about 5 minutes).

Add the flour, sunflower seeds and salt. Stir until it's all incorporated enough that you need to use your hands to work it in well. Turn it onto a floured board and knead, using additional flour if necessary, until it's an elastic ball and not sticky (around 8 minutes should do it).

Put the dough into a large oiled bowl, flip the dough over so it's oiled on top and cover with plastic or a clean, dry dish towel. Let rise for a couple of hours in a warm place until double. Punch it down and let it rest for about 20 minutes. Shape it into a loaf and place it into an oiled loaf pan and let rise again until it's at least double and loaf shaped. Bake in a 350 degree oven for around 35 minutes until it's nicely browned and makes a hollow sound when you tap it. Let it cool on a rack and take it out of the pan. Or, better yet take it out of the pan while it's still hot and spread some REAL butter on it and maybe a little honey. Your own bread - doesn't get much better.

PACK YOUR LUNCH! - Chicken Cobb Salad

Make it easy on yourself. Pack a lunch to take to work that is nutritious, dense with protein, vitamins and minerals, not enormous (don't stuff yourself!) and will keep your cravings at bay. Stay away from the processed bread, the fast food restaurant down the street, the pizza joint, the vending machines, the soda machine (WATER, WATER, WATER - the earth makes water) and be good to your body.

Here's one idea - 

Chicken Cobb Salad with balsamic vinaigrette (or in my case just vinegar). Easy to make and just takes a few preparations the night (or weekend before).

Early preparations -

Grill enough chicken for several days and freeze it. I grilled the chicken in this salad with olive oil, basil and garlic on Sunday and did enough for several future lunches and froze it. Then I just took some out of the freezer this morning, microwaved it for 20 seconds, sliced it up and put it in the salad.

Boil an egg (or six) the night before. Use one in your salad.

Chop your lettuce and other veggies the night before.

For this one I assembled it all in a bowl with 1/2 of a sliced avocado, chopped tomato and green pepper and onion. Plenty of protein and veggies. 

You can make any kind of dressing you like. PLEASE don't use commercially prepared bottled dressing unless you read, read, read the label. Most are LOADED with chemicals and sugar and all kinds of things that will cause cravings and other issues. I used about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar (no oil - your choice if you do, but if you do, use olive), a dash of dried dill or basil or Italian seasoning and another dash of stevia. Add a little salt and pepper that I keep at my desk and I'm good until dinner time. Do I get hungry? Sure. I'm supposed to get hungry. Is it out of control? No. Because I'm not craving. Craving and hunger are two entirely different situations. If you get out of the junk, processed foods, refined sugar and STAY out of them, the cravings for garbage food will stop. I can manage my hunger as long as the cravings aren't there.

If it isn't from the earth, don't eat it!

  

Real Food Means Real Food

I'm not going to vilify meat. If you can look back and remember what your great grandparents ate, unless they were definite vegetarians, they ate meat. HOWEVER, I do believe it needs to be grass fed  and locally grown. Meat raised in confinement operations is not only cruel but it's loaded with antibiotics,  growth hormones and possibly is connected to Alzheimer's. Real food means meat raised the way it was intended to be raised as a respected creature of the earth. Not locked up in some confinement and fed feed that it would never eat in its natural environment

So, recipe here...grass fed ribeye marinated in garlic, soy sauce (or liquid aminos) and Worcestershire sauce (3 parts soy (or aminos) to 1 part Worcestershire and a huge tablespoon of minced garlic and black pepper. Grill to your liking. Serve with whatever your garden or local farmers market or grocer has available. Tonight here was grilled potatoes with peppers and onions, locally grown green beans and tomatoes. REAL FOOD and only from the earth. Guarantees that the nutrition level is there and will help remove junk food cravings.

Food Addiction or Chemical Addiction

Processed food is addictive. I believe that with everything I know. I know that I can eat a big stack of pancakes made with processed flour and refined sugar and 20 minutes later I'm thinking of the next thing I can find to eat and that even though I'm uncomfortably stuffed, I still want to eat and I will do that all day. I'm familiar enough with addiction to know that I'm not hungry, I'm CRAVING. This is the behavior of an addict. The food giants do this intentionally. They don't care about your health but they do want your money. Therefore, the more you crave, the more you give into it, the more money you put into their pockets. If you  look at people in this country who are not just a few pounds overweight, they're obese by hundreds of pounds and to the point of being disabled, there is something wrong with our food supply. It's being being manipulated and they have no intention of stopping.

For years I threw money at losing weight the way the food and diet industry told me was the way and snake-oiled me into believing was the answer. Well, not only was it not the answer, I wound up fatter and broker and sicker than before. One day it hit me that the only "diet" (which ISN'T a diet at all) is that the earth makes absolutely everything we need to live a healthy life without an obesity issue. Once I started eating food that comes only from the earth, the weight just started coming off on its own, the stress surrounding food and weight disappeared, the guilt disappeared, my energy came back 10 fold on top of not spending my money on food that is basically poison and it just makes sense.

This is not a diet, it's a way of life. Yes, you have to give up processed food. Yes, you have to cook or find a food supply that you know isn't processed. No, you don't have to suffer. When you eat what the earth provides (and not the garbage the food giants would prefer you buy) your body knows when to stop eating. When you give it the nutrients it needs with REAL FOOD, you don't overeat unless you force yourself to.  They say it takes three weeks to break a habit. Perhaps. But if you will take three days to get out of the junk, go cold turkey, get it out of your system, you'll feel better than you have in years. What have you got to lose? Oh, that's right - excess weight, stress from dieting and failing, feeling lousy, giving your money to charlatans...those things. I don't miss even one of those.

IF THE EARTH DOESN'T MAKE IT, DON'T EAT IT!