Avocado and Cabbage Soup

Turmeric is one of the best spices to have for multiple health benefits. It is commonly used in India as an anti-inflammatory agent to treat a wide variety of conditions such as flatulence, jaundice, bloody urine, hemorrhage, toothache, bruises, chest pain, inflammatory bowel disease and ulcerative colitis. It's anti-oxidant properties has been shown to inhibit growth of colon 'cancer' cells and the phytonutrients helps prevent prostate 'cancer'. Its properties aids in digestion and can ease the pain of osteoarthritis. The antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-fungal properties strengthens your immune system - perfect for the winter season (colds and flu season). Aside from all the health benefits it provides, Turmeric can be used in a variety of dishes such as curry and it tastes great! I decided to make a soup out of some ingredients I had lying around that I wanted to use up before heading out for my grocery shopping. I put together an avocado, some cabbage (1 cup shredded) that I fried with garlic in coconut oil. I then created a broth by adding 1 1/2 cups of water to fried cabbage. I blended it all together with a small piece of cucumber I had left, seasoned it and topped it off with some healthy turmeric powder! Very tasty and wholesome soup - give it a try!

information sources:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=78
http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/the-amazing-health-benefits-of-turmeric
http://www.healthyandnaturalworld.com/the-amazing-health-benefits-of-turmeric/

http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/1821027/4b2736dd64/TEST/TEST/

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Coconut Cream Of Broccoli

Happy World Vegetarian Day! According to wikipedia, a day established by the North American Vegetarian Society in 1977 to bring awareness to the ethical, environmental, health and humanitarian benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle. Awesome. For this day, I made some Coconut Cream of Broccoli to celebrate my vegetarian lifestyle.
Broccoli is great for the kidneys and provides anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and detoxification benefits and is ideal for vitamin D deficiency. When vitamin D is needed to offset deficiency, vitamin K and vitamin A help keep our vitamin D metabolism in balance. Broccoli has an unusually strong combination of both vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene) and vitamin K, so broccoli is an ideal food to include in one's diet. Soups are great for colder seasons so why not incorporate some steamed broccoli into a coconut cream broth, along with some spinach and carrots....mmmmmm yummy. Recipe coming soon.

Source:
http://healthimpactnews.com/2013/5-health-benefits-of-broccoli/
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=9 Pin It

Simple Avocado Soup

The wide range of nutrients found in avocados have been associated with cardiovascular benefits which consists of avocado fats. These fats contain large amounts of the monounsaturated fatty acid, oleic acid, as well as the unusual phytosterols, including beta-sitosterol, campesterol, and stigmasterol. For summer time I like to make cold soups like Gazpacho and Avocado and Cucumber. I decided to try an Avocado Soup with a broth base instead of a cucumber and it's very tasty and simple to make. This soup is served at room temperature or slightly warm but not hot enough to kill the enzymes from the avocados or other raw ingredients. Check out my simple recipe below.
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=5

Above: photos from today's weather (clear skies followed by rain, with a little hail in the morning...)

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“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”

Quote by: Albert Camus
'Tis the season for warm hearty soups - made with healthy tasty chicken broth! We had soups over the Thanksgiving holidays, along with our tasty raw foods. Soups are great for this time of year, so we decided to revisit 3 of our favorite soup recipes. Check out our recipes below and enjoy!
A Warm Bowl Of Butternut Squash and Yam Soup 
Raw Avocado And Corn Soup
Gazpacho Red Beet Soup Recipe

 

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Avocado Soup With Cucumber

Avocados provide all 18 essential amino acids that the body requires to form protein. They contain antioxidants, anti-inflammatory nutrients and beneficial fats that protect the body against damage caused by free radicals. Fresh extracts from cucumbers have been shown to have both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Our latest soup recipe is thick Avocado soup with Cucumber. This is a simple raw food recipe with plenty of greens, so you'll be getting rich sources of vitamins and nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin K. Enjoy!

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A Warm Bowl Of Butternut Squash and Yam Soup

The benefits of Butternut squash includes antioxidants. It provides about one-third of the Daily Value of vitamin C in every cup and has an abundance of nutrients known as carotenoids. For our latest soup recipe, we made 'Butternut Squash and Yam Soup'. The sweetness of yams make an excellent addition to any dish! We also topped off our soup with some cinnamon for added health benefits, flavor and aroma. Check out our simple recipe below. Enjoy!

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Carrot Soup With Ginger

The benefits of ginger include anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties. It also helps reduce symptoms of nausea and vomiting and promotes healthy sweating that assists in detoxification. 

We love soup broth with ginger, so we incorporated it into our carrot soup recipe. It's now been almost two weeks that we began our grain free and 80-90% raw food diet. We're taking in raw food enzymes before we eat any cooked/steamed vegetables to assist in digestion. Today, we ate some sprouted mung beans before having our soup, to help provide us with the nutrition the Carrot Soup With Ginger had to offer. See recipe below. Enjoy!

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Raw Avocado And Corn Soup

As part of our raw menu this week, we created a simple 'Avocado And Corn Soup' recipe that is served cold. For the broth, we boiled some water with vegetables (including the corn cob for flavor). Once ready, we discarded the cooked vegetables and allowed the broth to cool down completely before adding our raw sweet corn and avocado with more raw vegetables! When you boil vegetables, the nutrition is transferred to the water so we were able to get additional health benefits from the broth. See recipe below and check out our previous Avocado Soup recipe. Enjoy!

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The Benefits of Barley Miso Soup

In Japan, those affected by radiation sickness from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were treated with miso soup. Miso neutralizes toxins and alkalizes the blood. It contains an excellent source of digestive enzymes, probiotics, essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals! We wanted to make miso paste from scratch but were uncertain about the exact process of fermenting. We decided to purchase some barley miso paste for now, until we can learn how to ferment it ourselves. Miso soup is very healthy and tasty! See our simple recipe below. For more information on miso and radiation sickness click here.

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Mung Bean And Kelp Soup - Raw

Mung beans have a rich source of nutrients such as protein, iron, zinc, potassium, magnesium, manganese, vitamin C and thiamine. B vitamin, thiamine, is needed to ensure that the nervous system functions properly. Mung beans are easy to digest, and absorb toxic residue on the sides of the intestinal walls.

Seaweeds contains a high amount of iodine, which is an essential trace mineral needed in the functioning of the thyroid gland. We also need a sufficient amount of iodine so that it doesn't take on the radioactive iodine that is present in the environment and can cause toxicities in the body. Since we are incorporating more raw foods, we decided to make a raw version of Mung Bean and Kelp Soup. (see recipe below) The soup remained at 100° temperature so no enzymes were  killed. Enjoy!

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Avocado Soup and Shiitake Mushrooms With Brown Rice

Avocados are an excellent source of protein. They provide all 18 essential amino acids that the body requires to form protein. It contains antioxidants, anti-inflammatory nutrients and beneficial fats that protect the body against damage caused by free radicals. 

Celery is rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamins B1, B2, B6, calcium, magnesium, iron and essential amino acids. When you juice celery, nutrients are released in the fiber that aids in digestion. An excellent choice for raw foods are soups. You can simply blend organic vegetables of your choice and serve them up in under 15 minutes. (see recipe below)

Below: Deliciously healthy Avocado Soup with celery, leeks and parsley and pre-soaked gluten free Brown Rice with Shiitake Mushrooms and garlic. Also, photos from today's walk in the park. Enjoy!

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Gazpacho Soup With Zucchini Pasta

Gazpacho soup is served cold so we thought it was perfect as a raw meal. Over the weekend we made our first Gazpacho soup with vegetables, corn, coconut cream and avocados. Yesterday we made a Gazpacho soup with red beets, fennel, a blend of onions, garlic, coconut cream and avocados. It tasted amazing! We absolutely love red beets with tomatoes (Gazpacho recipe below). We decided to keep it raw and also made Zucchini Pasta with fresh salsa on top, to act as a tomato sauce. There will be lots of zucchini pasta in the upcoming days- it was delicious!!!
Below: Vegetables used for recipes and tasty Gazpacho soup with Zucchini Pasta and Salsa.

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'Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication'

Quote by: Leonardo da Vinci

The elements abundant in seaweeds include iodine, magnesium, potassium, sodium, calcium, zinc, copper, chloride, sulfur, phosphorous, vanadium, cobalt, manganese, selenium, bromine, arsenic, iron, and fluorine. Alaria seaweed contains 770% iodine in a 1/3 cup serving. When our bodies have a sufficient amount of iodine, it doesn't take on the radioactive iodine that is present in the environment. It is only when our bodies lack iodine that it takes in radioactive iodine and causes a deficiency or toxicity in our bodies (disease). Most places around the world, including here in Ontario, have nuclear powers stations. It was important for us to consider more seaweeds in our diet, so we made our own soup recipe incorporating some alaria seaweed.
Below: Simple to make organic Alaria seaweed and leek soup with hemp seeds. This was one of the tastiest soups we ever made and simple to cook in just 10 minutes!
Ingredients: Homemade chicken broth* (you can use vegetable broth), organic leeks, organic garlic, organic red onion, organic Alaria and organic hemp seeds. Add salt and Pepper to taste. Enjoy!

* We use homemade chicken broth made from happy drug free chicken carcass with organic leeks, organic onion, organic garlic, organic thyme, sea salt and organic pepper.

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Happy Chicken Soup

Many spices are healthy for the immune system and for digestion. Cumin is high in antioxidants and enhances immunity. Curry leaves strengthen the functions of the stomach and aids in digestion.

Below: Organic happy chicken soup with potatoes, shiitake mushrooms, cumin and curry leaves, made with homemade happy chicken broth.

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Coconut Brown Rice with a Side of Wild Leeks

We can't get enough of our tasty home made coconut milk! Coconut milk is easily digestible unlike animal milk. Making your own coconut milk is simple. Our process consists of draining the coconut water, juicing the coconut meat and finally mixing the two to complete. Coconut water contains electrolytes such as potassium, magnesium and calcium. Electrolytes are electrically charged ions that our cells, specifically nerve, heart and muscle, use to maintain voltages across their cell membranes and to carry those electrical impulses across themselves and to other cells!

Below is a recipe for coconut brown rice with shiitake mushrooms and asparagus and a side of wild leek soup made with wild leeks and cauliflower. Enjoy!

Recipe 

Serves 2  

Ingredients:  

Rice 

1 organic red onion 

3 organic garlic cloves

1 cup of organic gluten free short grain brown rice

 handful of organic Italian parsley

6-8 organic shiitake mushrooms

A bunch of asparagus 

organic extra virgin olive oil        

2 1/4 cups of natural/organic coconut milk

sea salt  

organic pepper 

Soup  

1 cup of chopped organic cauliflower

8-10 organic wild leeks

3 organic garlic cloves 

1 small organic red onion

4 cups of organic chicken broth*  

organic extra virgin olive oil    

sea salt  

organic pepper  

Directions: (Start with rice ingredients)  

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2. Chop onion and garlic. Let sit for 5 minutes.  

3. Rinse rice and leave in strainer to drain. Set aside.  

4. Finely chop the handful of parsley. Set aside.  

5. Chop shiitake mushrooms and asparagus. Set aside.  

6. Heat a medium sized sauce pan at low heat and add some extra virgin olive oil.  

7. Add garlic, onion and mix occasionally for 2 minutes.  

8. Add rice and mushrooms to the pan and continue to mix together, lightly frying ingredients.  

9. Continue to mix for 3 minutes.  

10. Pour coconut milk into pan and boil at medium- low heat.  

11. Add 3/4 amount of the chopped Italian parsley, asparagus, some sea salt and pepper. Stir.  

12. Cook for about 40 minutes.  

13. In the meantime, add chopped cauliflower to a glass oven dish, and add some fluoride free water at the bottom (do not soak cauliflower). 

14. Place in oven and heat for 5 minutes or so, to soften. (You can choose to steam the cauliflower instead of using this method).

15. Continue to stir rice from time to time, you will see the coconut milk start to thicken.  

16. Chop wild leeks, garlic and onions and let sit for 5 minutes.  

17. Add 4 cups of chicken broth to a small soup pot and heat at medium-low heat.  

18. In a small frying pan, lightly fry onions, garlic and wild leeks at medium-low heat for 3 minutes.  

19. Remove cauliflower from oven, once softened.

20. Add cauliflower, onions, garlic and wild leeks to a large mixing bowl and add 1/4 cup of heated chicken broth.

21. Hand blend all ingredients and then add to the chicken broth in the soup pot.

22. Stir continuously at low heat until rice is ready.

23. Once rice is ready, turn off heat and remove pan from burner. Rice should be moist.

24. Serve and Enjoy!

Soup can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.

* We use homemade chicken broth made from happy vegetable grain-fed chicken carcass, organic leeks, organic onion, organic garlic, organic thyme, sea salt and organic pepper.

UPDATE: Rice should be pre soaked over night (8 hours or so)

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Leeks Gone Wild

We tried wild leeks for the first time today and they taste amazing! Leeks are an excellent source of vitamin A and anti-inflammatory vitamin K. They are a very good source of bone-building manganese as well as heart-healthy vitamin C, folate and vitamin B6. They have a strong aroma and produce a velvety texture like fried green onions.
Below: simple to make Wild Leek and Potato Soup. Ingredients: Homemade happy chicken broth, organic wild leeks, organic yams, organic red potato, organic garlic, organic coconut oil and sea salt and pepper for added flavor.

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Sunshine and Spice

Butternut squash provides about one-third of the Daily Value of vitamin C in every cup and has outstanding antioxidant benefits. The color signals an abundance of nutrients known as carotenoids, shown to protect against heart disease. 

Below: Butternut squash soup made with homemade happy chicken broth, organic shallots and organic garlic, sprinkled with organic cinnamon, pepper and nutmeg for spice! Easy to make and perfect for a rainy day.

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Lovely Leek and Cauliflower Soup

Leeks are a nutritious winter vegetable perfect for this April chill. They have a unique combination of flavonoids and sulfur-containing nutrients. Leeks are an excellent source of vitamin A and anti-inflammatory vitamin K. They are a very good source of bone-building manganese as well as heart-healthy vitamin C, folate and vitamin B6.

Recipe

Serves 4 

Ingredients:
1-2 organic celery stalks
2 medium sized organic carrots
2 organic shallots
4-6 organic garlic cloves
2 tsp organic virgin olive oil
2 cup of organic cauliflower (chopped)
2 organic yellow potatoes
6 strips of organic leeks
8 cups of flouride-free water*
organic thyme
sea salt
organic pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven at 300 degrees.
2. Boil 8 cups of flouride-free water in a soup pot.
3. Chop celery, 2 strips of leeks, thyme and carrots and add to water.
4. Add 1/4 cup of olive oil, 2 tsp of salt and some pepper to water.
5. Continue to cook at medium-low heat once water comes to a boil. (This will be used as the vegetable broth for the soup. If you choose to have chicken broth, repeat the same process and throw in the chicken carcass (no need to add the olive oil).
6. Let broth cook in medium-low heat for 30 minutes (45 minutes if you are making chicken broth).
7. Place chopped cauliflower in a glass oven pan with very little fluoride-free water and a pinch of salt.
8. Heat in oven for 5 minutes. (You could choose to steam cauliflower instead of this method).
9. Chop potatoes and place in a pot and boil for 10 -15 minutes. (Chopping potatoes will cut down the cooking time).
10. Chop remaining leeks, garlic and shallots into small pieces and let sit for 5 minutes (allowing it to sit for 5 - 10 minutes can help provide an anti-bacterial benefit).
11. Heat a frying pan at low heat and add olive oil.
12. Lightly fry the garlic, leeks and shallots for about 4-5 minutes. Set aside.
13. Drain broth into a bowl and discard of vegetables in broth (discard chicken carcass for chicken broth).
14. Place cauliflower, potato and leeks in a mixing bowl, once ready.
15. Add about 1/2 cup of broth to the mixing bowl and begin mashing all ingredients. (We use an electric hand blender for this).
16. In a clean soup pot, pour the remaining hot vegetable broth/chicken broth (from the bowl) and simmer at low heat.
17. Add mashed ingredients to chicken broth.
18. Stir in medium heat for 5 minutes (broth should still be warm).
19. Add salt and pepper for added flavour.
20. Serve and enjoy good healthy eating!

*Fluoride contains a high concentration of toxins and heavy metals such as arsenic, lead and chromium. All proven to be carcinogens. Information from: http://www.nofluoride.com/

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Adding Brightness to Our Day

Lemons, oranges and carrots have beta carotene that converts to Vitamin A. They are powerful antioxidants and they help boost your immune system. They also slow down aging and help maintain good eyesight. Juice ingredients: Organic banana, organic orange, organic blood orange, organic lemon and black chia powder.

Butternut squash provides a good amount of five B-complex vitamins! Those vitamins are B1, B3, B6, pantothenic acid, and folate. They provide about one-third of the Daily Value of vitamin C in every cup and contain a good amount of the antioxidant mineral manganese.

Ingredients: Organic home made vegetable broth (fluoride-free water, organic leeks, organic garlic, organic carrots, organic thyme, organic extra virgin olive oil) organic butternut squash, organic red onions, organic garlic, organic nutmeg, organic thyme and salt and pepper.

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Tomato Chicken Soup

Warm up in this cold April weather with a delicious tomato chicken soup.

Ingredients: Organic tomatoes, vegetable grain fed chicken, fluoride-free water, organic leeks, organic celery, organic carrots, organic thyme, sea salt and organic pepper.

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