Cleasning and a recipe for Detox Soup

This week my friend and I started teaching another class, this time on cleansing and juices, smoothies, and soups for the purpose of cleansing.  Most people hear the word "cleansing" and think you've got to go on some crazy fast.  Not true, the single most important thing you can do to cleanse your body is increase your water intake.  Our bodies are made up of more than 70% water.  Most people live in a chronic state of dehydration causing symptoms like headaches, back pain, skin problems, arthritis, digestive problems and many others.  For more information click here for and excerpt of The Seven Pillars of Health, a resource I highly recommend.

Most health experts recommend doing some type of colon cleanse before doing anything else, the reason is if your digestive system isn't cleaned out you wont be able to handle the toxins released from say a liver cleanse and you could end up feeling very sick.  This is the hand out we gave to our class.  We served water with lemon, made fresh apple juice, a smoothie with greens in it and, soup.  My mission once again is to show people that eating (and drinking) for your health does not have to taste bad :) 

While researching for this class I've come across a number of websites and blogs with great recipes.  Instead of reinventing the wheel and coming up with my own soup recipe I used someone else's for this weeks soup.  You can find the original post here. 

Normally I wouldn't peel any of the vegetables especially if using organic but this time I did.  It came out delicious.  Let me know what you think.  A Votre Sante!

Vegan Mulligatawny Detox Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon avocado oil (or olive oil)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch fresh ginger, grated
2 teaspoons mild organic curry powder or paste
1 teaspoon organic turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, more or less, to taste
1 medium sweet or red onion, peeled, diced
4 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 cup cauliflower florets, chopped
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced
2 heaping cups thinly shredded cabbage
1 quart fresh spring water
2 cups organic fresh veggie juice blend (or your fave V8-style juice)
1 14-oz. can organic chick peas, drained
A small pinch of sea salt, to taste
1 14-oz. can coconut milk, stirred
Juice from 1 medium lime, or to taste
1 tsp honey

For garnish:

Thin apple slices or shredded apple
Chopped fresh cilantro, if desired

Instructions:

 

Heat the oil over medium high heat in a medium size soup pot. Add the garlic, ginger, curry, turmeric and cayenne and briefly stir for to season the oil. Add the onion, carrots, cauliflower, apples, sweet potato and cabbage, and sauté until softened, about 7 to 10 minutes.

Stir in the spring water, veggie juice, and chick peas; season with a touch of sea salt, if desired. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, cover and simmer the soup, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Add the coconut milk, lime juice and honey. Stir well. Taste for seasoning adjustments. Heat through gently; don't boil.

Recipe: Arugula-Cashew Spread

Week 2 of my class on healthy living and whole food, we're talking about getting more greens and plants into our diet.  This is a a lot like pesto but it doesn't have any cheese, and when you taste it you won't even miss it.  We also made home made hummus, with garbanzo beans that we'd soaked and cooked until tender.  This is a link to the recipe I've posted before.  

One day last summer we went to a restaurant in Irvine called Native Foods Cafe for a cooking demonstration, this recipe was one of the things they served.  They called it a crudité but it’s really more of a spread or pesto.  I’ve made it a few times and it’s excellent as a pesto on spaghetti squash or pasta or as a dip for crackers or vegetables.

 

Arugula-Cashew Spread

Ingredients:
3 cups raw cashews
1/2 cup nutritional yeast (I used Braggs)
2 cloves of garlic
6 cups of arugula or baby spinach or a combination of both
1/2 cup olive oil
4 Tbsp lemon juice
pinch of salt
dash of fresh ground pepper
dash of red chili pepper (optional)
Directions:
In a food processor, pulse the cashews, nutritional yeast and garlic, so that the ingredients are mixed but the cashews are still crunchy. Empty into a medium sized bowl and set aside. In the food processor, add the olive oil and lemon juice first, then add the greens. Pulse to blend well. Mix the two together and add salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Serve with vegetables, crackers, or flat bread. Enjoy.

Recipe of the week: Super foods smoothie

Most people are trying to find away to eat more vegetables, even Jamba Juice is now adding veggies to smoothies.  The darker the color of fruit and vegetables the better for you and we all know the benefits of dark chocolate.  Chia seeds and maca powder are nutritional power houses, if you want more information you can google them....you can always make it without them if you don't have any.  This ends up tasting like a chocolate covered cherry.  A Votre Sante!

1 cup unsweetened almond or coconut milk
1/2 cup frozen cherries, berries or a combination of both
1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 scoop chocolate protein powder (optional)
1 Tbsp maca powder
1 scoop chia seeds
1/2 beet sliced


Blend in the blender until smooth.  Enjoy!

Recipe of the week: Vegetable Zinger

Nothing packs a nutritional punch like vegetable juice.  Fresh vegetable juice, not the kind you get at the store.  I like to add a 1/2 a piece of fruit to mine just to sweeten it up a bit.  I really like pear in this combo but I didn't have any ripe ones so I used 1/2 an apple instead.  I call this vegetable zinger because the lemon and the ginger give it a kick.  If you don't like ginger then don't use it, ginger is very good for your digestive system .  If you don't have any kale you could try using spinach.  Let me know what you think.  A Votre Sante!

What you'll need:
A juicer and organic produce

3 stalks of celery
2 carrots
1 beet
5 leaves of curly kale
1 lemon
1 1 inch piece of ginger
1/2 an apple

Drink within 30 minutes of juicing for maximum benefit.

Recipe of the week: Corn Chowder

I love Mimi's Cafe corn chowder.  I've had their recipe for several years and love to make it at home but like everything else I've modified it a bit.  Mine has more vegetables and less fat.  Let me know what you think.  A Votre Sante!

Corn Chowder

Ingredients
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup onion chopped
1 cup celery, large dice
3 cups hot water
2 1/2 cups raw potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 cubes
16 oz bag frozen corn (white or yellow)
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tea salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
5 Tbsp flour
2 1/2 cups half and half
2 1/2 cups milk
fresh ground pepper

Directions:
In a large pot or dutch over, melt butter.  Add onion, celery, simmer until softened but not browned.  Add water potatoes, corn and seasonings.  Cover and simmer 30 minutes or until tender.  Whisk flour into 1 cup half and half and stir into soup.  Add remaining half and half and milk.  Simmer 15 minutes, until soup thickens.  Add salt and pepper.  To thin add a little more milk, to thicken simmer 5-10 more minutes.  Serve with fresh ground pepper.  Enjoy!

How to eat healthy at parties

The holiday party season is upon us.  I know there's tons of advice out there on this subject, here's mine...

It's not impossible to eat healthy at parties, it just takes a little planning.  One night won't ruin your fitness/weight loss goals.  My strategy is to bring something that I know I will eat and I try not to arrive starving.  It's a lot harder to make good choices if you're really hungry.

I always offer to bring a salad or a vegetable tray.  Your hostess will most likely appreciate your help.  (In my group of friends I'm known for my salads!)  Costco has large vegetable trays with a lowfat peppercorn ranch dip for about $10.   (They don't usually have celery on them, so I like to slice some up and take it on the side)

I try to make my salads very colorful.  I usually use an organic greens mix, sliced tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, sliced yellow or orange peppers, olives, avocado, sometimes dried cranberries, sliced almonds, or sunflower seeds.  I'll slice cucumbers and either red or green onions and take them on the side (because I don't like them).  I also like to grate carrots, raw beets, or zucchini.  I don't put meat in my salads because I want there to be at least one vegetarian option.  You can add cheese if you like, sometimes I'll add feta.  There's plenty of dressings out there that are healthy options, Trader Joe's has several, I also like Paul Newman's brand or Litehouse makes some good ones.

I like Bethenny Frankel's advice, "taste everything and eat nothing".  To me that means have a little bite of whatever it is you want, just don't go overboard.  You'll be less likely to overeat if you have a little bit of that brownie or red velvet cake.

The most important thing is to drink plenty of water!  Lots of party foods are really high in sodium.  I also try to get in at least 30 minutes of some kind of cardio in early in the day.

A Votre Sante!