Category Archives: SOUP: Water and Vegetables

13

May. ’16

Plan Your Produce

imageCooking meals at home helps your family eat healthy and save money, but if you don’t shop with a plan, you can end up throwing expensive produce away. It’s happened to most of us at some point. You head to the grocery store with good intentions, buy a lot of random produce,—because with ten pounds of broccoli in the house, you can’t fail to lose weight, right?—and then half of that produce spends the next two weeks being nudged closer and closer to the back of the fridge before it’s finally tossed in the trash. It’s frustrating and discouraging. For you and for the produce.

2014 June 003The solution to this problem is to plan your produce. Here’s how.

  1. Choose one day a week to sit down and plan your meals for the week. If you’re new to cooking at home, pick one or two meals. Baby steps, baby spinach, baby bellas, baby got back on track. Try to choose menu items that share common vegetables. For example, a bag of spinach can make a spinach salad and a mushroom spinach omelet, or one head of cabbage can make Mu Shu Vegetables and Fried Cabbage. As you plan, make a shopping list of what you need to cook the recipes you’ve selected.

 

  1. 2014 March 007Take your list to the store and don’t stray from it. There are going to be produce items that you always keep on hand like garlic and onions, and items that you only buy when you need them like bell peppers and broccoli. It all depends on your family and your preferences. For example, I always have carrots in the house. My boys like to snack on them (when given the choice of carrots or nothing), I like to mindlessly crunch them in front of the TV, they’re cheap, and they’re useful in a plethora of recipes. It’s a staple. Cauliflower, on the other hand, only comes home with me when I have a plan for it. It’s like the out of town relative you enjoy having over, but feel like you have to entertain.

 

  1. End the week with either a batch of homemade vegetable soup or veggie stir fry. Take your leftover bits and stems and combine them into something wonderful. Now your fridge is reset for the week to come and nothing goes to waste.

 

Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. Genesis 25:29 (NIV)

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08

Apr. ’16

Cheap Rx for What Ails You (Part 2)

Last week we began a journey from the top of our heads to the tip of our toes. We are exploring the role of water in our bodies and what happens when we don’t have enough. Thirst is not the only symptom of mild dehydration.water cheap Rx_0001

  • Water as key: Your liver stores glycogen (glucose) that your other organs can use for energy, but the liver needs water to make the glucose available. Less glucose means less energy and one of the first signs of mild dehydration is fatigue. This lack of energy can also cause food cravings, especially for sweets. Your body asks for sugar not because it doesn’t have it, but because it can’t unlock it.
  • Water as bulldozer: Your colon is (literally) at the bottom of the pecking order: when you’re short on water, the body steals H₂O from the colon first. Stool has water in it to keep it soft and moving along toward the exit. When your body sucks that water out of the stool to give it to the brain, your stool becomes harder and more difficult to move along so it stays put, wreaking havoc on your lower torso’s comfort. Think of a river at low tide.
  • Water as a mighty flush: Your skin is the largest organ in your body so it stands to reason that it’s also the largest eliminator of toxins in your body. Sweat carries the toxins out, but you need water to sweat. Lack of water leads to skin prone to irritations and dryness. Lotions can help keep moisture from leaking out of your skin, but if there’s no moisture in your skin to begin with, lotion’s not going to help for long. Chronic mild dehydration also leads to premature aging: your skin and your internal organs wrinkle like prunes.

2015 sibling visit 273It’s easy to determine your level of hydration. Just check your pee! The urine of a fully hydrated person will be somewhere between clear and slightly yellow. Noticeably very yellow urine means you’re 3% dehydrated. That might not sound like a lot, but more than 5% dehydrated is considered severe dehydration and turns your pee orange. Orange pee is a bad sign, like call your doctor bad. One note: when you first wake up in the morning, your pee should be bright yellow. This is normal because your bladder has been concentrating waste all night long. If your pee is still lemon yellow a few hours later, you need to drink more water.

“The average adult loses about 10 cups water every day, simply by breathing, sweating, urinating and eliminating waste, according to the Mayo Clinic.” What about the recommended eight 8 oz. glasses of water per day? The math-inclined are flipping out right now: 64 ounces equals 8 cups and we output 10 each day! It doesn’t add up! You’re right, but 20% of your water comes from the food you eat. Mystery solved. The 8 cup (64 ounces) recommendation is a minimum to maintain hydration and studies show most of us don’t drink that much. One estimate says that 50-75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.  We have symptoms that don’t include thirst, so we don’t look to water for a cure.

Is it possible to drink too much water? Yes, it is, but you’d have to try really hard to get it all down. Too much water can drown your body from the inside out, but “too much” is 1.3 gallons (or 169 ounces or 5 liters) of water in just a few hours. If you drink 1.3 gallons over ten hours—that’s 2 cups (16 ounces) per hour—you’ll be fine.

When your body isn’t feeling right, turn first to the cheapest medicine in the world: water. Drink up, drink again, and see what water can do!

 

He (Jesus) said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.” Revelation 21:6 (NIV)

 

 

http://www.everydayhealth.com/news/unusual-signs-of-dehydration/

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dehydration/basics/symptoms/con-20030056

http://www.waterbenefitshealth.com/symptoms-of-chronic-dehydration.html

http://foodmatters.tv/articles-1/are-you-chronically-dehydrated

http://www.livestrong.com/article/550244-can-drinking-too-much-water-damage-your-lungs/

 

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01

Apr. ’16

Cheap Rx for What Ails You (Part 1)

You’re craving sweets, your mouth feels sticky, and you’re tired even though you slept eight hours last night. You eat some chocolate, but your symptoms don’t go away. Your first instinct is to eat more chocolate—that is, after all, your first instinct in most situations. You decide to give your chocolate coated neurons a break for the moment and consider the problem logically.

2015 sibling visit 274Your body is craving something that it lacks. Something that lubricates your mouth and helps your organs release glycogen (stored glucose i.e. sugar) that gives you energy. Surprise! You’re mildly dehydrated and your body is craving water.

Most of us assume that if our body lacks water we’ll feel thirsty. While this is often the case, thirst is not the only indicator that our liquids are low. When water is in short supply, our body sends it to the most important parts first—like the brain—and allows less necessary parts to go without, all in the hopes that more water is on the way and it will eventually be able to function at full fluid capacity. This redistribution of water can lead to symptoms that we don’t always associate with lack of water.

water cheap RxLet’s take a look at what water does in our body and the symptoms we experience when things go wrong. We’ll start at the top.

  • Water as airbag: Your brain is surrounded by a sack of fluid that acts as a cushion so your brain doesn’t bump against your skull. Your brain is roughly 70% water and the fluid is, well, fluid. When there is less fluid in the sack, your brain bumps into your skull more easily causing headaches.
  • Water as lubricant: Your mouth is lubricated by saliva. Less water equals less saliva which leaves your mouth feeling dry and/or sticky. Think of a slip and slide with the hose turned off. Saliva also has antibacterial properties; less saliva means you don’t have enough antibiotic spit to kill the stinky microbes and you end up with bad breath.
  • Water as fire hose: Your blood is roughly 50% water (55% of blood is plasma and plasma is 92% water), but if that percentage drops, your blood is thicker and harder to pump and your blood pressure goes up.
  • Water as pump: Your lungs are about 85% water. (Who knew? Water in lungs = bad, lungs made of water = good.) When water is in short supply, your airways shrink or constrict a bit. This can aggravate allergies and asthma.

Next week we’ll continue our journey down the body as well as discuss an easy self-diagnosis technique to determine your hydration. Water we waiting for?!

 

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35 (NIV)

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16

Mar. ’16

Oh Danny Boy, Please Eat Your Greens

 

imageOh eat your greens, the greens, the greens are calling

From head to toe they do a body good.

The vitamins and nutrients are flowing.

Tis you, tis you, must eat and I must too.

 

But come ye back for more greens on your plate.

Some mustard greens, spinach, kale, and chard.

Cholesterol goes down, they help my arteries.

Oh leafy greens, Oh leafy greens, I love you so.

 

And if you eat your greens with all that fiber,

They help your colon clean out all the junk.

Greens help your bones because they’re full of calcium,

So kneel and thank our God for making greens.

 

And I shall eat my greens for their B vitamins

That turn to glucose; gives me energy.

Greens boost my vision health. Oh, greens are wonderful.

I’ll simply eat my greens until you come to me.

 

If you’re not Irish, eat orange vegetables and fruits!

 

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Psalm 23:1-3 (NIV)

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04

Feb. ’16

National Homemade Soup Day (with recipes)

2014 Sept mid 023Happy Homemade Soup Day! Celebrate with a warm bowl of nutritious goodness!

Soup can be a helpful part of your weight loss journey if your soup is Sexy (Slurp This, Not That).

Making homemade soup is easier than you think and tastes delicious. Click here for step by step instructions for homemade soup in 20 minutes.

Click on a recipe below to try a new soup.

Multi Bean Soup

Potato Chicken Cheddar Soup

Cucumber Soup

Hearty Lentil Soup

 

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03

Dec. ’15

Drink More Water With VISIBLE WATER™

2015 sibling visit 275Drinking water is essential for looking and feeling your best, but how can you be sure to drink enough water each day? With new VISIBLE WATER™!

Unlike the invisible water that lurks in your home’s pipes or refrigerator, VISIBLE WATER™ is guaranteed to enter your body. And using VISIBLE WATER™ is easy! Simply fill a glass, cup, or bottle with invisible water and place it where you can see it: your desk at work, your car’s cup holder, or – my personal favorite – the kitchen counter. 2015 sibling visit 276VISIBLE WATER™ starts working immediately. Your eyes are drawn to the VISIBLE WATER™, your hand reaches for it, and before you can say “Hydrate me!” cool liquid refreshment is pouring down your throat and working its miracles.

VISIBLE WATER™ is easy to maintain. Once your VISIBLE WATER™ level drops below 50%, simply refill the glass, cup, or bottle and place it back in its Visible Location. You’ll be amazed at how much VISIBLE WATER™ you’ll drink in a day!

VISIBLE WATER™ comes in a variety of flavors like Public, Well, Spring, Distilled, and Lemon Zest!

2015 sibling visit 274VISIBLE WATER™ helps ease constipation and joint pain and prevents muscle cramps. It aids digestion, helps with weight loss, and has even been known to fight cancer and heart disease!

If you want to increase your water intake, join the billions of satisfied customers who choose VISIBLE WATER™ every day.

 

Remember: if it’s invisible, you forget, but if it’s VISIBLE WATER™, you drink it!

 

Coming Soon: VISIBLE VEGETABLES™ (Sold separately)

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13

Aug. ’15

Invasion of the Cucumbers: Health Benefits and Recipes to Make You Love Cukes More (Part 5)

stack cucumbersI no longer view cucumbers as a semi-useless vegetable nor as a pickles-only food. They are tasty, versatile, unique, and on my plate. Today’s recipe happens to be my favorite new way to eat them.

WHY WE LOVE THEM

  1. Cures diabetes, reduces cholesterol and controls blood pressure– Cucumber juice contains a hormone which is needed by the cells of the pancreas for producing insulin which has been found to be beneficial to diabetic patients. Researchers found that a compound called sterols in cucumbers may help reduce cholesterol levels. Cucumbers contain a lot of potassium, magnesium and fiber. These work effectively for regulating blood pressure. This makes cucumbers good for treating both low blood pressure and high blood pressure.

I think “cures” is the wrong word to use here, Natural News. Beneficial to diabetics? Sure, I’ll give you that. But cures?  Nope. As for the rest of it, I’m going to repeat myself a bit: vegetables are awesome. They do so much more for our bodies that fill our bellies. God designed plants to optimize human health which is why the Garden of Eden diet was purely plants. So, (best Mommy voice and shaking my finger at you) eat your vegetables!

10. Promotes joint health, relieves gout and arthritis pain -Cucumber is an excellent source of silica, which is known to help promotes joint health by strengthening the connective tissues. They are also rich in vitamin A, B1, B6, C & D, Folate, Calcium, Magnesium, and Potassium. When mixed with carrot juice, they can relieve gout and arthritis pain by lowering the uric acid levels

Blah, blah, blah – Go eat a cucumber!

 

2015 Aug 2 003HOW WE EAT THEM

Cucumber Soup (Beatrice Snare)

Ingredients:

5 cucumbers (or more), peeled and with seeds removed, cut into quarters

1 onion cut into chunks

4-6 cups water

4 Tb butter  or margarine (1/2 stick)

3-4 Tb flour

2 cloves garlic, minced

Salt to taste

Croutons (optional)

  1. Cover the cucumbers and onion with water and boil until soft (10-20 minutes)
  2. Ladle the cucumbers and onion into the blender along with some of the hot water they were boiled in – fill your blender as much as you safely can. Discard excess water. Blend until smooth.
  3. In the same pot you used for cooking the cucumbers, melt the butter over medium low heat. Add the flour, garlic, and salt and stir constantly. It should look like a bubbly paste.
  4. Add ¼-1/2 cup of the blended cucumber to the paste in the pot and stir until smooth. Add another ¼-1/2 cup of cucumber liquid and stir until smooth. Keep adding ¼-1/2 cup of the blended cucumber and stirring each time until all of the liquid has been added. (Adding the hot liquid slowly prevents balls or chunks of flour from forming in your soup.) Your soup should have a creamy consistent texture.
  5. Add croutons and enjoy! (I added Parmesan cheese for the picture, but this soup doesn’t need cheese…I’m a cheesaholic, so I don’t say those words lightly!)

Natural News article: http://www.naturalnews.com/036769_cucumbers_health_benefits_rehydration.html#ixzz3i5YLJT64

Stack of cucumbers photo courtesy of www.istockphoto.com

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13

Aug. ’15

Invasion of the Cucumbers: Health Benefits and Recipes to Make You Love Cukes More (Part 4)

Cucumbers on the vineCucumbers look like the great green torpedoes of the vegetable world, but they do so much more than blow up watermelon submarines.

WHY WE LOVE THEM

  1. Hangover cure– To avoid a morning hangover or headache; eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish many essential nutrients, reducing the intensity of both hangover and headache.

I find this fascinating. I suspect that the one drawback to this plan is that the person who is going to have a hangover the next day is in no shape before bed to remember to eat a few slices of cucumber.

  1. Aids in weight loss and digestion– Due to its low calorie and high water content, cucumber is an ideal diet for people who are looking for weight loss. The high water content and dietary fiber in cucumbers are very effective in ridding the body of toxins from the digestive system, aiding digestion. Daily consumption of cucumbers can be regarded as a remedy for chronic constipation.

Water and fiber, water and fiber, water and fiber. That, my friends, is a magic mantra that can change your digestive life!

 

HOW WE EAT THEM

fridge picklesRefrigerator Sweet Pickles (Grandma Trone’s Recipe)

Ingredients:

7 cups cucumbers sliced very thin

1 cup onion sliced thin

2 cups sugar

2 Tb salt

1 Tb celery seed

1 cup white vinegar

Mix sugar, salt, celery seed, and vinegar. Pour the mixture over cucumbers and onions in a large bowl and stir. Store in the refrigerator for 3 days, stirring at least once per day. After 3 days, ladle the pickles and liquid into glass jars for easier storage. Pickles are ready to eat right away and will keep in the refrigerator for up to one year.

Natural News article: http://www.naturalnews.com/036769_cucumbers_health_benefits_rehydration.html#ixzz3i5YLJT64

Cucumbers on the vine courtesy of: www.rhs.org.uk

Fridge pickles photo courtesy of www.tastespotting.com

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13

Aug. ’15

Invasion of the Cucumbers: Health Benefits and Recipes to Make You Love Cukes More (Part 3)

cucumber slice

cucumber slice

This is a great time of year to experiment with cucumbers: they’re fresh, they’re numerous, and if you stop by local roadside veggie stands or markets, they can even be cheap! For those of you just joining us (or with poor memories), we’re exploring Natural News’ list of cucumber benefits.

WHY WE LOVE THEM

  1. Home care– Eliminates a foggy mirror. Before taking a shower, rub a cucumber slice along a mirror and it will eliminate the mirror fogging up. Instead of WD40, take a cucumber slice and rub it along a squeaky hinge and your door will stop squeaking.

Shh! Hear that? Me neither. I want to try this, but nothing is squeaking in my house. Just speaking or squawking. No noisy hinges, but there’s plenty of noise from the sons department. I wonder if rubbing a slice of cucumber on children has a similar effect.

6. Relieves bad breath – Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds, the phytochemcials will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

Come closer and tell me if it worked!

 

2015 Aug 2 001HOW WE EAT THEM

Cucumber Piña Colada Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 small or ½ large cucumber (peeled and de-seeded)

½ cup coconut milk

½ cup pineapple (fresh or canned in pineapple juice)

1 packet Truvia or other sweetener (optional)

Blend all ingredients until smooth.

 

Natural News article: http://www.naturalnews.com/036769_cucumbers_health_benefits_rehydration.html#ixzz3i5YLJT64

Cucumber slice picture courtesy of http://healthylatineating.com/

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13

Aug. ’15

Invasion of the Cucumbers: Health Benefits and Recipes to Make You Love Cukes More (Part 1)

2013 Summer 607Cucumbers are cooler than you think. Honestly, I’ve always thought of them as a salad afterthought – a white-ish space filler that you can take or leave. Turns out they’re pretty potent nutrient bombs and are even useful outside of the kitchen.

Why talk about cucumbers now? Because for some reason, this has been a bumper year for cucumbers in my garden; I’ve been picking 6-8 cucumbers every couple days and my fridge and counter are full. Invasion of the Cucumbers! Over the next few weeks we’ll explore new ways to eat them and reasons why we want to.

 

WHY WE LOVE THEM

Natural News.com had a great list of cucumber benefits. Let’s look at the first two:

P10803911.Quick pick me-up – Cucumbers are a good source of B vitamins. Put down your sodas and coffee and eat a cucumber slice.

I haven’t tried this yet. The thought of not having coffee in the afternoon makes me sad. Perhaps if I fill a coffee mug with cucumber slices…

2. Rehydrates body and replenishes daily vitamins – Cucumbers are 95 percent water, keeping the body hydrated while helping the body eliminate toxins. Cucumbers have most of the vitamins the body needs in a single day. Don’t forget to leave the skin on because the skin contains a good amount of vitamin C, about 10 percent of the daily-recommended allowance.

At 95% water, cucumbers are like portable, spoon-free soup. This also explains why I’ve been peeing so often this summer. They’re like water you can chew.

 

P1080394HOW WE EAT THEM

Cucumber Peach Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 small or ½ large peach

½ banana (frozen if you’d like a cooler smoothie)

1 small or ½ large cucumber (taste the peel – if it’s bitter, peel the cucumber. If the seeds are large, remove them.)

1 Tb lemon juice

1 packet Truvia (or sugar, honey, etc)

½ cup water

Blend all ingredients until smooth.

 

Natural News article: http://www.naturalnews.com/036769_cucumbers_health_benefits_rehydration.html#ixzz3i5YLJT64

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