The Last Soup Recipe You’ll Ever Need

 

soupLearning to make homemade soups is one of the best investments in your healthy eating strategy. Soup making is more of an art than a science: there is no one right way to make a good soup. Yet many people are afraid to even try to make it.

 

Soup is comfort food. Chicken noodle soup alone is famous for its ability to soothe the sick.

 

Soup is filling. In fact, soup can be an effective weight loss tool as long as it’s made with whole real ingredients and not popping out of a can.

 

Soup starts with broth. Broth should be homemade because of the unnecessary chemicals and lack of real nutrients in packaged or canned broth.

 

Broth is easy to make. Simply submerge bones (beef, lamb, chicken, turkey, (I’ve even used ham bone)) in water, add sea salt, two TBSP vinegar (to leach the calcium from the bones into the broth) and boil for several hours.

 

You can add vegetable scraps and water from cooking vegetables. (Caution: Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts contain sulphur, which can make your broth bitter. But if I’m making cauliflower soup or broccoli soup, I use them). Leftover gravy goes into the broth pot and I usually add a couple bay leaves. I have also tossed in leftover mashed potatoes.

 

I freeze my broth in two-cup containers so I am always ready to make a soup. Sometimes I boil the bones again, especially a big turkey carcass. The second batch is not as strong but still tasty.

 

A good friend told me the one ingredient required for good soup is butter. I agree butter is nice but with dairy-free individuals in my family, I’ve had to try other oils. I have found equal success with coconut oil and olive oil.

 

Now for the recipe: Sautee a small chopped onion, two stalks chopped celery, a chopped carrot and a clove of minced garlic in your oil until the onion is translucent and the celery begins to soften. Add salt and pepper.

 

Now comes the fun part. With your broth and this soup starter you can make almost any flavour of soup you want.

 

The other day I had some leftover carrots, turnips and sweet potatoes along with some beef gravy. I began with my soup starter, heated the veggies, then pureed it with my stick blender. Then back into the pot to warm up. Served with popcorn (as crackers), my Root Soup was a hit with my granddaughters.

 

I love to make squash soup with fresh dill or basil, especially if I have turkey broth, my favourite. Sometimes I throw in green beans for colour, crunch and variety.

 

In the fall I make borscht by adding beets, cabbage, potatoes and dill to my basic beef broth soup recipe.

 

I like to make chicken/turkey noodle/vegetable soup, loaded with stuff so it eats like a meal. One day I made oxtail and butternut squash soup. Very yummy.

 

Mushroom soup is easy to make by adding a couple cups of various chopped mushrooms and sautéing before adding broth. Puree, a few spices and finished with cream: gourmet all the way!

 

My favourite soup is one I make by first taking a trip through the garden with my bowl. Baby carrots, fresh zucchini, green beans or summer peas lightly steeped in my soup starter make a lovely summer supper.

 

I make seafood chowder by adding bacon, potatoes, clams, shrimp, and other fish to the pot. Top it off with some red peppers, frozen peas, and cream (or coconut milk) moments before serving and we’ve got a hearty meal.

 

I pour hot leftover soup into jars and refrigerate. They keep for a long time (if they are sealed hot) and make lovely quick lunches and gifts to the sick and shut-in, all without BPA, table salt, and other harmful chemicals. To keep longer, freeze soup. It’s best if used within three months.

 

Warning: once you begin making your own soups you will never again be able to eat soup from a can or eat it in a restaurant. You will be able to smell the chemicals; it will taste too salty yet seem tasteless.

 

Making your own soup means you are in charge of the ingredients. You control the salt and sugar. (Sugar in soup? The canned stuff has it!) You control the kind and amount of fat. You control how long the vegetables cook. (Ideally they are not overcooked).

 

Most importantly, homemade soups have nutrients that canned and packaged soups simply don’t have. We eat to provide our bodies with nourishment so why would we eat soup from a can?

 

If you’re on a budget (and who isn’t?) homemade soup can be a very economical way to feed yourself and your family.

 

I hope you’ll try to make some soup. If you do, be sure to tell me about it.

 

As always I urge you to eat The Food. The Whole Food.  And Nothing but the Food.

 

Book Review: Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser edited Aug 2013

fastfoodnation“What the All-American Meal is doing to the World”

Fast Food Nation is a shocking expose’ on the various players in our food supply system

A glaring problem is that a handful of gigantic corporations control most of the links of our food chain, from seed grain to fertilizers and pesticides to feedlots to meat processing plants.

The book closely examines the relationship between big food companies like McDonald’s and their suppliers. The author also explores the large government regulators like USDA and FDA and their influence on the nutrition and safety of the food in the USA

McDonald’s corporation is the largest customer of beef and potatoes. Therefore they heavily influence their suppliers as well as government agencies.

As with all publicly traded companies, fast food companies are motivated by quarterly profits and immediate Return on Investment. Pressure is always on to improve efficiency and lower costs.

That leads to many problems, among them compromised animal rights, human rights, and the health of consumers.

The system is geared to churn profits and can’t seem to slow down to ensure the health of farm and plant workers who are routinely exposed to harmful chemicals, hazardous conditions, risking limbs and ultimately their lives.

The most powerful statement in the book comes at the end of a section on meat.  After examining several e-coli outbreaks, why they happened and how the industry reacted the author concludes that the bottom line is “There’s shit in the meat.”

Not to mention human body parts and rats. Some will claim “bullshit!”  I say, “Exactly!”

I believe it’s true. I once worked in a supermarket. The ladies who worked in the meat department never bought the hamburger. They always bought chuck or blade roasts and ground them into ground beef. They obviously knew something.

For several years I have purchased beef directly from a farmer I know. When I’m out of “good” meat and I’m forced to buy it in the store, I can hardly stand to cook the hamburger, never mind eat it. It stinks!

The book tells how conditions in packing plants are often inhumane both to animals and humans. The big processing companies pay politicians to pass laws so they can police themselves. Since this book was published, laws have been proposed to make it a criminal offense for journalists or anybody else to take photographs of or report on the conditions on factory farms and at processing facilities.

The cry of the big industry players is “We’ll police ourselves. Don’t worry!  But you can’t check up on us. Trust us!” And their friends in government say “okay” and turn a blind eye.

What are the solutions?

I’ve long agonized over the sources of food for my family. I grew up on a mixed farm where we raised our own beef, pork, chicken, goose, duck, turkey, eggs, vegetables and berries, in addition to the grain we grew to feed our animals and for sale. We ate nothing from a package.

When you grow up eating whole real food, factory food doesn’t taste right. Several years ago I learned to make my own salad dressings. Now I can’t eat dressing from a bottle. It tastes like chemicals. I find most restaurant food too salty, too greasy and tasting like chemicals.

It’s not feasible for us all to have our own sources of all the foods we enjoy. But there are ways we can get back control over our food.

The best is to grow your own food. When you plant, weed, water and harvest before you wash, slice and cook and eat it, you have a real connection to and vested interest in your food.

Granted, gardening isn’t for everyone but if you have a patch of grass in your yard, it’s easy to dig it up and throw in a few potatoes, tomatoes, salad stuff, green beans, beets, carrots, zucchini etc. Most of these vegetables practically grow themselves. It’s a small step towards controlling your food.

Learn how to prepare your own whole, real food and keep it simple. I am astounded by the hoards of people who are helpless when it comes to feeding themselves; that’s why there is a market for factory food.

Another option is to seek relationships with local growers, especially for meat, since we can’t have chickens or a steer in our city backyards. You might find local growers online or at farmer’s markets, although most of our markets are not populated with local farmers but the same wholesalers that supply the supermarkets. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) groups are popping up all over the continent.

Choose organic options wherever possible. It’s tough to do. Big industrial food companies regularly buy out small organic producers so they can get in on the growth of the organic sector. Unfortunately, they industrialize them, bastardizing organic principles and misleading their customers.

For example a recent report by the Cornucopia Institute exposed cereal manufacturers, claiming natural and organic, but when their products were tested, they were found to contain genetically modified organisms, which are not organic, and other so-called natural ingredients that don’t belong in organic foods. See link below.

As consumers we need to read books like Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation to inform ourselves.  Once we’re informed we can notify politicians that we want responsible oversight of our food system. Let them know our food should be nutritious, safe, and ethical, not merely profitable.

Mostly, you can vote with your dollars. McDonald’s made exactly zero dollars from me last year, as did all the other fast food outlets. General Mills, Coca-Cola, and other food manufacturers also made no profit from me.

http://cornucopia.org/cereal-scorecard/docs/Cornucopia_Cereal_Report.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Food_Nation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Food_Nation_(film)

Learn more by searching Google for Factory Farms

Three Sinister Substances

msgnonoSurprisingly, many Canadians don’t bother reading labels on the food products they buy. Even for those who do read them, they are often confused.

 

In general, food manufacturers are ashamed of many of the ingredients they put into our food so they do everything in their power to mislead consumers.

 

Here are three examples of ingredients that are prevalent in processed foods: Monosodium glutamate or MSG, high-fructose corn syrup or HFCS and trans fats. Most people know that it’s best to avoid consuming these “foods” but they are unaware of the pseudonyms that are employed to fool us into complacency.

 

Monosodium Glutamate: MSG is added to enhance the flavor of food. It is common in restaurant foods, canned soups and dinners, frozen dinners and many other processed products. Why it’s not good for us: MSG is a neurotoxin, exciting areas of the brain artificially and causing severe reactions in some people. Others have minor reactions.

 

Here is list of the names by which it can hide on food labels:

 

annatto, autolyzed yeast, barley malt
,brown rice syrup, calcium caseinate, carrageenan, citric acid, dry milk solids, glutamate,
glutamic acid, guar gum, hot dog analogs, hydrolyzed corn gluten, hydrolyzed protein, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, isolate,
lecithin (if from hydrolyzed soy products), malt extract, malt flavoring, maltodextrin, milk powder, monopotassium glutamate, natural chicken, beef, pork flavoring, bouillon & broth, natural flavor(s) & flavoring(s), protease,
 protein enzymes,
 protein fortified, rice syrup, seasoning, smoke flavor or flavorings, sodium caseinate, soup broths, bouillon, soy protein, soy sauce, spice, texturized vegetable protein, whey protein, yeast extract, yeast food, and anything enzyme modified, soy fortified and fermented, could be hiding MSG.

 

High Fructose Corn Syrup: HFCS is a cheap alternative to sugar made by adding chemicals and enzymes to and significantly altering corn. Manufacturers love it because it is sweeter than sugar so they need less, it’s cheaper than sugar (largely because of government corn subsidies and taxes on sugar imports), and there is some evidence that it is more addictive than sugar, ensuring repeat business.

 

Why it’s bad: Experiments on rats show the message of satiety usually sent to the brain after sugar consumption is altered or non-existent from HFCS. This explains the addiction and the over-consumption of products containing HFCS and why this product is suspected of significantly contributing to the obesity epidemic.

 

Studies also suggest it often contains mercury, for which there is no safe level.

 

The HFCS industry touts it as “natural” because it is made from corn, which is a very bad joke. By the time corn is bombarded with various chemical processes, it is far from natural.

 

Here is the list of HFCS aliases:

 

agave syrup (but not always), chicory, corn syrup, crystalline fructose, dahlia syrup, dextrose, fruit fructose, glucose syrup, glucose-fructose syrup, glucose/fructose, high maltose corn syrup, inulin, isoglucose, maize syrup, maltodextrin, syrup powder, tapioca syrup. Corn producers have recently petitioned the FDA for the right to call it “corn sugar”.

 

Beware that unscrupulous producers add HFCS to honey and maple syrup. Know your suppliers!

 

Trans fats: Because of recent media coverage, most people know that they should avoid trans fats but they don’t know why or what they really are.

 

Decades ago Ancel Keys hypothesized that the consumption of saturated fats, mostly from animals, had a direct effect on heart disease. Keys selectively used the data he collected in six countries (ignoring data from 22 others that didn’t fit his theory) to prove his foregone conclusion that saturated fats are unhealthy.

 

In collusion with governments and health care providers, manufacturers rushed to replace animal fats with cheaper vegetable oils, chemically treated to be solid at room temperature and therefore mimic animal fats. They enjoyed the added bonus of longer shelf life for their products, reducing costs and food waste.

 

Unfortunately the human body does not recognize these fats as real food and doesn’t digest them properly. Ironically they are thought to cause heart disease, diabetes and cancer and contribute to the rise in obesity in North America.

 

There is no safe level of trans fat consumption.  In Canada, if a product contains less than two grams of trans fats per serving, the manufacturers can claim that it’s trans fat free. Of course they often base their claim on ridiculously small serving sizes: ever see anybody eat just ONE cookie?

 

Trans fat pseudonyms include:

 

edible oils, hydrogenated vegetable oil, margarine, non-hydrogenated plant shortenings made from naturally saturated palm oil, coconut oil and palm kernel oil, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, partially-hydrogenated plant oils, shortening. Most fried food contains trans fats as high heat also alters the composition of oils.

 

Avoiding these three substances is easier if you stick to whole real food. Prepare larger quantities of homemade foods and freeze extras in individual portions to replace canned and frozen dinners. Replace prepared foods with fresh vegetables, salads and fresh fruit.

 

Use real oils like coconut oil and butter for frying, (which should be done infrequently) and use extra-virgin olive oil and raw nut oils in salad dressings and marinades.

 

Honey, agave and stevia are the best sweeteners to use. Better still, satisfy your sweet tooth with fresh fruit, which comes with the added bonus of fibre, and vitamins and minerals to help your body manage the sugars they contain.

 

When dining out ask for MSG, trans fat, and HFCS-free choices or frequent those establishments whose policy is to serve whole, real food.

 

Happy eating!

 

Sources for this article include: Google, Natural News.com. Wikipedia.com

Borscht

borschtpic1/2 lb beef stew meat

½ tsp sea salt (to taste)

pepper (to taste)

2 Tbsp oil (coconut, olive)

2 cloves minced garlic

1 cup diced onions

1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce

1 cup chopped cabbage

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup diced potatoes

1 handful fresh dill stalks, flowers, and leaves

sour cream or yogurt

1 cup chopped canned or stewed tomatoes with juice

1&1/2 lb cooked, peeled and diced beets

 

Saute first seven ingredients in a large pot until onion is tender and meat is brown. Cover with 6 to 10 cups water. Simmer for 2 to 4 hours or until meat is falling-apart tender. Stir in cabbage, carrots and potatoes; cook 15 minutes. Add beets, dill, tomatoes and enough water to cover. Simmer for 15 to 30 minutes.

 

Remove large stalks of dill. Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt.

 

Vegan: This meal in a bowl can easily be prepared without the meat and served with a bit of coconut milk.