It’s been blowing a gale and raining cats and dogs, one of those days when you want to batten down the hatches and tuck into a bowl of something hot and sustaining. (Think that’s my quota of meteorological metaphors for one post! What I really wanted to say was: ‘It’s been raining for days in Pigeon Street!’ Anyone remember that?)
So, combined with the fact that I am mid dental treatment and have to be careful what I eat, soup is going to be on the menu quite a bit over the coming evenings.
This one is thick and hearty enough to have as a meal rather than a first course or soup in a mug.
Makes enough for 3-4 servings.
The main thing is to cook it on a low heat, very gently and slowly, so as to maximise the nutritional content.
As always, all veg, oil, etc are organic where possible (the sage is from our garden), carrots have skin left on, all measurements and timings approximate.
Ingredients
Pre-soak 1/2 Cup Rinsed Green Lentils to make them more easily digested, discarding the soak water before use
Splash of Olive Oil
1 Leek rinsed thoroughly and sliced into rings
3 Medium Carrots, chopped
1 1/2 Sticks of Celery with Leaves, chopped
Half a head Broccoli, chopped, including stalk
1/4 to 1/2 Cauliflower, including stalk, chopped
8-10 Brussels Sprouts, peeled and chopped
Dried Sage + Black Pepper
Optional: 1 Dsp Nut Butter
1 Vegetable Stock Cube + 1 Tsp Yeast Extract and Squirt of Tomato Puree dissolved in approx 600 – 700mls hot water, then cooled a little
Method
Slowly heat oil in large saucepan, don’t let it overheat
Gradually add vegetables, stirring and moving about as you add each handful.
With the lid on, and on a very low heat, gently sweat the vegetables for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally
Add Sage + Black Pepper + Nut Butter, if using
Add the water, enough to just cover the vegetables
Add Lentils
Stir well.
Replace lid and on lowest heat leave to cook for about an hour or until vegetables and lentils are tender.
Do Not Boil!
When ready, allow to cool a little before blending just enough to thicken the soup but leaving chunks of vegetables for colour and bite.
Test seasoning.
I haven’t included any salt because the stock cube, yeast extract and tomato puree all contain salt. If salt is required at the table, Pink Himalayan Salt is recommended as it retains most of the minerals lost in the processing of normal table salt and no added nasties.
Thank you to the kind scribbleartie for nominating my blog for this award! Her blog is all about crafting trash into treasure and she does some lovely delicate and whimsical ink blot paintings too, have a look!
In accepting this award, I am tasked with listing 7 things about myself and nominating other bloggers whom I judge write with integrity and on a variety of topics.
So, the hard part, 7 things about myself:
After being vegetarian for 39 years and after a few attempts during that time, I became vegan a year ago.
I once worked at Woolworths, mostly on the cosmetics counter, but sliced my finger on the bacon slicer when standing in for someone else. (And people wonder why I’m vegan!)
I gained a First Class Honours Degree with The Open University in my early 40s. An amazing ‘University of the Air’ founded by the Labour Government of Harold Wilson in the 1960s.
My husband and I spent our first date looking for my contact lens!
I once saw Paul McCartney and Wings for 50p when they turned up unannounced at uni and asked if they could play their first songs. They played their single ‘Give Ireland Back to the Irish’ several times. It was banned by the BBC.
My dad’s first car was a black Morris Minor 1000. I have no idea how we got 2 adults, 4 kids and a dog in it!
Our first car was a green Morris Minor 1000 and our current car is also a green Morris Minor 1000 but not the same one, we had a blue one in-between!
Now to the blogs I recommend:
Pioneering the Simple Life is the most inspiring blog I’ve read. Posts and tips about living sustainably, about their experiences in Nepal and building an underground network of individuals to provide and transport vital supplies to villagers following the devastating earthquake there.
Organic Guinea Pig blogs about physical and mental health, providing recipes and lifestyle advice as well as having a Pet Therapy business working in schools, pyschiatric units, care homes and so on.
From Pyrenees to Pennines is a lovely gentle blog of posts and photos about the English countryside (and weather!), historic places to visit – including continental towns – as well as musings on geneaology and other everyday topics.
Itching for Hitching I have never been caravanning nor ever had a desire to do so, too claustrophobic for me, but this Australian blog makes me smile every time I read it.
Mandy’s Running Blog illustrates that life doesn’t have to start slowing down once you reach 50! Far from taking things easy, Mandy has become an ultra runner mainly up the hills of Vancouver, Canada!
Natural Juice Junkie Neil Martin writes a very informative but acessible blog on all things to do with health, nutrition, juicing, motivation, lifestyle coaching.
The Vegan Family blog recipes and beautiful photos from the woods in Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Our Green Nation is a group of individuals who pool their expertise to help empower us to make decisions on health and lifestyle with informative, factual posts on education, environment, food regulations, the role of Big Pharma and Agriculture, sustainable living, recipes etc., plus posts on mindfulness, thought for the day and so on. A great read. I learn something every day.
Cooking Without Limits has wonderfully simple vegan recipes, try her Raw Vegan Cheesecake all done in the blender.
That’s as many as I can manage. Apologies to other bloggers that I follow, I have tried to include blogs you may not already be aware of.
This is such a simple but potentially life-changing scheme initiated by pioneering the simple life: collect discarded/lost gardening gloves, pair them up and send to Nepal to help child rag pickers protect themselves from glass, excrement, chemicals, and infections. We should all get behind this: we’ll be searching the shed, the cupboard under the utility room sink and collecting from our neighbours and family – it may take some time, we are spread over the country, but eventually we’ll parcel them up and send them off. Great idea!
Update: 3 days later, we have the beginnings of a collection!
It all started on a bike ride. We kept seeing garden gloves along the side of the road. In fact, we had seen the gloves lying there for weeks and finally decided to pick them up. One by one, over the course of about 2 weeks, we had managed to collect 20 pairs!
We’re an island of avid gardeners, farmers, and a world-famous garden tour called “Bainbridge in Bloom.” Twelve months of gardening weather here on Puget Sound has afforded us 4 seasons of dirt digging. The problem is that the gardeners’ (or perhaps it’s the hired landscapers’) gloves too often end up along the sides of the roads, having fallen from the backs of landscaper’s trucks, farmers’ tractors, or islander’s cars. Being a food-grower myself, I couldn’t just let those gloves rot in the ditches.
My children and I have been collecting them: pulling to the side…
We all sit at home watching or reading the news about disasters such as last year’s earthquake in Nepal and, other than donating money to relief organisations, we think there’s nothing else to be done and move on to the next news item. With supplies being tied up in red tape, stolen or resold at exorbitant prices and eventually running out, these individuals looked at the bigger picture and via social media organised an underground relief network that really did make a difference to many villagers who might otherwise have perished. With so many disasters of one kind or another in the world, it can often be overwhelming if not paralysing. This article shows how it can be done and will hopefully stir others into action. Please read and repost.
It was less than a week after the April 25th, 2015 magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Nepal that we came to realize little-to-no relief had reached villages beyond Kathmandu. Roads were dangerous; But even worse, as time progressed, supplies for temporary shelter for the over 2 million now homeless had dried up. Tents and tarps were sold out in Kathmandu. Foreign governments and aid organizations were being shut down at the airport, their incoming supplies requisitioned by Nepal customs, and much-needed food, tents, tarps, blankets, and medical supplies were sitting on the runway, tied up in a confounding wad of red tape.
Our friends in Nepal were frantic, texting us asking for any means to get materials over to the remote villages. Aid organizations trucking supplies to villages were stopped along the roads by desperate, angry, and hungry people who lived right along the road who also had seen no relief. Supplies were…
This Shake features some of my favourite nutrient-packed fruit: Peruvian Golden Berries and Blueberries.
Golden Berries are regarded by some as one of the Superfoods, being nutritionally dense, and with their sweetly tart flavour they are delicious on their own as a snack, in your breakfast bowl or smoothie. (There is also a recipe for GoGo Berry Fudge on my Raw Treats Recipes page using both Golden and Goji Berries).
Also known as Physalis peruviana, Inca Berry and Cape Gooseberry, Golden Berries are comparatively high in antioxidants, fibre and iron – reportedly, they contain more iron than spinach – as well as protein and Vitamin A, whilst being lower in sugar than other berries.
They contain essential fatty acids that aid in insulin sensitivity and Dr Oz believes Golden Berries also aid in burning fat.*
So here is a recipe for a delicious and nutritious protein-rich thick shake using The Raw Chocolate Company* raw, organic Golden Berries (as I write they are still in the sale). A spoon will be required!
Golden Cacao Shake
(All ingredients are organic where possible, measurements as always approximate).
Ingredients
1 Small Ripe Banana
Handful Blueberries
2 Tbsps Raw Organic Golden Berries*
1 Tbsp Sunflower Seeds
2 Tbsps Gluten-Free Oats
Juice of 2 Apples
2 Tbsps Yogurt of your choice
2 Tbsps Raw Hemp Seeds*
1/2 Tbsp Raw Organic Cacao Powder*
Blend, Sip from a spoon, and be like the funky Jill Scott: Live Your Life Like It’s ‘Golden!’
As the irrespressible James Brown sang, ‘I Feel Good, I Knew That I would!’ (Click the link to see black & white footage of a very energetic performance and you’ll see what I mean).
So, here we are, the end of my Super Juice Challenge following Jason Vale’s SuperJuiceMe! Plan.
Results
I feel alert, energised, my digestion is calmed, I am calm, my aches and pains are calmed, no inclination to snack mindlessly, and I have lost 5lbs – but that was just an added bonus, I was not looking to lose weight.
Plus, despite having to cope with some quite stressful situations, I am the only one in the family not to have caught a cold or cough this month!
There were times when I really wanted to crunch an apple and occasionally I added some ground seeds to a juice, but the Plan allows for occasional SOS additions. Apart from my Bit of a Wobble, I found it easy to get into the routine of it and didn’t have any desire for junk, sweet or savoury treats.
The plan is devised so that every so often you have a sweet, fruity, almond milk smoothie that assuages any craving for something sweet or just different from a juice, and the juices provide all the essential nutrients your body needs.
So no cravings.
Many people ask, so what now?
Well, the first thing is to say what you don’t do: Don’t start planning your next visit to a fast food restaurant! Not that you will want to after any kind or length of juice cleanse. You will find that your tastebuds have been rewired. What you really look forward to is a colourful, crunchy salad or a big, juicy green apple!
Likewise, don’t be persuaded by those around you to go out for a celebratory meal/drink – you will regret it. Your body has just been given a oil change and tune-up and you don’t want to start putting the wrong fuel in!
It is important to ease yourself in gently to eating solid food or your digestion will suffer and you will lose some of the benefits you’ve striven to gain.
Continue having a couple or more juices a day for the first 2 or 3 days at least – I do this normally when I am not juice cleansing anyway – no coffee, alcohol, grains, pasta, meat, dairy.
Eat slowly and mindfully, chew thoroughly, sitting down at the table.
Try to keep eating fresh and raw as much as possible, as many colours as possible on your plate.
My First Post-Juicing Meal on a Plate: Mixed Rocket & Spinach Salad Leaves, Sugar Snap Peas, Mung Bean Sprouts, Carrot, Grapes, Broccoli, Cucumber with Tamari and Olive Oil Dressing
7. If you eat fish, you can then introduce fresh salmon (high in omega oils) or steamed or baked other fish. Light Soups or Baked Sweet Potatoes. Steamed Veg. Stir-Fries
8. Keep grains to every other day to begin with to allow your digestion to get back into the swing of things and to help identify any problem foods.
9. Take note of anything that makes you feel yuck. Anything that makes you feel tired, uncomfortable, bloated, have heartburn or indigestion and cut it out for a while. Try again another time and if the same thing happens, probably avoid.
10. There are several follow-on plans you can use if you need ideas and support: Jason Vale has his 5:2 plan, the Soup’n’Juice Plan and his new Super Fast Food App that has over 100 recipes and the facility to devise your own 7 Day Meal Plan with shopping list provided. See his website for details.*
Here we are, the penultimate day of my Super Juice Fortnight and I don’t want it to end! I am loving the Sweet ‘n’ Smooth Veggie Blend for breakfast (see Jason Vale’s Super Juice Me! Plan*), despite the ever-present parsnip in the list of ingredients – and of course it was very swiftly replaced by a sweet potato!
I am so full of energy and have been very productive, writing new blog posts and recipes, editing old ones, making cards and participating in a Blogging 101 course.
None of the usual January slump.
My brain is firing on all cylinders, I’ve made decisions I’ve been putting off for ages, I am bursting with ideas for writing – my body can’t keep up!
Many people find January a difficult month to do a juice cleanse due to the drop in temperatures, others find it an ideal time after all the Christmas over-indulgence, when they are full of New Year resolve.
Spring isn’t too far away – I have crocuses out already in the third week of January and daffodil buds that have been bursting to open for a couple of weeks now – so if you didn’t manage to join in the January Juicing, but have seen the stunning results achieved by others who have:
Why not plan to do it in February or March?
Here are some tips on how to begin:
Begin by reducing your intake of processed foods, sugar, coffee and alcohol while adding fresh veg and fruit. This will reduce any withdrawal symptoms you might experience in your first few days of a juice cleanse.
At the same time as you are preparing yourself physically, prepare yourself mentally by reading a book or watching a film about juicing and how to go about it.*
Make sure you use a nutritionally-balanced plan.
Buy the best juicer and blender you can afford. Seek the advice of regular juicers, read my reviews and those of other bloggers/consumer sites. If you’re reluctant to splash out until you’ve given it a try, you can often find secondhand juicers at car boot sales and on eBay.
Introduce one juice a day to get into the habit and get used to the preparation, timing and consuming of it.
Find a good local source of organic fruit and veg if possible
There will always be people around you who are sceptical, arm yourself with the knowledge you need to commit to your goal, don’t try to engage them, let them see your results.
If possible, recruit some like-minded friends, or find support online, there are Facebook juicing groups and lots of juicers on Twitter who will provide support and advice.
See your doctor before embarking on a cleanse, have your BP, cholesterol, blood sugar and so on tested, then again later on.
Don’t just weigh yourself, take your measurements too. It is usually these that are the most startling if you need to drop a size or two.
You don’t need to juice just to lose weight. Do it for your health!
You will be so pleased with the improved condition of your skin and your hair, your eyes will shine again, you will have more energy, feel more alert. Many people experience improvements in aches and pains and chronic conditions, including Type 2 diabetes, as well as more balanced hormones and a resetting of your taste buds!
You will discover which foods irritate your digestive system, produce mucous, make you feel tired and which make you feel more alive.
You will be flooding your system with all the nutrients it needs and it will thank you for it!
NB You don’t need to do a cleanse to beenfit from juicing, just adding one green juice a day will make a difference to your health and sense of well-being.
I have one more day of my Super Juicing and I am so looking forward to the shakes for tonight and tomorrow night’s meal – they both have home-made almond milk in them (see Nut Milks, Shakes and Smoothie Recipes). Yum!
You can watch Super Juice Me! The Documentary free on YouTube here:
*Joe Cross’s website also has juicing plans and resources while his film Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead is another inspirational tool when considering juicing.
This morning, my husband is as happy as Larry. His old friend is back and he is beaming from ear to ear. After a difficult 6 months during which his friend has been away having some extensive work done, the smile is back on his face and he is looking forward to having new adventures together now the old dear is looking and moving like new. The old friend? His Morris Minor, of course!
1963 Morris Minor 1000
It is his pride and joy. It is just back from the workshop and after spending a long time taking photos from every angle, he went off to sweep the garage before putting it to bed! My daughter remarked, ‘He’ll be wanting a blanket for it next!’ They have spent many hours together, stopped by the side of the road changing spark plugs or coils, come pouring rain, blizzards or sun.
For my husband, having the Morris Minor back has relieved a little of the stress of not being able to get back on his bike while recovering from an accident.
Finding what lights up your happiness gene is so important to your health. We all need something that is ours, that we schedule time for, that we can lose ourself in and that just for a while helps us distance ourselves from the the stresses of work and family problems, from the pain of illness or disability, from the worries of the world in general.
For me, it’s making cards or colouring whilst listening to music or an audiobook, or even just watching the birds in the garden on a sunny or snowy day.
My son loves going cycling for miles, in any weather, testing himself on the steepest of hills, he also loves creating a mess in the kitchen 😉, while my daughter loses herself in large sewing and knitting projects or walking the hills with her labrador pup.
What is your passion? What lifts your spirit, re-energises you or helps you regain perspective when it all gets a bit too much?
A long time ago, in the dark depths of serious health problems, I didn’t know how to lift myself from the mental mire of trying to cope with it all without any outlet.
Two things happened.
A little girl came into our lives and I discovered ‘Simple Abundance’ by Sarah Ban Breathnach, a book that is now dog-eared from over-use.
The little girl had 2 loves in her life, Barbie and The Spice Girls (‘but not Victoria!’). So we created a scrapbook of pictures that we cut out and glued of everything to do with these topics: photos, clothes, shoes, concerts, anything. I loved it. Those moments were precious. I still have the scrapbook.
It had been so long since I had done anything remotely creative or crafty.
My son and daughter were the artists in the family, and although I had spent a lot of time with them on various art or craft projects when young, I never felt able to do so once they reached teenage years a) because I was rubbish by comparison b) I didn’t want it to look like I was trying to compete or detract from their efforts. I would spend a lot of time selecting and buying art materials for them, wishing I could buy some for myself, but not believing I had the right or the ability.
Then I read ‘Simple Abundance.’ (Don’t let the subtitle put you off). Among the many encouragements and suggestions for women to express themselves creatively – to go on ‘creative excursions’ – was starting an Illustrated Discovery Journal.
The idea is to buy an artist’s sketch book with a hard cover in a design that appealed and collect images, samples, articles, poems, travel pictures, anything that resonates with you, and gradually it would build up into something that would show you where your interests lie, what makes you happy, what makes your heart sing, and show you the direction you would like to take in terms of hobbies or career.
These two events showed me how much I liked using scissors and glue, colour and card. Coincidentally, this little girl gave me a large box of assorted pens – gel pens, metallic pens – for my birthday. I realised there was no reason on this earth why I shouldn’t or couldn’t begin using them.
I didn’t have to create a masterpiece. I didn’t have to do fine art. I could just mess about and see what happened. I could just do it for it’s own sake.
And so I did.
Now all my family and close friends receive hand-made cards at Christmas and birthdays whenever possible.
They are very kind in their comments. I know my efforts are very hit and miss, but people seem to like that I took the time and created a one-off card especially for them.
There are lots of adult colouring books around now. They are often described as Mindfulness colouring books. They help you focus on something creative that you can lose yourself in, that relaxes your brain and eases tensions in your body.
Psychotherapists don’t usually like them being described as therapy, since the patterns and pictures are already formed – although some do have partial drawings that allow you to complete them as you wish – but they do allow that they can be therapeutic, which is different.
Or perhaps getting your hands dirty is more your thing, stripping down bikes or engines, or whittling bits of wood from fallen trees. My neighbour is keen on wood-turning.
Fortunately for me, my daughter-in-law likes tinkering around with blogs and websites!
But you don’t even actually have to do anything. You can simply meditate. Observe. My son-in-law, for example, loves observing clouds and weather patterns.
This time of year when there isn’t a lot of warmth or sun is an excellent time to discover the happiness inside you. Give it a go and see what you like, what makes you feel proud, what lights a spark. Try singing, it doesn’t have to be anything formal. Or pick up that book you’ve always meant to read.
No-one else needs to know what you’re doing until you feel ready. But never feel you don’t deserve to try, or to spend time on yourself. Everyone needs to replenish their caring tanks, relax the overworked parts of their brain, stretch out the kinks in their muscles or just enjoy the feeling of complete abandon, of laughing out loud.
After all, if all of you is used up on everything and everyone else, there will be nothing left. And you deserve to be cared for, too.
One of the many interesting aspects of doing a juice cleanse is that it can often confirm or uncover food sensitivities and intolerances. This occurs either during a cleanse or when you begin gradually introducing solid food again. It is easier to identify the offending foods.
As I indicated in my first Super Juicing post, I knew I was sensitive to pineapple. Following Day 1’s juices, and the severe effects it had on my mouth and stomach, I cut back drastically on the pineapple, just having a thin slice when called for but only once on the relevant days: if 2 juices required pineapple, one was replaced with apple.
I also stopped having lime – the addition seemed to compound the effects of the pineapple – and have been replacing them with kiwi or lemon.
Then came Day 5’s morning juice with pineapple and the afternoon juice with the tomatoes, which I hadn’t had for over 6 months. I had a really bad time next day. (See Bit of a Wobble). I put it all down to the tomatoes and skipping a juice.
However, after 3 days of juices without any pineapple, Day 1’s first juice came around again this morning and despite only including a small slice of it, I felt the effects straightaway. Not as severely as that first time, but I could feel a slight tenderness of my tongue and inflammation in my stomach.
And so, I have to accept that these items do not suit me and I have decided to let them go. Tomatoes I don’t mind too much, but I love pineapple and so many juices contain it.
This Super Juicing fortnight has clearly confirmed that it is bad for me.
Years of painkillers, muscle-relaxants, and Non-steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs led to moderate gastritis which is extremely painful and takes a long time to settle down again once reactivated. Having stopped the medication, the gastritis is under control if I stay clear of trigger foods.
Ihave to accept that pineapple sets it off and I have been in denial because I love it so much.
Ican’t hide from it any longer, and I have decided that’s it from now on.
Fortunately, the second juice today contains fennel and hopefully this will help calm my stomach down again.
Here we are, Day 8, back on track after my weekend wobble, feeling good and very proud of myself for getting through it and sticking to my goal of 14 days’ juice only.
So what’s my ‘reward’ for making it through Saturday’s struggle?
Parsnip!
Except, not. As you can see from the photo, the offending parsnip is noticably absent from the prep board and replaced with a sweet potato. I have tried at least half a dozen times to have parsnip juice, but for me it never gets any better and I have decided to just give in and adapt accordingly. It is my one weakness and I think I’ve done well.
The juice turned out really tasty – sweet potato is one of my favourite vegetables to juice, skin on when organic – as was this morning’s Oxygen Elixir:
Another lovely beetroot and avocado blend
Quiet day today, no disasters, no wobbles. Just lots of honest to goodness juicy veg and feeling fantastic!
How to cook "with visual instructions" "using familiar ingredients from your local grocery stores" healthy, traditional and delicious Japanese dishes!!
© Anup Gurung 
pearsnotparsnipsdotcom 
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