Flowfit

Everyone knows chicken soup soothes the soul, but it also soothes what ails you.  Well, thanks to Alicia Silverstone, I’ve discovered that you don’t need chicken fat to create an equally delicious, nutritious and literally healing soup.  This soup was inspired by Alicia’s “Magical Healing Soup” from her book, The Kind Diet.  For me, this soup is never the same thing twice – if I have broccoli I add that, bok choy – awesome!  Just take a look and add whatever veggies you have on hand, keeping some colours in mind as you go.  Remember, each wonderful colour of vegetable has a different variety of minerals and nutrients!

Healing Soup:

• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 3 potatoes, chopped (I like to leave the peels on for extra texture)
• 1 1/2 cups chopped cauliflower
• 1 cup chopped cabbage
• 3 cups baby spinach
• 2 cartons vegetable broth (or 6-8 cups broth of choice)
• 1 good sized piece of ginger (about 1 inch by 2 inches, cut into 3 pieces)
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1 bunch parsley
• 1 clove garlic
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Heat oils in heavy bottomed soup pot.  Add onions, celery and carrots and saute on medium heat for approximately 5 minutes.  Add garlic and saute for 1 minute.  Add remainder of vegetables (except spinach) and enough broth to completely cover vegetables.  Stir and bring to boil.  Reduce heat to medium low, add parsley, cilantro and ginger.  Simmer uncovered for 30 – 45 minutes.  I like my vegetables to still have a good firmness to them, but if you prefer them softer, cook a little longer.

Remove from heat, toss in spinach and lemon juice, stir, cover and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Time to go fishing!!

Remove parsley and cilantro with tongs.  Fish out ginger – biting into that wouldn’t be too nice.

Serve up steaming hot.  It’ll do ya good.

And it’ll also cure a hangover ;o)  Honest…

YUM!

I’ve been making this mussel recipe for years.  It was originally given to me by my sister who said she had them at a restaurant.  They were so fantastic, she had asked the chef for the recipe.  It still exists on the same crumpled napkin – a simple list of ingredients without amounts.  Grab a loaf of whole grain crusty bread and get ready for a heavenly sauce.

Dig in!

Mussels a la Lisa
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 shallots finely minced
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced or pressed
• 3 stalks celery (I prefer the hearts), diced
• 1 fennel bulb, sliced into strips (save fronds for garnish)
• 1 cup white wine (choose a dry chardonnay)
• 8-10 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 10 fennel seeds
• Handful of chopped basil leaves
• 1tbsp curry powder or 2tbsp curry paste
• Fresh cracked pepper and sea salt to taste

removing beard

To clean mussels… run under cold water and inspect for cracks, breaks and dead ones.  Discard any with a broken shell.  If the mussel will not close, gently tap it on the side of the sink and watch.  It should close.  Discard any that do not close tightly.  Some of the mussels will also have a “beard”.  Remove this by gently sliding up and down while pulling.

In a large sauté pan, pot or wok, heat Olive oil.  Add curry powder and fennel seeds.  Cook, stirring constantly until super fragrant (approximately 1 minute).  Add shallots, garlic, celery and fennel.  Continue to cook on medium for another 2 minutes.  Add wine, cook on high heat for 4 minutes.  Add mussels, basil and tomatoes, cover and cook 5-7 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes or so to ensure the ones on the bottom get moved to the top for even cooking.  Cook until all mussels are open.

Discard any that did not open during cooking.

To serve, sprinkle with fennel fronds and a handful of torn basil leaves.

YUM!

TIPS – Offer a large empty bowl on the table to discard empty shells.