Mean, Green, Cold-Fighting Machine

It has been raining since 8:30 this morning here in Bellingham...

That, on top of what I'm starting to believe is more cold than allergies inspired this green concoction that I plan on nomming on for the next few days. The flavors in this soup were inspired by my uncle. He's been instructed to go on a low-sodium diet, so I didn't add any salt to this soup - just BIG flavors like basil, oregano, rosemary, garlic, onion, and paprika. YUM! I don't miss the salt one bit.

Sodium is hidden in many processed foods - even ones that don't taste salty. Pay attention to the nutrition facts labels on your packaged foods, or better yet don't eat them!  "If it doesn't look like something pulled out of the ground or off a plant, you probably shouldn't be eating it" has become something of a personal mantra.

The overwhelming greenness of this soup was definitely by accident... you could use whatever veg you've got in the fridge.

 

What I used:

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 2 Tsp rosemary leaves, chopped
• 2 Tsp dried basil
• 2 Tsp oregano
• 1 Tsp paprika
• 2 Tsp black pepper
• 1/2 day-old avocado, smashed
• ~1.5c leftover blanched asparagus (my friend and I made sushi yesterday)
• 1 head broccoli, cut into bite-sized florettes
• 4c low-sodium vegetable broth + 4c water (or more veggie broth if you're not on a college budget)
• 1 can kidney beans (~2c), rinsed
• 1c green lentils, rinsed
• 2c raw spinach (kale would have been good, too!)

Building the Machine:

1.  Heat olive oil in large soup pot over medium heat.
2. Add garlic, onion, and basil, oregano, paprika, pepper, and rosemary, cook until onions are translucent.
3.  Smoosh in the avocado and add the broccoli and asparagus.
4. Add vegetable broth and water and return to a boil.
5. Add kidney beans, lentils and spinach. 
6. Cook on med-low heat until lentils are cooked through (~30min) or longer. I was Skyping with a friend in Minnesota so my soup simmered for over an hour.

What's in all that green stuff, anyway?

Asparagus is a great source of vitamins A, B6, and C, as well as calcium, zinc, magnesium, and fiber. Spinach is another source of vitamin A and K, the B vitamins, fiber, and iron. Avocado provides potassium, vitamins C and K, and folate. Broccoli is a rockstar: a good source of Protein, Thiamin, Pantothenic Acid, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Potassium and Manganese. Lentils are a great source of fiber and protein, as well as iron, phosphorous, and copper. 

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/legumes-and-legume-products/4338/2

Photo from http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2007/09/on-asparagus-and-spring/

Very Verde Purple Power Pasta

I LOVE SUMMER!! There are SO many vegetables that are locally grown in my Fred Meyer right now. I went on a bit of a veggie shopping spree tonight. Yum :) I was, however, too excited about all the local produce to actually PLAN what I was going to make with all of it. So yet again, I present to you a completely experimental pasta dish featuring the green and purple veggies I picked out.

I picked up some kale at a local farm this weekend. Kale is like spinach on roids - full of beta carotene (one of those phytochemicals), vitamins A, C, and K, lutein and calcium. It's a cousin to broccoli and collard greens, and contains the compound indole-3-carbinol which helps DNA to repair itself and may thereby inhibit the growth of cancer cells.

I don't know that I'd ever eat it raw in a salad. It's a pretty thick leaf. However, I've put it in soups and pasta sauces before, and it's delicious. I've also heard of people making it into chips. Hmmm... sounds like something I'll have to try.

Here's the recipe:

1. In a large pot, saute' 2 cloves minced garlic with 3 TBS olive oil on medium heat.
2. Cut one eggplant into bite-ish sized pieces and add to pot. Cook the eggplant in oil until it turns a darker color and appears soggy.
3. Add one can of no salt-added tomato sauce and 1c water. I like the no salt added sauce because then I can add other seasonings and my pasta tastes more like the ingredients and less like a salt block you'd give a hamster.
4. Add 2tsp salt, 3tsp pepper, 2tsp rosemary, and a few dashes of some mysterious paprika that appeared in our cabinet that belongs to neither my roomie or I. Awesome.
5. Wash and drain 4-5 large leaves of kale. I use kitchen scissors to cut the leave in half lengthwise and then into bite-size pieces. These along with 4c spinach leaves are added to the pot. It seems like A LOT of green leafies, but they cook down really quickly. I also threw in about a cup of chopped red cabbage I had left over from the Husky quinoa.
6. Add a lid to the pot, and in 3-4 minutes the kale and spinach will cook down into the tomato sauce.
7. Add 2c kidney beans (I had a can and a half I needed to use). Here's the protein part of the dish. Remember how combining legumes with a grain makes a complete protein? Here I'm combining kidney beans (the legume) with the grain (whole wheat pasta).
8. Let the green & purple tomato mixture simmer, and bring another pot of water to a boil. Cook and drain 4 servings (2 cups cooked...) of whole wheat pasta per the directions on the box.
9. Put the tomato sauce on the pasta and NOM NOM NOM!

I've been interning at a nutrition and diabetes clinic this summer. The RDs there teach clients to only choose 3-4 servings (1 servings = 15g carbohydrate) per meal, and 1 serving per snack. One serving of pasta is 1/3 c cooked... that fits in the palm of my hand. I challenged myself to make this dish both veggie and diabetic-friendly, and I think I succeeded. 1/2 cup cooked pasta is about a serving and a half, and the kidney beans also count as a serving of carbohydrate (CHO). I didn't really miss the pasta (let's be honest, most of us eat more than 1/2 c pasta at a time) because of all the veggies. I think I'll add some scrambled egg to the leftovers to add more protein.