Quick and easy to prep Lentil Soup #GardenCuizine #nutritious #recipe

Lentil Soup

low sodium, high fiber 

low carb, low fat

Yields 3 quarts
Ingredients
2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 celery sticks
3 carrots
1 medium onion
1 Tablespoon Bryani Paste*
2 teaspoons dried thyme
3 small tomatoes (or one small can diced tomatoes with liquid)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
10 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cup whole lentils, rinsed 
1 teaspoon mild hot sauce
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Putting it all together
Wash and chop celery, carrots, onion and tomatoes. Set aside. Heat olive oil in a soup stock pot. Add chopped celery, carrots and onion; stir. Simmer the aromatics letting them cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally for at least 10 minutes. Stir in the Bryani Paste and thyme. Stir in chopped tomatoes and garlic powder. Stir in water. Add lentils and bay leaves. Cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are soft. 

When the soup is finished cooking: remove the bay leaves. Stir in cheese and hot sauce. Puree some, not all, of the soup. Serve or store in quart containers - label, refrigerate or freeze.

• Serve with extra hot sauce and grated cheese (rather than salt) and a 1/2 sandwich, whole grain crackers or crusty bread
• Experiment with soup variations adding: potatoes, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, turmeric, Asofoetida, ginger, coriander or fresh garlic minced vs powder

Enjoy!
*Bryani is a paste blend of curry, ginger and tasty spices. Ask for it at your supermarket.

Excellent Source: Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A and Folate
Good Source: Vitamin C and Thiamin
If you're counting carbohydrates: Only 9g net carbs

GardenCuizine Nutrition Data Homemade Lentil Soup: 1 cup (281g): 122 calories; total fat 4g; saturated fat 1g; trans fat 0; cholesterol 2mg (1% DV); Sodium 137mg (6% DV); total carbohydrate 16g; dietary Fiber 7g (29% DV); protein 6.5g; Vitamin A 2806 IU (~56% DV); Vitamin C 6mg (~10% DV); Thiamin 0.2mg (~13% DV); Folate 108mcg (27% DV) plus other nutrients...

Related Links
Cooking Up Legumes Guide  
Recipe and photo Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Homemade Yellow Split Pea Soup #healthy #comfortfood #cooking #GardenCuizine

Homemade

Yellow Split Pea Soup

We warmed up today with homemade soup for lunch that provided nourishment and comfort all in one. I actually made the soup last week when I came across a partially used bag of yellow split peas in our pantry and decided to use it up in soup. 

Split peas are an excellent source of dietary fiber and are a good source of protein. The soup tasted great topped with garlic-herb croutons that I made using leftover white bread ends from when we volunteered at St. Paul's Church pancake breakfast in Camden, NJ.

Recipe Yields 3 quarts and can be frozen

Ingredients
8 cups water
2 cups yellow split peas
3 apples, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons (tblsp) yeast flakes*
1 tblsp Biryani curry paste*
1/2 teaspoon (tsp) salt


Putting it all together
In large stock pot, saute onion, celery and carrots until onion appears translucent. Stir in Bryani paste and minced garlic. In a hand held colander, rinse the split peas and remove any pieces that don't look right. Add peas and water to the sauteed veggies. Add bay leaves and apples. Simmer covered until peas are completely cooked and soft. Stir in salt and yeast flakes. Remove the 2 bay leaves. Puree using a hand held mixer.

Serve warm topped with garlic-herb croutons

Enjoy!

* Biryani Curry Paste adds a blend of flavors: coriander, cumin, garlic, ginger, salt, red chili, tamarind, pepper, clove, cardamom, cinnamon and other spices. Yeast flakes are a vitamin fortified food product that adds flavor. I used it on the croutons too. 

GardenCuizine Nutrition facts coming soon...

Thyme for Chicken Zoodle Soup #GardenCuizine #lowcarb #recipe #EatWellAmerica

Thyme for Chicken Zoodle Soup!

Low Carb ~ Low Fat ~ Reduced Sodium 

Ingredients 
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion - diced
2 celery - diced
2 carrots - diced
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
9 cups no salt chicken broth (the best way to get nutrient-rich, NO SALT broth is to make homemade!)
2 1/2 cups roasted chicken pieces (bite size) 
1 teaspoon salt
2 Zucchini - spiral cut (Veggetti kitchen gadget works great)
3 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese 
2 Tablespoons fresh parsley - chopped

Putting it all together

• In a large stockpot over medium heat add olive oil. When hot: saute diced onion, carrots and celery until onion starts to become transparent. 
• Stir in garlic, thyme and cayenne. 
• Add broth and simmer until flavors blend. 
• Stir in cooked chicken and salt simmer another 15 minutes. 
• Using culinary shears or a knife, cut into the spiral cut zucchini noodles pile a few times to shorten the spaghetti-like strands. Add zucchini noodles, Parmesan cheese and parsley. Zucchini noodles cook fast so they are best added near the end.
• Serve with additional grated cheese at the table. Enjoy!

This GardenCuizine recipe was created just in time for American Diabetes Month®, which takes place every November. National Diabetes Month is a good time to come together as a community to Stop Diabetes®! 

Yesterday's Diabetic Cooking class at Inspira Health Network featured this recipe. Both adults and children had fun taking turns using the Veggetti spiralizer kitchen gadget.

Comfort food - Nutritious and Delicious
Homemade Chicken Zoodle Soup provides you and your family with double the Vitamin A and Vitamin C found in canned soups such as: Healthy Choice Chicken Noodle, Progresso Heart Healthy roasted Chicken Noodle or Campbell's 25% less sodium Chicken Noodle. 

Heart Healthy
Cooking your own soup gives you control of the salt content, making it a better choice for heart health. This recipe has low sodium of 235 mg per cup, versus 910 mg high sodium in Nissin Chicken Flavor Ramen noodles or 470 mg in Progresso's heart healthy Chicken Noodle Soup. 

Using zucchini in place of pasta or rice also makes homemade Chicken Zoodle Soup lower in carbohydrates, which benefits those keeping count for a healthy body weight and diabetes control.

Happy and Healthy Cooking! 

a few of the recent statistics on diabetes:

• Nearly 30 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes.
• Another 86 million Americans have prediabetes and are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
• The American Diabetes Association estimates that the total national cost of diagnosed diabetes in the United States is $245 billion.

American Diabetes Month takes place each November and is a time to come together as a community to Stop Diabetes®!
- See more at: http://www.diabetes.org/in-my-community/american-diabetes-month.html#sthash.z5qQ4cKn.dpuf

Recipe, photos, blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved. Stop Diabetes is a registered trademark of the American Diabetes Association.

Diabetic Cooking #GardenCuizine healthy soup #lowcarb #recipe

Diabetic Cooking

Diabetics can eat anything, but individuals must focus on limiting excess carbohydrates. This is something all Americans should pay closer attention too because carbohydrate control helps people all ages maintain a healthy body weight. Chicken and Rice or Chicken Noodle soup contain carbohydrates (noodles or rice) that can be replaced with spiral cuts of zucchini (zoodles). Who says you can't play with your food?

One 15 oz can of Healthy Choice Chicken Noodle Soup contains 24g carbohydrates and 780 mg sodium. Homemade Chicken Zoodle Soup saves you both carbs and excess sodium. Homemade soup has better nutrition and best of all contains no additives.

My healthy soup recipe will be posted following Inspira Health Networks upcoming Diabetic Cooking Class, which is scheduled November 5, 2015 at The Fitness Connection, Vineland, NJ. 

Related Links
Thyme for Chicken Zoodle Soup Recipe
Photo and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Homemade salt-free, low fat, Chicken Broth #GardenCuizine #recipe

Homemade Chicken Broth
No Salt - Low Fat

Homemade chicken broth is not only inexpensive, it is super easy to prepare. Make it when you know you will be home for at least a few hours. Simply put all the ingredients in a stock pot, cover, simmer and walk away. The wonderful aroma will warm up your home and lure people into the kitchen to see what's cooking. Nothing you can buy has the richness and nutritional quality of homemade chicken broth.

Like many foods that once were a staple in home cooking, chicken broth has gone by the wayside of convenience. You'll find many low-priced brands of ready-made chicken broth. Keep in mind that you get what you pay for. Those broths are made for profit. 

Most store-bought broths are low in nutrients and made with dextrose and high sodium. Swanson's has over 850 mg of sodium in just one cup. Even low sodium, ready-made chicken broths are produced with added chemicals (necessary to maintain particular pH) that don't have to be listed on the food label.

Making Your Own Chicken Broth
There are a few methods to make chicken broth. One way is to boil a chicken until cooked, skim any scum that floats to the top, then remove the cooked meat for chicken salad or other recipes. Return the bones back to the stock pot to make chicken broth. That method leaves excess fat in the soup, which can later be removed after the stock is chilled and the fat firms up and floats to the top. 

Another method (shown below) is to roast the chicken first, remove the meat and use the carcass with a little meat left on the bones. 

Chicken bones added to a stockpot of water along with aromatic veggies (carrots, celery, onion), herbs and spices will yield a large pot of high quality chicken broth in just a few hours. The broth can be used immediately to make homemade soup or frozen for later use.

Yields: 4 Quarts Homemade Chicken Broth

Ingredients
16-18 cups Water
1 roast chicken carcass with some meat left on the bones
2 carrots 
2 celery sticks
1 large onion
5 whole peppercorns
3 bay leaves
few sprigs fresh parsley

Putting it all together
In a large stock pot add the water and chicken bones. Quarter the onion (can leave skin on) and chop the veggies into thirds. Add veggies to the stock pot along with remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer for 2 hours. Cover, leaving a little bit of the lid open to allow some reduction. Periodically stir, then strain into another large pot. Use as needed or pour into storage containers, label and freeze.

Related Links
Grow your own Bay Leaf tree
Stock, Broth and Bone Broth, What is the difference?

Photo and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Better Butternut Squash Soup #wintersquash #GardenCuizine #JerseyFresh

Better Butternut Squash Soup

I've been recently testing and tasting recipes for our first outpatient dietitian hospital cooking class at Inspira Health Network. The class - "Soup's On" - featured nutritious butternut squash soup. My recipe uses soy milk so that anyone who is lactose intolerant can enjoy it too. Heavy, calorie-laden cream is not needed to make delicious cream soups.

A quick Google search will reveal a variety of ways to make butternut squash soup. I posted a recipe years ago using cinnamon and vanilla soy milk. Back then, I may have used "vanilla" soy milk because that was all we had in the house at the time. This version tasted even better with added curry, fresh ginger root and plain, versus vanilla, soy milk.

And, for those who tell me that they can't afford to eat healthy: the soup cost only about 58 cents per cup - more evidence that you can Cook Healthy on a Budget!

Yields 3 quarts - note: freezes well

Ingredients
one 2 to 3 pound butternut squash OR 2 bags (16 oz. chopped frozen butternut squash)
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1/8 teaspoon (tsp.) minced dried hot peppers from your garden (or hot pepper flakes)
1 tablespoon no salt butter (or vegetable oil)
1 tsp. fresh grated ginger root (or one cube of frozen ginger*)
1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. salt
pinch fresh grated black pepper
2 cups low fat chicken broth (or water)
1 quart plain soy milk (or 2% milk)

 

Putting it all together
Step 1
Decide how you want to cook the squash. 
Wash hands. 
If roasting squash: Preheat oven to 350 deg. F.
Wash vegetables
Prep onions, celery and carrots: peel and chop - set aside.

Step 2

• Prep squash: cut ends off both sides. 
• If sauteing directly in the soup pot: cut in half across the middle and peel skin; cut each piece lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Cut into cubes. OR for convenience use precut, frozen butternut squash.
• If baking: Cut in half across the middle; cut again so there are 4 pieces. Rub olive oil on cut sides of squash. Place squash cut side down on foil-lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 deg. F. until soft (about 30 minutes); remove from oven - scoop out seeds. Return to oven and continue baking until squash is full cooked and the edges show caramelizing and a little browning.

Step 3

• In stockpot saute chopped veggies in 1 T butter or oil for 10 minutes
• Stir in hot pepper flakes
• Stir in remaining seasonings
• Add 2 cups broth OR water and bay leaf. Cover, simmer and cook until veggies are soft

Step 4

• Remove bay leaf
• Stir in milk
• Puree in blender or with hand-held immersion blender
• Taste and adjust seasonings as needed

Enjoy with a few homemade whole grain herb pita chips

Buon Appetito! 

GardenCuizine Nutrition Data Butternut Squash Soup: 1 cup soup
Excellent Source: Vitamin A, Vitamin C
Good Source: Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Riboflavin, Folate, B12, Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium

Calories: 111; total fat: 3g; Sodium 246mg (10%DV); total Carbohydrate: 20g; dietary Fiber: 1g (4%DV); Sugars 6g; Protein 4g; Vitamin A 17250IU (345%DV wow!); Vitamin C 22.6mg (38%DV); Vitamin D: ~39.7IU (~10%DV); Vitamin E ~2mg (~10%DV); Riboflavin 0.2mg (13%DV); Folate 32mcg (11%DV); B12 1mcg (17%DV); Calcium 170mg (17%DV); Magnesium 57mg (14%DV); Potassium 593mg (17%DV)
 *thanks D.A. for introducing me to frozen ginger cubes! Ask for frozen ginger at your local supermarket.
Photos and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

End of harvet tomato Recipe: Heirloom Cream of Tomato Soup #GardenCuizine

 ~Low Sodium~

Heirloom 

Cream of Tomato Soup

This time of year tomatoes spoil quick and can end up in the refrigerator or worse yet, in the compost heap. Soup is a quick and easy way to cook up and use your own, or locally grown, tomatoes when the harvest just keeps on coming!

We've had so many heirloom Jersey tomatoes this year and have eaten tomatoes in every imaginable way including our 'ol standbys of canning salsa and pasta sauce. I decided to make a batch of Cream of Tomato soup to freeze for us to enjoy later in cooler weather. I used evaporated milk versus heavy cream to add flavor and nutrition without the excess calories and saturated fat. 

Cooking tips: Amazing and true - No need to add salt! There is so much flavor in heirloom tomatoes, plus using a little hot pepper and the natural sodium in the added milk and onion really makes the soup delicious without adding any salt. Of course you can add salt as desired. I didn't add any.

No need to remove the tomato skins. The skins will be removed when the soup is strained after cooking. So you could use up extra cherry tomatoes easily as well. 

Also, adding carrots and using yellow heirloom tomatoes will make the soup orange in color. To deepen color shade to more red - simply stir in a little tomato paste. I left ours orange. 

Yields: 2720g or about 12, 8-ounce servings 
Ingredients
10 cups chopped heirloom tomatoes (they don't have to be heirlooms; we just happen to grow mostly heirloom)
2 1/2 - 3 cups chopped onion (1 large onion)
3 cups chopped carrots (or 2 cups chopped carrots and 1 cup chopped celery. We didn't use celery because we didn't have any at the time.)
1/2 hot pepper (we used Scotch Bonnet)
2 Tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried thyme
3 dried bay leaves
fresh ground black pepper
2, 12-ounce cans evaporated milk
Tomato paste - optional

Putting it all together

• Wash and chop all veggies. 
• In a large soup stock pot over medium high heat, add olive oil and saute carrots and onions until soft. 
• Stir in garlic, hot pepper and herbs. 
• Add a few twists of fresh ground black pepper. 
• Stir in tomatoes, bring to simmer. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until soft.
• Stir in milk towards end of cooking time. Simmer to blend flavors.
• Remove bay leaves.
• Puree (we use a hand held blender). Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
• Strain into storage containers leaving head space if freezing.

Buon Appetito!

GardenCuizine Nutrition Data Cream of Tomato Soup
Excellent Source: Vitamin A, Vitamin C 
Good Source: Protein, Calcium, Manganese, Folate, Riboflavin

8 ounce serving: 113 calories; protein: 5.8g (12% DV); total fat: 5g; sodium: 117mg (4.8% DV); dietary fiber: 2g; total carbohydrates: 14g; protein: 5.8g (12% DV); vitamin A: 2,402 IU (48% DV); vitamin C: 30.3mg (51% DV); calcium 165mg (16% DV); iron (5% DV); manganese 0.2mg (10% DV); folate 50.4mcg (13% DV); riboflavin 0.2mg (14% DV); phytosterols: ~10.4mg
Recipe and blog post Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved. 

Warm up with homemade Broccoli Soup #GardenCuizine

Broccoli Soup

Afraid to make your own from scratch soup? If you're planning on using an instant broccoli soup packet mix, may I make a suggestion? To prevent sodium overload, only use 3 tablespoons rather than the entire packet as the directions often call for. Don't worry, your broccoli soup will still taste delicious! Broccoli soup is a nutritious beginners soup that can be easily made without using soup mix. 
 
Ingredients
2-3 cups chopped Broccoli: reserve 5-7 small florets
4 cups low fat milk
1 potato, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon butter (optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup onion, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
pinch thyme (dried or fresh)

• 1/2 cup low fat shredded cheddar cheese and sea salt to taste
• OR 3 tablespoons* instant broccoli cheddar cheese soup mix

*Note: often times instant soup packets call for using the entire packet which would be far too much sodium per serving (often greater than 1,200 mg sodium) and not necessary. Do not use the entire soup mix packet! Instead, try using just 3 tablespoons to provide plenty of flavor. Taste and see for yourself. You can always add more. 

You decide if you want to add soup mix or not. Instant soup mixes often contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils such as palm kernel and cottonseed oils, as well as flavor enhancers (disodium guanylate), corn syrup solids and artificial colors.

Serves 3-4

Putting it all together

• Saute onion in oil/butter blend. 
• Add garlic and saute until the onion is transparent. 
• Stir in the thyme, chopped broccoli and potato. 
• Pour in the milk. Bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer. Cover and simmer until the veggies are soft, stirring occasionally.
• Using an immersion blender, pulse the soup to a puree texture directly in the soup pot. 
• Stir in the reserved broccoli florets and cheese (or soup mix). Cover and simmer until florets are tender.
• Serve and enjoy with toasted whole grain bread. 

Photo and blog post Copyright (C)2013 Wind. All rights reserved.