The cold months are approaching and no better way to warm
yourself than from the inside out. So get those soup pots
out and start cooking. Here is one of my favorite fall/winter
soups...
Winter Squash Soup with Ginger
by Lori Nicolosi
Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 - 6 cups water, chicken or vegetable stock
3 - 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
1 large butternut squash, peeled and cubed
2 - 3 Tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground coriander
tamari to taste
1 teaspoon or more to taste celtic sea salt
fresh coriander (cilantro) for garnishing
In a large soup pot, add the olive oil, onions, and sea salt.
Cook over low heat until the onions are transparent and soft.
Add the garlic. Let that cook for a few minutes until the
aroma of cooking garlic fills the air. Raise the heat to high
and add the ground coriander, cinnamon and the squash, stir
well and cook for a few minutes making sure to stir often
so the spices don't burn. Add the water or broth until it
is just covers the squash. Bring to a boil over high heat
then cover with a lid and lower heat to a simmer. Cook for
about 1 hour, until soft.
Carefully blend the soup until smooth and silky or mash it
a little and leave it chunky. Add the ginger... the larger
amount if you like it a little spicy. Finish with tamari to
taste and sprinkle on top lots of yummy fresh coriander.
note about ingredients: use organic ingredients whenever possible
In need of grounding and warmth on these increasingly cold
autumn nights?
Try this hearty root stew, it will warm up your toes, thicken
your blood and get you ready for winter.
Root Stew
by Lori Nicolosi
1 large yellow onion chopped
2 Tablespoons organic butter
4 good sized red beets with greens, grate beets and clean
& chop the greens
4 potatoes peeled and grated
4 carrots grated
4-6 cups bone broth or spring water
sour cream
celtic sea salt
Saute the onions with 1 teaspoon sea salt in the olive oil
until transparent. Add the broth, beets, carrots and potatoes...making
sure the liquid covers the veggies. Bring to a boil, cover
pot with a lid and cook for about 30 minutes. Add in the beet
greens and allow to cook for just a few more minutes. Add
more salt to taste and serve with sour cream. This is also
delicious with a splash of chickweed
vinegar added.
note about broth: A storehouse of nutrition waiting for you
to come and get it!
Want to learn more about broth? Need a few good recipes?
Click here to read "Broth
is Beautiful" by Sally Fallon.
An
excerpt from
Nature's Children
by Juliette
de Bairacli Levy
Garlic Butter
Garlic is known as the most medicinal of all
the herbs, and it is also highly tonic. Here is a pick-me-up
for mothers which is good for the entire family and delicious
tasting, too.
Use only fresh natural butter. To every tablespoon
of butter, add half a dozen minced garlic cloves and a sprinkling
finely minced parsley (and, if available, the minced leaves
of mustard or cresses).This is spread on wheaten crackers,
or stirred into warm rice and, of course, spread on bread.
The traditional way of making garlic bread in
Portugal is to heat, then slice the bread, rub it with butter
or drizzle olive oil, and press minced garlic into it.
A Note on Butter and Margarine
I totally avoid margarine for my human family,
and for my dogs and cats. The hydrogenated fat used in margarine
keeps indefinately and does not go rancid as fresh butter
does. This "forever" quality means that it permanently
lines the internal organs, and that can hardly be considered
beneficial. I know of a Dachshund who died after eating a
quarter-pound stick of margarine!
Nature's
Children
Book Review by Mischa Parrill, Wicca at BellaOnline
http://www.bellaonline.com/site/Wicca
I give this book 4 Bella Stars.
"Nature's
Children" is a book written by Juliette
de Bairacli Levy. Ms.
de Bairacli Levy is, as described
by a friend in the introduction of the book, the "original
nature girl". She is a Gypsy, and her travels have imparted
upon her great knowledge of herbs, plants, and natural things,
which she shares in this book.
The book is illustrated with many wonderful
photographs of her children, and their various animal friends,
in the natural settings throughout the world in which they
were raised. The book details a way of life those of us in
the Western world have largely forgotten. She steps you through
pregnancy, childbirth, and child-rearing in a nature-reverent
way.She includes many ideas about organic foods, herbal medicines,
and simple how-to's for the parent concerned for the ever-growing
detachment from nature present in the world today.
I enjoyed this book immensely. While, alas,
I feel I am a bit too technology oriented to completely abandon
my "urban" way of life, I did find her book inspiring,
and it has helped me remember to include natural things in
my, and my children's, everyday life.
"Nature's
Children" is published by Ash Tree
Publishing, and can be purchased
from the publisher's site at www.wisewomanbookshop.com.
The suggested price is $15.95 US.
