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Monday, January 14, 2013

Eastern Garden Vegetable Soup



A hearty blend of garden vegetables simmered in stock seasoned with garlic and a unique spice blend. (Medium Spicy - Spicy)
This soup has a surprising flavor when you think of a traditional vegetable soup. It's delicious!   


Ingredients: 


onion
garlic
celery
carrots
potatoes, 
asparagus, 
parsnips, 
yellow squash
red bell pepper
pealed stewed tomato 
brussels sprouts (whole)
cabbage (shredded)
baby spinach

butter

olive oil
tomato paste

stock 
flour
red wine vinegar
sea salt
pepper
garlic powder
ginger powder
curry powder
turmeric powder





Kombucha - How to Make it





What Is Kombucha Tea?
Kombucha starts out as a sugary tea, which is then fermented with the help of a scoby. “SCOBY” is actually an acronym for “symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast.” It’s very close cousins to the mother used to make vinegar.
The scoby bacteria and yeast eat most of the sugar in the tea, transforming the tea into a refreshingly fizzy, slightly sour fermented (but mostly non-alcoholic) beverage that is relatively low in calories and sugar.
The SCOBY
Let’s talk about that scoby. It’s weird, right?! It floats, it’s rubbery and slightly spongy, brown stringy bits hang from it, and it transforms sugary tea into something fizzy and sour. It’s totally weird. But if you take a step back, it’s also pretty awesome.
There are a lot of theories about why the bacteria and yeast form this jelly-like layer of cellulose at the top of the kombucha. The most plausible that I’ve found is that it protects the fermenting tea from the air and helps maintain a very specific environment inside the jar that is shielded from outsiders, aka unfriendly bacteria.










http://fitlife.tv/how-to-make-kombucha/

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Forks Over Knives 2011 - Movie


I personally just got around to watching the movie and felt as though I needed to share this information with a few people in my family that also suffer from dis-ease. I highly recommend watching/buying/sharing the movie and hopefully make some wonderful changes to your diet so that you are around the people that love you the most a lot longer.  xoxo love Tania  


The idea of food as medicine is put to the test. Throughout the film, cameras follow “reality patients” who have chronic conditions from heart disease to diabetes. Doctors teach these patients how to adopt a whole-foods plant-based diet as the primary approach to treat their ailments—while the challenges and triumphs of their journeys are revealed.
FORKS OVER KNIVES examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods. The major storyline in the film traces the personal journeys of a pair of pioneering yet under-appreciated researchers, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.



Friday, January 4, 2013

Growing Within - Winter Months and DIY Hydrofarm

diy hydrofarm



set up in the dining area in front of the window. 
the shelves are holding the hydroponic DIY container, the blooming tomato and pepper plants,  some house plants, and the budding lemon tree :) 
This will be home until spring. 

UPDATE PHOTO January 14th 2013. 
See how fast we are growing! 

The peppers and tomato plants are growing so fast. See the difference between the two smaller plants in the front of the photo not in the hydroponic system and the ones that are in the system. I started them from seeds all the same day. Things grow much faster in the system. Very excited. 

UPDATE PHOTO January 26th 2013. 

Now, two are 19" tall ready to switch into individual grow buckets on Monday.
(I'll have a post on that next week.)  



Thursday, January 3, 2013

My Vegetarian Lentil Soup

My Vegetarian Lentil Soup
by Tania Calderón

click on photos to enlarge


Happy New Year!!!! This 2013 will be a very exciting year in the world of food and growing within. Some of you may know I started sprouting a few months back and We've also started a small hydroponic system which will hopefully grow our tomatoes and peppers indoors.

I'm very excited about the new year and all of the new magic it will bring into our lives, and belly. So, today I'm starting off this blog with a simple Lentil Soup recipe.
There are several types of Lentil Soups, they are a great source of fiber, protein, and iron. During the winter I really enjoy hot soup like many others and especially love the smell of my home when food is simmering on the oven for a few hours slow cooking that nights dinner.
This is one I threw together late this morning to cook in my new crock pot.
Since I've only used the crock pot once it's an experiment because I'm using dry beans that I didn't soak the night before hand.


(uncooked) 


INGREDIENTS
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium celery stalk, sliced
  • 1 medium carrot, peeled and small dice
  • 1/2 medium yellow onion, small dice
  • 3 large garlic cloves, minced
  • Kosher salt (to taste) 
  • Freshly ground black pepper (to taste) 
  • 1 quart vegetable broth
  • 14-ounce caned San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes in SM puree 
  • 1 1/4 cups dry beans (I used 3/4 cup brown lentils, 1/4 cup chick peas, split peas) 
  • 1 bay leaf
  •  chopped fresh thyme leaves and stems (to taste) 
  • 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar 
  • 5 medium large brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut in two. 


So let's get started...  
I have an assortment of dry beans that I used although I call this lentil soup because I used more of them than the others. 
I boiled the dry beans about 5 minutes on the stove before adding them to the crock pot.
Then I added my other ingredients in the order listed above. 

(uncooked) 

I'll let that simmer for a few hours and by the time I'm ready for dinner my delicious vegetarian lentil soup will be done. No fuss, and what I like about this recipe is all of the ingredients are simple and in their natural form (unprocessed). 


Here we are 5 - 6 hrs later. 
Bon Appetít! 








(btw Basic Lentil Soup Recipe here By