A Refreshing Way to Welcome Fall

With the changing of the seasons, this is a great time to participate in a cleanse – a stepping out of your food habits and giving your body a break from working so hard on digestion.

The ancient Eastern wisdom of Ayurveda recommends simplifying both physical and emotional elements in your life.  For the physical, you can avoid canned and frozen foods for a week, opting for very simple foods, like soup, rice and beans, or just vegetables, focusing on one type of simple food for the whole week.  For instance, make one giant pot of soup and eat it all week.  If you can, omit cheese, milk, and coffee.  Drink only water and tea. 

On the emotional/mental side, this is a wonderful time to take extra special care of yourself.  Get a massage, make sure your house is clean to refresh yourself visually, use a sauna/steam room every other day, go outside in nature as often as possible and enjoy the quiet, listen to gentle music, release any negative emotions, turn off the TV, and find a yoga class or other gentle exercise to get your energy moving.  Ayurveda recommends cleansing for one week, though many other cleanses you can find go anywhere from 7 days to 28 days.  It’s all a matter of finding what works for you and your schedule, but still refreshes your system for the new season.

It is part of our American culture to rush ahead always, constantly pushing ourselves on from one thing to the next.  Our bodies are naturally in tune with the changing of the seasons and even the changing from day to night.  This is an important time to recharge- to let yourself get ready for the new season and take a little breath.

The most nurturing way you can kick off your cleanse is to make some homemade soup completely from scratch.  It is not difficult to make soup stock, it just takes some time to stick close to the kitchen mainly to stir and initially to chop.  Please enjoy this step by step recipe from last year, towards the middle of the post. It even has pictures.  The top is a little embarrassing, as it’s titled “Get Silly and Make Some Soup (from Scratch)!”  But enjoying yourself and having some fun is important, too! 

Also, the post is labeled as “Day 13” of a 21-day Cleanse from Kathy Freston’s book Quantum Wellness Cleanse.  If you are interested in participating in a 21-day cleanse, start here  and follow day-by-day.  You’ll find the cleanse posts in July and August 2012.  There are recipes each day to support the cleanse, as well.

However you decide to do it, this is the time to honor your body, your emotions, and the seasonal change from summer to fall.

*This article was originally published in the Geauga Family Farms CSA Newsletter in my weekly column, Creative Cooking for an Organic Life. 

This post is linked to Party Wave Wednesday at HolisticSquid.com!

Day 13 - Get Silly and Make Some Soup (from Scratch!)

This cleanse and the lifestyle changes it embodies, are meant to inspire a “joy of living, not fear of dying.”  Not only do we hope to live longer, but also to live better.

Now you’ve been on the cleanse long enough to stop thinking about it so intensely and have a little fun.  Today, spend as little time as possible thinking about the cleanse.  For today, dismiss the advice and warnings and stop thinking about the things you are not eating.  Instead, get excited about what delicious meals you will have today.

Hopefully, you’ve been spending some extra time on yourself to rest.  Now, spend a little more time on FUN and get a little silly.

In our busy lives, it’s easy to feel guilty when giving time to ourselves.  But we are no good to anyone else when depleted.  What’s left to give when you’re pushing so hard?

Kathy writes, “By taking fun seriously, we regain a quality of innocence.  We shake out leftover tensions, and get our minds off the heavier subjects of life.”

Today, take some time to watch a funny movie, run around outside with your dog, play MarioKart, dance and flail wildly to your favorite song.

Anyone who has ever seen me when “I Like It” by Enrique Iglesias is playing knows what I do to let loose in my living room.  I flail like a marionette with a drunk puppeteer.  And I giggle the whole time.  And it feels great!  Yes, a little embarrassing, I’m not sure why that’s the song that does it for me.  But if you haven’t already, find the song that makes you silly, giggly, and provides a surge of energy.  It’s great after a long day to dance with abandon!

Kathy suggests making a list of your 7 favorite things to do and try to slot one in each day for the next week.  Even if it has to be 5 minutes, the smile on your face and lightness in your heart will brighten the rest of your day.

“When we get silly, we feel the weight of our responsibilities slipping away and we feel free,” according to Kathy (and I agree emphatically.)

If you promise not to laugh, I will share some of the silly things I have done to assist you in case you’re having trouble getting started: 

• I have a Little Mermaid coloring book.  I color with crayons.  It’s very soothing and still as fun as ever.
• Sometimes I play dress up.  Like wearing my wedding dress to knight my cat as the queen of my domain.  It’s on video.  True story.  And it was not on Halloween.
• Occasionally, my husband and I drink tea in our fancy china teacups with saucers while playing scrabble and speaking in British accents. 

So as you can see, I’m kind of an authority on silliness…but it really does make me feel free, joyful, and innocent.  It helps me to be grounded in the moment, enjoying life in my own little world.

Today’s Meditation:

“I am happy, and I am free!  I rejoice in my innocence and celebrate the gift of life.  No matter what is going on, I can laugh.  I can be silly.  This levity makes my spirit soar.  I am happy, right now, and I am free!”

If you love being in your kitchen and cooking, this will be a great weekend recipe for you.  Whenever possible, I like to make my own vegetable soup stock.  If you don’t have the time to make the stock, you can use canned vegetable broth to make this soup, but it feels very empowering to make the entire meal from scratch!  It’s healthier for you, too. 

It’s not that it’s so long that you are cooking, but it’s a lot of chopping and you need to be near the kitchen to stir for some time.

Please note:  While I’m chopping up the ingredients for the stock, I like to dice the ingredients for the soup, too, and put into a container in the fridge as long as I’m making it in the next 24 hours.  This way, you get all the chopping done at once.

Laura’s Comforting & Sweet Vegetable Soup

For the vegetable stock (if using pre-made broth, skip this step)

1 TB olive oil

1 large onion – red is great, sweet is too, skin washed and saved – chopped large

3-4 large stalks celery + some leaves, chopped large

3-4 large carrots, chopped in large chunks

1 yellow bell pepper, chopped in large chunks

2 leeks, chopped large

1 red or yellow apple, washed well, core & seeds removed, chopped into quarters (this gives the stock sweetness)

3 cloves garlic, chopped large

1-2 tomatoes, diced large (you can use a can of diced tomatoes, too)

1 pattypan or ½ butternut squash, chopped large and seeds reserved

½ sweet potato, diced large

8 cups water

Spices:

1 TB garlic powder

½ tsp turmeric

1 tsp marjoram

Fresh pepper

2-3 Fresh rosemary sprigs

1. Heat the olive oil on medium.  Add the onions and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the carrots and celery and cook for another 3 minutes.  Add the pepper, leeks, squash, sweet potato, spices and garlic.  Cook for one minute, then add the tomatoes, water, onion peel, and apple.

 

2. Bring to a boil, then reduce to very low.  Cover and simmer, stirring often.

3. Cook for 1.5 to 2 hours, until carrots are soft and all veggies are falling apart.

4. Strain into a large bowl, a little bit at a time.

A tip on the stock:  You can really throw in any veggies that you have and are in the mood to eat.  Try not to use too many green ones besides the celery and leeks, though, as it can make the stock bitter.  The onion skin gives the broth good color and richness.  The apple is important for sweetness without sugar (but don’t use a green apple).

(Pattypan squash, in case you were wondering)                   (Mmmm, homemade broth)

Now you can start making the soup (or refrigerate for later use – will last one week.)

For the soup:

1 TB olive oil

½ large onion, diced

3 large carrots, diced

3-4 stalks of celery, including heart and leaves from heart, diced small

5 cloves garlic, diced small

1 jalapeno or Serrano pepper, diced small

½ yellow bell pepper, diced small

½ sweet potato, diced into bite-sized chunks

1 pattypan squash or ½ butternut squash, diced into bite-sized chunks

1 tomato

¾ cup red lentils

¼ cup gluten free soup noodles (I used annelini from corn)

Spices:

½ cup parsley – fresh and chopped- plus 2 TB for just before serving

1 tsp marjoram

1 TB garlic powder

1 Bay leaf

1 TB oregano

1 TB Kapha Surya mix (mixture of turmeric, cinnamon, coriander, ginger, and mustard.  Amazing in soups and anything with rice, lentils, and/or sweet potatoes: http://store.chopra.com/productinfo.asp?item=427)

1. Heat the olive oil on medium in a large stock pot.  Add the onion and sauté for 2 minutes.  Add the carrots and celery – sauté for 3 minutes.  Add bell pepper & jalapeno or Serrano, stir.  Add sweet potato, squash, lentils, and garlic, stir.  Add spices, then tomato and stir.  Now ladle in the vegetable stock (you can use 6 cups if you want to save some for making rice or anything else later.)

2.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to very low.  Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.  Add the soup noodles and about 2 teaspoons of salt, along with some fresh pepper.  Simmer another 20-30 minutes.  Taste and check if you need to add more salt.

3. Serve sprinkled with fresh parsley, along with salt and pepper to taste.

Note:  Since I had the seeds from the squash, I cleaned them and roasted them in the oven with a spray of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt & garlic powder.  Then I topped the soup with the toasted seeds, too.  Delicious!

You can make any variation of this soup with veggies you need to use up or to suit your mood.  I’ve used zucchini, yellow squash, black beans, green lentils, and regular potatoes.   The beans really change the flavor, but are good when you’re in the mood for them.

I hope you enjoy this nice, homemade recipe!