Dr. Hyman's UltraBroth Recipe

Dr. Hyman is best known for his book, The Blood Sugar Solution.  I came across a recipe on his website for UltraBroth.  I decided to give this recipe a try, as I had most of the ingredients on hand. I only had to purchase the shitake mushrooms (found them at my local Harmon's).  I have to say that the flavor of the broth is really quite nice. I did strain the broth but used the vegetables up in a stirfry later. What I like about this recipe, other than the fact that it is low in calories, is that it is vegan.

Here is a picture of the broth that I have stored in a quart mason jar. The recipe produced about 2 quarts plus another cup worth of broth.

UltraBroth in Quart Mason Jar

UltraBroth

For every three quarts of water add:

1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
1 cup of daikon or white radish root and tops (ideal, but optional)
1 cup of winter squash cut into large cubes
1 cup of root vegetables: turnips, parsnips, and rutabagas for sweetness
2 cups of chopped greens: kale, parsley, beet greens, collard greens, chard, dandelion,
cilantro or other greens
2 celery stalks
½ cup of sea weed: nori, dulse, wakame, kelp, or kombu
½ cup of cabbage
4 ½-inch slices of fresh ginger
2 cloves of whole garlic (not chopped or crushed)
Sea salt, to taste
1 cup fresh or dried shitake or maitake mushrooms (If available; these contain powerful immune boosting properties.)

Add all the ingredients at once and place on a low boil for approximately 60 minutes. It may take a little longer. Simply continue to boil to taste. Cool, strain (throw out the cooked vegetables or blend them into broth using an immersion blender), and store in a large, tightly-sealed glass container in the fridge. Simply heat gently and drink up to 3–4 cups a day.


Nutrition Facts Per Serving:
STRAINED: Cal: 5 Pro: 0 Fat:0 Carbohydrate: 0
BLENDED: Cal: 60 Pro: 0 Fat: 0 Carbohydrate: 14

Red Curry Salmon Chowder

I found this recipe in one of those freebie magazines that you get at the health food store. The name of the magazine is Delicious Living.  This soup certainly was delicious! This is one of the best recipes I have tried out in a while.

Red Curry Salmon Chowder

Serves 4 
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes

1 TBSP coconut oil
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 TBSP Thai red curry paste
1 TBSP grated fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red Fresno pepper, sliced
1 (14 ounce) can light coconut milk
1-2 cups low sodium vegetable or fish stock
2 tsp low-sodium fish sauce
2 tsp honey
1 pound skinless salmon fillet, cut into large chunks
2 small heads (1/2 pound each) bok choy, thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 cup basil leaves, thinly sliced crosswise
1/2 c. cilantro leaves and thin, tender stems
2 large limes, cut into wedges

Heat the coconut oil in a medium-large saucepan; cook onion and mushrooms for 3-5 minutes, until just softened.

Stir in curry paste, ginger, garlic and Fresno pepper; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in coconut milk, stock, fish sauce, and honey; bring to a boil and add salmon and bok choy. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 3-6 minutes (depending on salmon thickness), until bok choy is tender.

Divide  among four bowls, sprinkle with basil and cilantro, and serve with lime wedges on the side.

377 cal, 29g fat (6 sat), 5 gm protein, 23 gm carb, 4 gm fiber and 211 mg sodium

How it all went down:

The recipe called for a pound of skinless salmon fillet, but I couldn't find any wild salmon at the stores yesterday, and I went to FIVE stores (ugh) to find it. No basil in any of those same stores. So we didn't have that as a garnish for the soup. As far as the salmon was concerned, I purchased canned wild salmon, and it was a good substitution. My son suggested for the next time I make it, that I add more salmon! OK, yes, this is my son that has always eaten fish and has loved it since he was little. But, a little more salmon isn't a bad idea if you are using canned. I'd use two cans of salmon in the future.

I also couldn't find a Fresno pepper, which is hotter than a jalepeno. None of the stores had fresh jalepenos either. All bought out. It was New Year's Eve after all. I should have planned ahead.
So, instead, I just used the red bell pepper that was in my refrigerator. It made for a milder soup. Fortunately, I had everything else on hand. The key to preparing any recipe is that it is OK to make a substitution here and there! Regardless, we will definitely make this again.

Rachael Ray's Creamy Asparagus and Ham Soup

I'm on a few of Rachael Ray's mailing lists, and usually just delete the email. Today, however, I noticed that there was a recipe for soup using asparagus. I just happened to have a bunch of asparagus, and had some ham in the freezer left over from Christmas (Honey Baked Ham). I decided to give it a try. It turns out that we all really enjoyed it. I didn't have any new potatoes, so I make up a cup of instant potatoes from my food storage and used that instead. You can go here to see the recipe in full, on Rachael Ray's website. The picture above is from her website as well. I forgot to take one, but our soup looked exactly the same. I even served it with a similar looking bread! It was delish!

Asian Grilled Salmon and Red Pepper Soup

This month, I helped put together an article for Alive! Utah South Area, online magazine. You'll love the red pepper soup recipe. It is really delicious and so easy to make, not to mention low calorie. The salmon recipe is wonderful as well. Go check it out the original post here .

picture courtesy of Alive! Utah

Asian Grilled Salmon

1 side fresh salmon, boned but skin on (about 3 pounds)

2 TBSP Dijon mustard

3 TBSP soy sauce

6 TBSP good olive oil

1/2 tsp minced garlic

Light charcoal briquettes in a grill and brush the grilling rack with oil to keep the salmon from sticking.

While the grill is heating, lay the salmon skin side down on a cutting board and cut it crosswise into 4 equal pieces. Whisk together the mustard, soy sauce, olive oil, and garlic in a small bowl. Drizzle half of the marinade onto the salmon and allow it to sit for 10 minutes. Place the salmon skin side down on the hot grill; discard the marinade the fish was sitting in. Grill for 4-5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Turn carefully with a wide spatula and grill for another 4-5 minutes. The salmon will be slightly raw in the center, but don't worry; it will keep cooking as it sits. Transfer the fish to a flat plate, skin side down, and spoon the reserved marinade on top. Allow the fish to rest for 10 minutes. Remove the skin and serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

picture courtesy of Alive! Utah

Red Pepper Soup (Kitchen Close-up by Diedre Hall)

1 yellow onion

2-3 large red or orange peppers, cut into chunks

1 clove garlic

1 c. or more chicken or vegetable broth

1/2 Carrots or zucchini chunks, optional

1 tsp olive oil

salt

Cook the vegetable chunks in the broth until tender, then transfer to blender. Blend with other ingredients and season to taste.

Vegetable Stock Recipe

Here is an easy way to make a vegetable stock. It is always great to use your own stock in homemade soups, rice, beans or lentils.

I like to do several cooking projects while I'm in the kitchen. It is just a more efficient use of my time. I decided to make some soup stock while preparing dinner. First, I caramelized some diced onion. You can use any type of oil.

Next, I used the leftover pieces of washed celery from my salad. Make sure to trim off the leaves from the celery...they have a bitter taste. I cut up a carrot, minced some garlic and added 8 cups of water. Later, I added the caramelized onion (sorry, forgot to take a picture). Start off cooking the stock at a gentle boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour. You lose the nutritional value after an hour.

The finished product is the first picture in this post. You can store it in the freezer for later use. I'm putting mine in the refrigerator, and will use it in a recipe next week. Making your own stock is very easy to do, and very economical. Purchase onions in a bag...they are less expensive that way. I wash the carrot, gently scrubbing it but I don't scrape it.

Homemade Italian Wedding Soup Recipe

I've had this recipe for Italian Wedding Soup now for some time. I'm not sure where I got it, but it is made in a pressure cooker. You can prepare it in a soup pot, it will just take longer to cook. Personally, I like to have a pot of soup simmering on the stove on a winter day. It makes the place feel homey! By the way, I did use my pressure cooker, and it turned out great.

So, let's get started! The recipe called for 3/4 pound of ground beef. I used a pound of ground turkey meat. Add one egg, 2 TB of Parmesan cheese, grated, 1 tsp oregano, 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic (I used garlic in the tube...that's the squiggle in the front right), 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.
Mix all of the above together with your hands. You can use disposable gloves for this step; I hate getting my hands gooey. Set the bowl aside and proceed to the "broth" portion.

Dice one yellow onion and add this to your pot or pressure cooker with 1 TB of olive oil. Saute until onions are translucent.

Next, add 8 cups of chicken broth. This is 2 containers of ready made broth. Or, if you have your own homemade chicken stock, use that.

Add 1/2 c. orzo pasta or other small pasta., 1 TBSP of Italian herbs, and 3 carrots, diced. Below is a picture of some orzo. I got mine at Whole Foods when I was in Las Vegas. I love that store!

Next, while the ingredients are simmering in the pot, begin making your meatballs. I used a melon scoop. The meatballs should be smallish, so I thought the melon ball scoup was the perfect size. I kind of scooped with the tool, then packed it with my other hand. Gently drop these into the simmering pot until you have made up all of the meatballs.

Add 1 pound of spinach to the pot, then shut your pressure cooker, and let it cook for 1 minute.

Release the steam, and slowly take off the lid. I served this with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. We had some ciabatta rolls, and I made turkey with provolone cheese sandwiches. Some dear friends came in from out of town for a very quick visit, and we enjoyed the soup together.

This is such a healthy, delicious soup. Hope that you enjoy it! I'd love to hear your comments.

Food Storage Dinner: Red Lentil Tomato Soup

Tonight for dinner I had planned to make a meal using red lentils. If you've been reading my blog, you know that I have some cases of tomato soup in my food storage that I want to use up. I did donate a case of tomato soup to Dixie Care and Share, the local food bank, but I still have a little less than a case worth in my pantry. So, I decided on Lentil Tomato Soup. There are many recipes out there using a variety of ingredients for this recipe. I decided to make this one my own, by using what I had on hand. So here it is, Red Lentil Tomato Soup:

Here are the ingredients I used.....

2 1/2 c. Chicken Broth (3 month food storage)
14 oz can Tomato Soup (3 month food storage)
1 c. red lentils, sorted and rinsed (1 year food storage)
1 TBSP Italian Seasoning (1 year food storage)
1 onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced

Step #1 is to sort through the lentils. I like to put mine on a white paper plate, and pick out the dark lentils and anything that is out of place. You might find little rocks or other debris. I put about 1/3 c. on the plate at a time and clean it out. One you are done, rinse all of them in a deep bowl and carefully pour the water out. Do this a few times.

I have this handy-dandy dicer, I peel the onion and cut it into smaller pieces. Then, I put it into the dicer for an easy way to dice the onions.

My parents bought this for me.... I think that they got it on one of those TV infomercials! But it is really great to dice onions with.

Here is the finished product on the onions.

Put the minced garlic and onions in a TBSP of oil and saute in a frying pan until translucent.

In a crock pot, I dumped the tomato soup, Italian seasoning, chicken broth and lentils. Add the onions/garlic to that when they are done. Do not add a can of water like you are making regular tomato soup. Pour the chicken broth into the can to rinse the can out.

It doesn't look like much initially. I cooked this on high for 4 hours. Check the moisture level occasionally, you may need to add some more water or chicken broth. I was gone for an hour toward the end of cooking so it turned out more like a stew. I picked up some artisan bread: rosemary olive oil and cut a slice to go with it. Delicious! My 16 year old son agreed that it was really good (amazing!...you know it was good if he said so!).

If you don't have tomato soup, you can substitute canned diced tomatoes with the liquid. You can use any tomato product but remember to use the same amount of liquid. Just adjust as necessary. I hope that you'll try this and let me know how you like it.

Tomato Soup: What is it good for?

Tomato soup....what can I say....not my favorite! So, you might just wonder why in the world I have 3 cases of this stuff. Well, I had volunteered at the LDS cannery in Lindon, Utah one afternoon, and at the end of my shift, I was given the opportunity to buy up to 3 cases of tomato soup. The price was right, and my food storage needed some extra items so, I caved in and bought it. I actually served it one night to my family, with grilled cheese sandwiches. Unfortunately, DH was the only one to eat it (he'll eat just about anything because he was taught not to waste food). So, I still have all of this tomato soup, sitting in my pantry and food storage closet.

Sunday afternoon, I was browning the ground beef for our spaghetti sauce. I reached into the pantry for tomato paste or sauce and came up empty. It was then that I glanced over at the tomato soup. I bit my lip. Could I? Should I? Well, you know, I took that can out of the pantry, opened it, and put it into the cooked ground beef. I added water. I then added uncooked barley. I added Italian Seasoning. I stirred constantly while the sauce simmered. I added more water as I waited for the spaghetti to cook. And you know what? It looked great, smelled great and I served it right up. Everyone dug in and said it was delicious!! Awesome!

So, what else can you make with tomato soup? Thank goodness for google! I found a couple of great recipes for cake using tomato soup on http://www.cooks.com/ along with a chili recipe using tomato soup. We aren't big chili fans, but I am sure that I can find some other recipes if I take some time. I'll try out the tomato soup cake recipe next week and give you a report.

What do you make using tomato soup? Any favorite recipes? I feel another contest coming on....