Tomato, Red Lentil and Kale Soup

Red Lentil and Tomato soup is one that my husband asks for a lot. Today’s version includes kale for added nutrition. I julienned the kale as thinly as I could so that the soup would be easy to eat. The kale imparts a very mild taste to the soup and didn’t dramatically change the flavor from my usual less healthy soup.

The foods in this soup that are recommended for their anticoagulant activity (as discussed in chapter 17 of “Life Over Cancer”) are the celery, tomato, onion, garlic, canola oil and fennel seed. These are items I would include in our diet anyway, so why not use them here since they work in the recipe.

If you are looking for a hearty soup that is low in calories and fat but still filling this is a good option. The tomatoes, garlic and onion are also reported to have cancer fighting abilities.

Tomato, Red Lentil and Kale Soup
Serves 8

Ingredients:

½ tablespoon of canola oil
1 red onion, finely minced
6 stalks of celery, finely minced
¼ cup of fresh garlic, minced (allow to stand 10 minutes so that allicin can develop)
28 ounces of canned diced tomatoes
15 ounces of canned tomato sauce
64 ounces of water, filtered
1 pound of red lentils, picked through and rinsed
1 pound of kale, rinsed and finely chopped
1 tablespoon of kosher salt
1 tablespoon of fennel seeds
1 tablespoon of hot crushed peppers (wet hots)
½ tablespoon of freshly cracked pepper (or to taste)

Directions:

Sauté onion, celery and garlic in the canola oil until lightly browned. Add remaining ingredients to the pot and simmer until the lentils are tender. The time it will take for the lentils to become tender is dependent on the age of the dried bean. My lentils were tender in 30 minutes.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 296.92
Calories From Fat (9%) - 26.39

Total Fat - 3.1g
Saturated Fat - 0.41g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 826.15mg
Potassium - 1174.26mg
Total Carbohydrates - 53.59g
Fiber - 11.23g
Sugar - 2.95g
Protein - 19.18g

Comments:

While this soup was cooking it reminded me of sweet Italian sausage because of the headiness of the fennel. I love fennel and add it to many recipes. Southern Italian food is my favorites and that cuisine uses a lot of fennel. It is so nice to now know that it is also good for us.

If you aren’t trying to restrict your fat as much as we are, a little extra virgin olive oil drizzled on the surface of this soup when serving would be fantastic. Also, adding a couple of sliced Tofurky Italian sausages would be very nice in this soup.

Mexican Inspired Wheat Berry Salad

Wheat Berries are one of the healthiest grains available. I like to include whole grains where I can in our diet since they are a good source of B vitamins. In the summer my body seems to crave cold food and raw vegetables. I am always looking for new ways to combine whole grains and raw vegetables.

If you are unfamiliar with wheat berries they are a chewy grain whose texture is not like the other common grains we see in America. I like the somewhat “meat-like” chew of the cooked berries. This salad can be served alone, over a green salad, in a lettuce cup, or sprinkled on a whole wheat wrap that was spread with hummus.

Mexican Inspired Wheat Berry Salad
Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 cups of pressure cooked wheat berries
1 tablespoon of canola oil
2 tablespoons of lime juice (or apple cider vinegar)
1 clove garlic, grated or finely minced
½ teaspoon of ancho chili powder
1 tomato, diced
4 stalks of celery, finely minced
4 inches of seedless cucumber, finely minced
1 carrot, grated
¼ cup of cilantro, finely minced

Direction:

Combine all the ingredients and toss to coat. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 140.78
Calories From Fat (19%) - 27.08

Total Fat - 3.1g
Saturated Fat - 0.29g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 18.7mg
Potassium - 255.31mg
Total Carbohydrates - 25.13g
Fiber - 4.87g
Sugar - 1.71g
Protein - 5.47g

Comments:

This salad has a mild flavor. The garlic flavor is subtle, and the vegetables do not overpower. If you like a lot of flavor in your salad I would recommend you add a little finely minced red onion and a little more ancho chili powder. You could also add a little cayenne if you want some “heat” in your cold salad.

Spicy Tomato Vegetable Juice

Question: What do you do when you get a nasty summer cold with a sore throat and blocked sinuses?

Answer: I suggest a spicy tomato based vegetable juice with raw onion and garlic.

I have been fighting a cold for a few days and late last night the cold won. This morning my throat was sore and my sinuses were blocked. In the old days I would have made a pot of chicken soup. Since chicken soup is out I turn to vegetable juice, which is much quicker and easier to make when you feel lousy.

Today I made a tomato based vegetable juice with raw onion and garlic to open my sinuses. Within 5 minutes of my first sip my nasal passages were open and I could breathe through my nose. Being able to breathe normally makes a cold so much easier to tolerate. I keep this juice in the refrigerator and will sip on a small glass every few hours so that I can keep my sinuses open.

This juice is best for people that enjoy big flavors and bit of heat. There is a lot of “bite” from the raw onion and garlic that comes through in the flavor. The hot crushed peppers add heat to the juice. You can tame the assertiveness by adding less of the onion and garlic, but that is the part that I believe opens the sinuses. However, if you don’t have a cold and just want to make your own tomato juice I would reduce the onion and garlic by half to start.

Garlic has been used for hundreds of years as a natural antibiotic. Since I am not a scientist I cannot prove that it does any good, but I do know that I feel better when I consume garlic at the first notion of a cold.

Spicy Tomato Vegetable Juice
Makes 4 – 6 ounce servings

Ingredients:

14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1 carrot, scrubbed and roughly chopped
1 celery stalk, scrubbed and roughly chopped
¼ of a red onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon of hot crushed peppers (wet hots)
½ teaspoon of dulse flakes
¼ teaspoon of celery seed
½ cup of filtered water

Directions:

Toss everything in the blender and process until it is completely smooth. Store in a sealed jar until ready to drink. This juice is best served very cold.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 33.19
Calories From Fat (6%) - 2.14

Total Fat - 0.26g
Saturated Fat - 0.04g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 175.69mg
Potassium - 312.46mg
Total Carbohydrates - 7.69g
Fiber - 1.99g
Sugar - 3.64g
Protein - 1.24g

Comments:

I would describe this as tomato juice with the volume turned up. The juice is spicy from the raw onion, garlic and hot crushed peppers. It has a nice thick texture, which is still drinkable. I make juices like this when I have a cold and want to open my sinuses without medication. The raw onion and garlic are great for sinus relief.

This juice is also good with jarred roasted red peppers and smoked paprika. There are many variations of cold vegetables juices that you can make in the blender. Once you get started making them you may not buy the canned varieties any longer.

Chickpea and Nut Salad

Today’s salad is something that you can use as your would tuna or chicken salad. It has a nice texture from the soaked nuts, which also provided healthy fat and vitamin E. Specifically the sunflower seeds were used for their selenium, which is a known cancer fighter. The dulse granules were added for iodine since I don’t use table salt. I had also hoped the dulse would add a little “fishy” flavor that would mimic tuna, but that didn’t come through in the final product. Next time I may try a different type of sea vegetable granule to see if that makes a difference.

I wanted something that I could use in a sandwich or on a bed of greens that would be satisfying for lunch. I think this one is a nice change from my usual "chickpea only" salad.

Chickpea and Nut Salad
Makes 8 – ½ cup servings

Ingredients:

1 cup of dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
¼ cup of almonds, soaked overnight
¼ cup of raw sunflower seeds, soaked overnight
Juice and zest of one lemon
2 teaspoon of dulse granules
6 tablespoons of reduced fat almond milk mayonnaise
½ of a red onion, finely diced
3 celery stalks, finely diced
2 tablespoons of no salt seasoning – Costco Brand
2 teaspoons of kosher salt

Directions:

Cook chickpeas until they are cooked through but a little firm. You don’t want them to turn to disintegrate like in hummus. My chickpeas were cooked in 15 minutes on medium heat.

Rinse the almonds and sunflower seeds and place in the food processor. Pulse to mostly break down the seeds, leaving a little texture to remain in the final product. Add the cooked chickpeas to the food processor and pulse a few times to break up the chickpeas lightly.

Mix all the ingredients together until thoroughly combined. Taste the salad for seasoning and refrigerate until needed.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 134.94
Calories From Fat (57%) - 76.59

Total Fat - 8.92g
Saturated Fat - 0.71g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 494.98mg
Potassium - 207.24mg
Total Carbohydrates - 11.48g
Fiber - 2.75g
Sugar - 1.11g
Protein - 3.81g

Comments:

Both my husband and liked this salad. Previously I made this salad with chickpeas only (no nuts), but I definitely think the nuts added a nice textural element that was missing. This salad would also be nice with a little finely diced sun dried tomato, or red bell pepper for color.

Vegetable and Black Fungus Stir Fry

Sometimes I want a quick meal with items that I have on hand. This stir fry is that type of recipe. Since I had the cooked brown rice in the refrigerator from making the brown rice milk yesterday this meal came together in about 15 minutes.

The dish is a little high in sodium, but it is not as high in sodium as it would have been had I used soy sauce. If you are unfamiliar with liquid aminos you should look for it in your store. It tastes like soy sauce but has less sodium than even the popular low sodium soy sauces on the market.

This dish is low in calories, but is very filling from all the vegetables. We had a huge bowl of this dish, which left us both full.

The garlic, ginger and onions are high in antioxidants and are anti-inflammatory. Consuming mushrooms has been linked to a lower incidence of breast cancer. The varied colors of the vegetables in this dish maximize the vitamins and nutrients you will be consuming. You will notice the dish doesn’t have a lot of green. I have been a green binge lately so decided to give the green a little bit of a break tonight.

Vegetable and Black Fungus Stir Fry
makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

10 dried black fungus mushroom
4 cups of water to rehydrate mushrooms
1 red onion, slivered
1 carrot, cut in half and sliced
1 red bell pepper, slivered
2 stalks of celery, slivered
1 inch of ginger, julienned
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 teaspoons of sriracha
3 tablespoons of liquid aminos
1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil
2 cups of cooked brown basmati rice

Directions:

Put dried mushrooms in a heatproof bowl with the water and microwave for three minutes. Allow to sit while you prep the remaining vegetables.

Slice red onions, carrot, red bell pepper, and celery.

For the sauce, julienne the ginger, mince the garlic and put them in a small bowl. Add the sriracha, liquid aminos and roasted sesame oil.

Drain the black fungus mushrooms and cut into bit size pieces.

Put the sauce into a large skillet over high heat. Add the onions, celery and carrot and cook for 2 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Continue to cook for 3 or 4 minutes on high to heat all the ingredients.

Serve hot.

Nutrition Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 368.44
Calories From Fat (21%) - 78.16

Total Fat - 8.93g
Saturated Fat - 1.36g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 1612.03mg
Potassium - 569.74mg
Total Carbohydrates - 64.84g
Fiber - 8.45g
Sugar - 8.83g
Protein - 7.14g

Comments:

This dish is very filling and flavorful. It also has a little bit of heat to it from the sriracha. If you don’t like a lot of heat in your food, begin with half the amount of sriracha. I make similar dishes to this monthly. I like that you can use whatever vegetables you have on hand. The only thing I keep the same is the sauce. Sometimes I add a little agave to the sauce to reduce the heat a little. You can also remove on tablespoon of the liquid aminos and replace it with fresh lime juice if you want to reduce the sodium without losing flavor.

Collard Wraps with Roasted Garlic Hummus, Walnuts and Grated Carrot

Tonight I decided to make an easy dinner from things I had in the refrigerator. I like to experiment with food and today I made collard wraps. I had purchased the collards from the farmers’ market this weekend because they are part of the cruciferous vegetable family. I love to include as many cancer fighting foods in our diet as I can.

This was my first time to make collard wraps and it was a little more difficult than I expected, but I think that I have figured it out. Take the collard leaf and remove most of the thick stem (but not all). I sliced the bulk of the stem from the leaf. It is important not to slice out the stem completely, or it will be more difficult to keep the filling inside the wrap.

When the stem is mostly removed I smeared the bottom half of the collard (the end near the stem) with roasted garlic hummus. I put chopped walnuts, finely diced celery and grated carrot on top the hummus. Next I rolled up the filled collard like a burrito and sliced it in half and served it cold.

Collard Wraps with Hummus, Walnuts, Carrot and Celery
makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

4 large collard leaves, bulk of stem removed so they are easy to roll
½ cup of walnuts, chopped
1 carrot, grated
2 stalks of celery, finely minced
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup of roasted garlic hummus

Directions:

Mix the walnuts, carrot and celery together. Add black pepper to the nut and vegetable mixture according to your taste.

Cover bottom ½ of the collard leaf with ¼ cup of hummus. Add ¼ of the nut and vegetable mixture on top of the hummus. Roll the filled collard up like a burrito and cut in half. You can secure the wrap with a toothpick if necessary.

Nutrition Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 324.4
Calories From Fat (55%) 177.25

Total Fat - 21.14g
Saturated Fat - 2.06g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 495.08mg
Potassium - 625.38mg
Total Carbohydrates - 28.8g
Fiber - 9.17g
Sugar - 3.89g
Protein - 10.26g

Comments:

The collard makes a better sandwich wrap than I expected. It will take a little time to become proficient rolling the collard. However, since this is so much healthier than eating flour based wraps, I will be incorporating more collards into our diet in lieu of whole grains wraps. I think the texture of the walnuts was necessary to give this “sandwich” substance. I also believe that you need something “gooey” like a bean dip to help hold the filling in the wrap. The raw collard imparted less green flavor than I expected.

Next time I may add a few whole or lightly mashed chickpeas for texture. I also think a little lemon juice or zest would be good added to the vegetables on this sandwich.

Brown Rice Salad with Vegetables

This is what I call a clean out the refrigerator salad. What goes in the salad is a function of what I have on hand. There are a few rules I follow when I make these kinds of salad. I normally use a little more cooked grain (brown rice, millet, bulgur, or quinoa) than I do vegetables. I try to vary the color of the vegetables that I add to the salad. I like the dressing to be sharp in these salads so that the final salad is not too bland or requires a lot of salt. I also think the salad need a little heat from the crushed red peppers or harissa.

All the ingredients in this salad are healthy. The variety of vegetables serves to increase the variety of vitamins and minerals this salad contains. I like knowing that this salad is good for me and helps to protect me from chronic disease.

Brown Rice and Vegetable Salad
Makes 7 – 1 cup servings of salad

Ingredients:

4 cups of cooked brown rice, cooled
½ cup red bell pepper, finely diced
4 inch piece of cucumber, finely diced
¼ of a red onion, finely diced
3 stalks of celery, finely diced
½ cup of finely sliced green onion tops
1 lemon (juice and zest)
1 tablespoon of sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon of harissa, or crushed red peppers
1/2 tablespoon of thyme, dried
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine rice and vegetables in a large container with a lid. Whisk the dressing ingredients, lemon through thyme, until thoroughly combined. Add dressing to the rice and veggies and toss everything together. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as desired. Refrigerate salad until ready to serve.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 176.77
Calories From Fat (24%) - 43.19

Total Fat - 4.95g
Saturated Fat - 0.75g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 10.9mg
Potassium - 188.79mg
Total Carbohydrates - 30.51g
Fiber - 3.34g
Sugar - 0.99g
Protein- 3.23g

Comments:

I make brown rice salads a few times a month. The salads are different depending on what I have on hand. These types of salad improve as the rice has time to absorb the flavors of the dressing. Chickpeas would be a good addition to this rice salad. When I have olives on hand, I sometimes dice those and add them to the salads as well.

Potato Salad with Fresh Dill, Lemon and Dijon

Potatoes are the most popular vegetable consumed in America. Unfortunately they are normally served in the form of french fries. Potatoes can be a healthy food. They are a good source of vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant. Potatoes are also a good source of fiber, which most American’s need to incorporate in their diet. They also contain compounds that have blood pressure lowering potential and neutralize cancer causing agents.

I cook my potatoes in the skin to preserve the maximum amount of nutrients. I also retain the skin in most recipes so that those vitamins are consumed rather than thrown away.

I buy organic potatoes whenever possible because potatoes are one of those foods that is highly sprayed with pesticides and whose soil is also treated with fungicides. I have read (although I can’t remember where) that the chemicals that are used on potato fields are so toxic, that the farmers stay out of the fields for days after the chemicals are applied.

This potato salad does included mayonnaise, which is not a particularly healthy condiment. However, the amount of mayonnaise is much less than you would find on the normal potato salad. I only use enough mayonnaise to moisten the potatoes.


Potato Salad with Fresh Dill, Lemon and Dijon
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

2 pounds of red potatoes
1 tablespoon of kosher salt
1 lemon, zest and juice
4 stalks of celery, finely diced
4 tablespoons of red onion, finely diced that was soaked in white vinegar for at least 30 minutes (drain onion of vinegar before adding)
5 - 6 tablespoons of vegan mayonnaise
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
¼ cup of fresh dill, finely minced
½ teaspoon of kosher salt
½ teaspoon of black pepper, freshly ground

Directions:

Scrub potatoes, put do no peel. Place potatoes in a heavy bottomed pot and cover with cold water. Add kosher salt to the cooking water and turn the heat to high. After 15 minutes pierce a potato with a thin knife blade to see if they are tender. If tender, drain the potatoes and return the potatoes to the still hot pot so that the maximum amount of cooking liquid will evaporate from the potatoes. If not tender, continue to cook for another 5 minutes and check again for tenderness. The exact cooking time of the potatoes will depend on the size of the potatoes you are using.

Meanwhile, zest and juice a lemon. Place zest in the bowl the dressing will be mixed in.

When the potatoes have cooled in the pot for 15 minutes, cut into bite size pieces and move to a cool container. Add the lemon juice to the still warm potatoes so that it will absorb the juice which will happen in 5 or 10 minutes.

Thoroughly combine the mayonnaise, mustard, dill, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Toss the red onion and celery into the mayonnaise and stir to combine.

Add the dressing to the room temperature potatoes and stir to evenly coat the potatoes with the dressing. Taste to see if any additional salt and pepper are required.

Refrigerate until ready to serve. The flavor will improve as the salad sits in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 249.28
Calories From Fat (45%)- 113.21

Total Fat - 12.82g
Saturated Fat - 0.97g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 299.37mg
Potassium - 994.73mg
Total Carbohydrates - 31.47g
Fiber - 3.6g
Sugar - 1.09g
Protein - 4.2g

Comments:

I like the flavor of this potato salad. It is a little acidic from the lemon juice, but not overly so. There is also a little tang from the dijon, although if you don't know it is in there you won't know exactly what you are tasting. The beautiful pink from the vinegar soaked red onions is lovely, as well as adding little acidic pops of flavor. This potato salad is not drenched in mayonnaise, but the salad is still moist without the unnecessary fat.

Lentil and Artichoke Stew with Fire Roasted Tomatoes

Sometimes the weather is cool and rainy and only a hot bowl of soup or stew will hit the spot. Today is one of those days in the mid-Atlantic region. We have had days of rain and today is dreary and gray and in the 50’s.

I make many different lentil soups. Lentils are great because they are fast and don’t require the soaking that most beans need. Fortunately I had all these ingredients in the pantry and had this stew ready in a little under an hour with most the work happening while I was out of the kitchen.

The cool tofu sour cream on the top of the stew is the finishing touch for me. I like the temperature variation next to the warm stew. You can use any grain as the base for this stew. The grain isn’t necessary, but it adds a textural counterpoint to the softness of the stew that I find pleasing.



Ingredients:

1/4 cup vegetable broth or water
1 onion, finely chopped
2 grated carrots
3 ribs of celery finely diced
2 large garlic cloves, pressed or minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin (toast before grinding)
2 teaspoons ground coriander (toast before grinding)
1 cup dry (uncooked) red lentils (3 cups cooked)
1 bay leaf
3 cups water
juice and zest of 1 lime but you can use lemon
¼ cup of white wine (preferably pinot grigio)
1 24-ounce can crushed tomatoes (preferably fire-roasted), undrained
3 cups artichoke hearts, quartered (2 9-ounce frozen packages)
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
¼ teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
¼ - ½ cup of fresh minced cilantro

garnish: tofu sour cream
base: cooked millet/bulgur or quinoa

Directions:

Heat broth in a large saucepan. Add onion, celery and carrot and sauté on medium heat for about 5 minutes, until golden. Add garlic, cumin, and coriander and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add dried lentils, bay leaf, and water to pan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and add tomatoes and their liquid, and crushed red pepper (if using). Simmer for about 20 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Add lime juice and zest, white wine and artichokes. Remove and discard the bay leaf. Add salt and black pepper and minced cilantro, or to taste. Serve on top of cooked whole grain of choice, garnish with tofu sour cream and cilantro.

Comments:
The flavor was very nice, but could use a little more punch. Next time I will increase the crushed red pepper to ½ teaspoon. The millet added a nice contrast of texture under the lentil and artichoke stew. I liked the temperature contrast of the cool tofu sour cream on the top. I think I will save a little minced cilantro for the top of the dish the next time. Overall this was a good start, but there may be a little tweaking of this in the future.