Saturday, April 2, 2011

Wrapping It Up and Moving On

I have now completed the last herceptin and Jared went with me to my final visit with the oncologist to complete the cancer treatments. Now I go in every three months for marker tests that will then go to every six months till I reach the five year mark. Now I'm on my own. Now I make the choices of my lifestyle and do what I can to keep this cancer from returning.

So what am I doing? Running, running, and running (Jared registered me for the Top of Utah half marathon in August). Drinking lots of water, water, and water. (I LOVE water) And changing our diet. I'm working toward a more plant based diet. Not vegan or vegetarian. Just more plant based. More nutrient based.

And that is what this blog is evolving into. I want to share my food and healthy lifestyle tips and tricks. Share what works for me. I'll still continue to share my spiritual journey as well. It's all about the healthy and not the sicky now. Come join me. Let me know what you are doing to live healthy.

I have a growing interest in food and how it helps the body. I love to get down to the science of it. In my mind, food should be really yummy and enjoyable. So much of our lifestyle is based around eating, eating together and enjoying it. For so long healthy and enjoyment have not gone together. But over the years I have watched food show after food show with gourmet chefs talking about the simplicity of good food. Fresh, simple, flavorful ingredients and the cooking techniques that bring out those flavors . That is what I have been exploring. And it's what I want to share. Food where you taste the good on their own, not covered up by creams and sauces. Real food. Low fat, low calories. Yes it's possible. If I can get my family to fight over brussel sprouts...and I have...it's possible!

So here it goes with my first recipe. It's a curried carrot soup full of beta carotene...lots of orange colored veggies in this one and yummy, yummy, yummy and easy,easy, easy soup.

Curried Carrot Soup With Cornbread Croutons

By The Gluten Free Goddess
WebMD Recipe from Foodily.com

Picture of Curried Carrot Soup Slow cookers are just the best when the weather turns warm and breezy. It frees you up from kitchen duty just when you need it most -- supper time. Enjoy the time with your friends and family, and let the crock pot do all the heavy work!

Ingredients

Olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 to 2 teaspoons mild gluten-free curry powder, or to taste (can substitute with regular curry powder)
1 leek
4 large carrots
1 sweet potato
Half a banana squash {butternut will do in a pinch}
Fresh water, as needed
Sea salt, to taste

Gluten-Free Cornbread Mix (can substitute with regular cornbread mix)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons chopped jalapenos

Instructions

For the soup:

Plug in your slow cooker and turn it on to high. Pour a drizzle of olive oil into the bottom. Add in the chopped garlic and curry powder. Stir and cover. Let the curry infuse the oil as you chop the vegetables. Wash the leek, trim, and slice the white section. Peel, trim, and chop the carrots. Peel and chop the sweet potato and squash. Place all the chopped veggies into the warm crock and stir. Add just enough fresh water to cover them. Season the soup with sea salt to taste and cover.

If you keep the soup on high it will cook faster -- say, four hours or so, depending on your make and model. If you need to stretch out the cooking time, turn the slow cooker on to low. It will be ready in perhaps six hours. If you need to stretch it a bit longer I don't think it would hurt, as long as you've put enough water in the crock. The soup is ready when the carrots are tender and split easily using a fork.

Puree the soup with an immersion blender until the soup is silky smooth. Taste test. If it cooked down too much and is a tad thick, add some liquid {for extra creaminess use a dash of coconut milk, although I didn't add any extra "milk" and we loved the fresh, clean taste} and gently heat through for another 10 minutes. Serve with pan toasted cornbread croutons.

For the easy cornbread croutons:

Started with Gluten-Free Cornbread Mix. Follow the directions on the package, substituting the eggs, and using water and olive oil to keep it vegan.

Add the following ingredients to the mix:

1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons chopped jalapenos {skip if you need it less spicy}

Baked the mix in a 9-inch cake pan and cooled it on a rack. Slice the cornbread into eight wedges; then wrap each one in recycled foil, and bag for freezing. Use one thawed piece of cornbread for two people. Cut the cornbread into cubes. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and drizzle in some olive oil. Add the cubes of cornbread. Gently toss them from time to time as they sizzle and get golden. Remove with soft-tip tongs. Serve hot sizzling croutons on top of the soup.

Total Servings: 4


I chose not to make the bread crumbs and just make cornbread. I also doubled the recipe to make enough for my gang and have some leftovers. It freezes well in small containers and was great for lunches. To bump up the protein a bit I added a 1/4 cup of low fat cottage cheese to the warm bowl of soup. I wish I had some now as look out and see the snow falling yet again.

2 comments:

  1. Yum! I am going to follow you. I need to change my diet. My grandma died from lung cancer and my uncle was just diagnosed. Both never smoked. It scares me. I need to change things up for myself and my family.
    Love you and am so happy things are going so well for you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I wrote a long comment yesterday and it got erased! I was so frustrated! I'll try to write it again. Soooooooo......

    I am trying to do the same thing with my diet. I am really happy to hear you are because I have been searching for recipes! My thought for myself was to try to replace my lunches with vegetable dishes (soups, salads, beans, etc.) and then that would leave me not scrambling so much at dinner time to try to find a vegetable to go with dinner because I could just serve my lunch leftovers. So far, I have a lot of ideas, but I need more since there's only so much hummus I can eat. Thanks so much for this recipe and keep posting the good ones you find! I'll post some good ones I've found on my blog soon.

    Two people in my ward have just overcome cancer. One is juicing and changing the way she eats entirely now. The other always did eat well and incorporated more cleanses and other stuff in during his treatments and he never lost his hair and did better with the treatments than most I hear. I visit teach his wife. When the doctors asked how he did it, and he and his wife tried to explain their nutritional approach, the doctors just dismissed it as a fluke or something. They didn't even want to hear about it. I hope your doctors are better, but I suspect it's how their taught. I think it is a tragedy that our "traditional" medicine treats only the disease once you have it, and never addresses what we eat seriously or preventative measures. I think it makes a huge difference.

    I've eaten bad most of my life, and am trying to change that by incorporating something new every 6 months or so, because it is too hard to do all at once, but at least I'm trying!
    I believe it is one of Satan's tools to make us too tired and sick to be able to serve the Lord when He needs us. I believe bad food is a vice that must be overcome just as every other vice or sin, and that means we need the Lord's help. I know I do!

    I am amazed that you are running so much and preparing for a 1/2 marathon! I am so proud of you and you are inspiring me to do better. I've been really depressed lately and not doing well personally mostly because with a little baby and my husbands work schedule I have no time to myself for exercising etc except at night after the kids are all in bed, and by then I'm doing dishes or laundry with Pat and I'm exhausted! I read my scriptures while I go to the bathroom! I could run a mile right now but that's it. The most I've ever run is 2 1/2. My running friend here says that if I can run 3 miles I can do anything. I don't know if that's true, but I sure would like to find out! So I'll try harder, because if you can do it after all those treatments then I surely should try! I can't wait to hear about all you do! Love you!

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