Feel Good Monday Post: Connecting With Your Kale!

Happy Monday All,

I hope you are enjoying this chilly winter weather and finding ways to stay warm!
Today I made a surprisingly delicious spontaneous white bean roasted fennel soup.
I say surprisingly because I was worried that it would be too bland.  Luckily,
the roasted fennel and garlic made the soup quite flavorful. I added a little red pepper flakes at the end to give it a little kick as well.  I will am going to post the recipe although I need to warn you I did this from the "soup artist" within and didn't write anything down as I went along.

I have something EXCITING to share with you all today. It is a video that my friend FrancoVogt took and his wonderful wife Lucia Reale Vogt helped produce.  I have been wanting to do food demo clips for a while now but I am easily intimidated by technology and happen to be camera shy as well.  All that being said, Franco and Lucia made this process painless and FUN.  I am deeply grateful to them for making this happen as I have no idea when I would have gotten this together myself.  I also am quite impressed with the results and hope that you will be as well! A thank you to Inanna King  for working her magic with my face and hair and giving me my most polished appearance.

I need to say before you watch it, I make a mistake about kale.  There are at least 3 different kinds of kale, not two.  I forgot to mention Russian kale, which has different shaped leaves than the lacinato or curly kale. It has purple stems and is quite tender. It makes a delicious kale salad.  Sorry Russian Kale, I didn't mean to leave you behind!

A dear friend of mine saw this video and suggested calling it "Connecting with Your Kale".  I love this concept and hope that you give the salad a try and make it one of your staples on your menu.  You can also do the same prep for the kale and use a balsamic dressing, add parmesan cheese, currants and toasted pignoli. There are endless ways to make kale salad but the Rainbow (demonstrated) and the Tuscan (with balsamic, parm, currants and pignoli nuts) are among my favorites.  Click on the link below to see my debut video appearance!

http://vimeo.com/58307332

Before I say goodbye for this week, I would like you to pick ONE thing to do to take yourself.  For example, I will keep focused on drinking plenty of water. My body keeps telling me to drink more, dry skin, dry mouth, both remind me to DRINK!  What can you do to nourish yourself this week?

Lastly, if you enjoy the video, PLEASE SHARE IT WITH OTHERS!

Take good care,
Lysa

White Bean & Roasted Fennel Soup
 1 lb dried white beans ( I used cannellini)
1 bulb of fennel
1 red onion
2 stalks of celery
3 cloves garlic
2 pinches of dried thyme
1 pinch of dill (optional)
2 pinches of basil
5 cups water or broth
sea salt to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Soak beans overnight and skip to step two OR cover beans with water by 2 inches in a pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, drain and rinse beans in colander.  Let sit.

2. In large soup pot, saute' diced red onion and celery until soft and slightly browned.  Add herbs and stir.  Add beans, water or broth (chicken or veggie) and let cook.

3. In oven, roast chopped fennel and garlic cloves at 350 until tender.  

4. When beans are soft, add fennel and garlic, salt, pepper and some more of the herbs if you choose.  Let cook together for about 10 minutes or so.  Turn heat off, take immersion blender and blend beans and fennel.  Depending on how you like your soup you can either blend some or all of the soup.  For extra flavor, add a pinch of red pepper flakes and grated parmesan cheese.  This soup will accompany the kale salad demoed in the video beautifully.  Also, the recipe for the kale salad can be found on my website www.bodyandsoulnutrition.com under the recipes link.

Enjoy!  

Feel Good Monday Post: Shine as you are!

Hi Everyone,

I am writing my Monday post on Sunday as I have the kiddies home tomorrow.  Today happens to my 43rd birthday.  Yesterday, I was lucky enough to attend a women's workshop (one of my birthday gifts) where we spent a very introspective day and ended with a beautiful guided meditation.  During the last few moments of the exercise, a phrase came to me that I would like to share, "shine as you are".

We each might make this mean something a little different, but to me it meant, this is your time to live out loud and not hold anything back.  I share this with you because I believe this is appropriate for us all.  Where do you hold back in your life? Where do you let yourself shine?  Letting yourself shine is more than just about being good to you. We are all in this world together.  When one person shines brilliantly, it inspires another to shine their brightest. Imagine what an amazing world we would have if we each allowed ourself to shine NOW.

Another meaning of this phrase could be "you are all that you need to be in this moment". Same ultimate message, "what are we waiting for"?

It is my birthday promise to myself to shine more brightly, more regularly, in more areas of my life.
Will you join me in this noble, perhaps crazy resolution?

Also, I am excited to share with you that I will be part of Mother Earth's monthly "Wednesday Wellness Event".  They will be held the 4th Wednesday of each month from 5-7pm at their Kingston store.  There will be a variety of wellness practitioners there, including massage therapists, yoga instructors, fitness trainers, nutrition counselors and food demos as well.  I will be there offering free 10 minute mini nutrition sessions. If you can come by, I think you will be glad you did!

FOOD WISE (This is supposed to be a nutrition blog, isn't it?:)
Friday night I made fish cakes from a family recipe (my family is Portuguese).  They were delicious and felt great.  I believe they are my grandfather's recipe but they could be my grandmother's so I will call them, Armando and Maria- Julia's Fish Cakes

Armando & Maria- Julia's Fish Cakes
1 ld cod or scrod
2 large yukon gold potatoes
4 tbsp parsley, chopped
5 tbsp flour (I used almond)
4 eggs
1 1/4 tsp sea salt
pepper
1 carrot, 1 celery stalk, onion
2 small onions or 1 large, diced
olive oil for the saute'

1.Boil potatoes until tender, put through ricer or mash thoroughly if you don't have a ricer.
2. Boil fish with carrot, celery, onion for about 5 minutes (simmer)
3. Beat eggs
4. Mix the fish, potatoes, salt, eggs, onions (you can either caramelize them beforehand or uses them raw) into a bowl and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a large skillet.
Make cakes in any shape you prefer.  I made medium sized patties.  Cook for 5 minutes on each side.
Place on paper towel while you are cooking the rest of the mixture.

I made a Veganaise/ mustard, lemon dip the first day. The second day, we had them with chopped pickles. They were yummy both days!

If you have an aversion to fish, try cooking something from your own family's archive of recipes. It is a nice way to connect with your history and bring it into the current moment!

Have a beautiful week everyone!
Lysa

Feel Good Monday Post, January 14th, 2013

Happy Monday Everyone,

I hope you are all well and enjoying this beautiful day!
I am in the middle of my winter cleanse, which is going quite well (no crazy sugar, wheat cravings or extreme moodiness, thank goodness).  Instead of a cleanse, it feels more like I have just tweaked my diet by eliminating the foods that drain me and increase the foods that give me vitality and a sense of well being.
Tomorrow I am leading a workshop entitled "Finding What Feels Good In Your Body".  We will focus on tuning into your body to understand which foods give you long term energy and which foods take your energy away.
I encourage you to be aware of how you feel after you eat.  Energized or tired?  How long does the food last? Tuning into how you feel will help you figure out what your "best diet" is.

For now, remember to eat lots of veggies to get good energy and drink plenty of water to keep you hydrated (although I know it's hard during the winter, you will feel so much better if you make the effort).

Here is a sweet treat I had yesterday that I shared with the email cleanse group and really enjoyed (sorry to those who are on the cleanse list and have already read this).

Japanese Yam Delight
Shred 1/4 Japanese Yam (red on outside and white inside)
1 tbsp coconut oil.
sea salt
cinnamon

Heat coconut oil in skillet.  Add yams and let cook until tender.  Sprinkle some cinnamon and sea salt on top.  Really yummy and nourishing!

Be well,
Lysa

Feel Good Monday Post, Winter Cleanse Needed!

January 7th, 2013

Hi Everyone,

I almost made it through the holidays without getting pulled into the sugar vortex, but no such luck!
So, in an effort to return to my normal mostly sugar free state, I am about to embark upon a cleanse.
Since it's always easier to do something in a group, I thought I would reach out to those of you who read my posts and see if you would like to join me.

Now, before your knees start shaking, I will let you know that it won't be too radical.  My plan is to incorporate extra greens into my day by making a pot of a green soup, having salads and green smoothies and or veggie juices.  The following will be eliminated during the cleanse time:  wheat, sugar, alcohol, coffee and dairy except for sheep/goat cheese.  If that sounds too scary, you can pick from these food items what you think you can live without for 10 days and be okay with that.  My motto is even just adding extra greens and doing nothing else is still beneficial.  If you want to dive in with me, please do!

I am going to create an email group for the cleanse.  Those that are included will get a little note once a day during the 10 period.  Before we start, I will give you soup ideas, veggie juice and green smoothie ideas as well as green sides.  If you are a meat eater, you need to do your best to eat high quality meat at this time (it would be great to always do this).  Lots of water too!

I will start the cleanse on January 10th. If you would like to join me, please let me know and I will include you on the list.

The group members will also be able to chime if they would like to.  I have done a mini version of this before after leading a Spring Cleanse and Renewal Workshop and it was a lot of fun.  It should be done in the spirit of lightheartedness and exploration as opposed to drudgery and depravation. It is temporary and is just a nice way to clear out for the new year.  

There will be no fee for this guided cleanse as it will be a mutual supportive group.

Here is a great recipe from the Paleo Plan website www.paleoplan.com. Great resource for grain free recipes.  

I hope to hear from you!
:) Lysa

• Spicy Spaghetti Squash 
• 
  
• 1 large spaghetti squash
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1 Tbs coconut oil
• 1/2 - 1 tsp ground chipotle
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Instructions

1. Bake for 45 minutes or so, until the squash is soft to the touch.
2. Meanwhile, add the slivered almonds to a small saute pan over medium-low heat.  Stir constantly until they turn golden brown.  Note: the almonds will burn quickly if not stirred, or if left unattended!  Set aside.
3. When squash is done cooking, remove it from the oven and cool until it can be comfortably handled.
4. Turn the cut side up, and remove from the rind with a fork.  This should be done cross-wise, so the strands of squash fall out like spaghetti.
5. Toss the spaghetti squash strands in coconut oil, ground chipotle, nutmeg and sea salt, and top with toasted almonds.  Great warm or cold.