a peek inside the fishbowl

I don’t normally like to start a blog post with an insult, but I think I’m going to have to make an exception this time.

Mark has been under the weather lately, and he asked me to buy him some Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup. “I don’t care about the sodium,” he said wearily, “I just want the soup.” And so I bought it.

While it was simmering on the stove I dipped my finger in the broth to check the temperature. I licked my finger, and you know what, it was kind of gross. It’s been a long time since I ate that kind of soup. My tastes have definitely changed. I just can’t to eat it anymore: (a) there was nothing chicken about this chicken soup (b) all I could taste was the salt. Ugh.

ENJOY YOUR SOUP HONEY!

Anyway, I’m here to say that making soup isn’t that hard. We don’t need to rely on the canned stuff, no matter how busy we are. 

I had a bunch of leeks kicking around the house so I decided to make some soup. It’s actually really easy. Heck, if I can do it, you can do it. Here is the recipe I used:

Leeks R Easy Soup

You will need:

• 1 tb unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup water
• a bunch of leeks (3 or 4), sliced and thoroughly washed
• 1 mediumish potato
• 1 tetra pack chicken of vegetable stock (or about 900 ml if you’re using your own)
• freshly black pepper (to taste)

First, slice off the leek beards. (I don’t know what they’re really called, but don’t they look like beards? Or hair?)

Next, wash the leeks. This is a very important step. Don’t be tempted to gloss over the cleaning of the leeks. If you hurry this along too much, you’ll have gritty soup. The best way to wash leeks is to slice them, separate the rings, and dump them into a big bowl of cold water. You will need a bigger bowl than this:

Swish them around. They need a bit of swishing action:

Here’s where little people can pitch in. They can do the swishing and separating. See, you can even make leek rings!

The idea is to dislodge the sand and dirt that gets trapped between the rings. The dirt will sink to the bottom. When you’re done, don’t go and dump it all in the strainer because you’ll just get the sand on your leeks again. Skim the clean leeks off the top, and place them in a strainer and rinse under running water. Get it?

See all the dirt at the bottom? Yuck. THAT COULD HAVE BEEN IN YOUR SOUP.

Grab a large pot, put it on the burner on medium, and add the butter, toast crumbs and all:

… and the water:

… and when the butter is melted, add the leeks and give it all a stir. There might even be a surprise engagement:

The leeks will need to cook until softened but not brown, say about 12 minutes. Give it a stir every once in awhile.

Meanwhile, peel and chop the potato. Don’t fuss about the peeling. A bit of peel never killed anyone:

And when the leeks are soft, toss ’em in.

Add your stock. I used this kind, as well as a bit of other stock I had leftover in the fridge.

Don’t add salt. The original recipe (from Joy of Cooking) says to season with salt, but before you do, take a moment to look at the amount of sodium that’s already in your prepackaged stock. See, there’s already salt in your soup. If you really need it you can always add it later, but I doubt you will.

Bring it to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for about 30 minutes until the potatoes are cooked. At that point, puree your soup with an immersion blender or in batches in the food processor (which is what I did.) Add water or extra stock to adjust the consistency (if you want).

That’s it! It’s ready to serve!

Season with freshly ground pepper, or if it’s too hot for the kids to eat, cool it down with a splash of milk. Serve with thick slices of whole wheat bread.

Let me know if you try this recipe. I’d love to know how it turned out for you.

In yesterday’s post I mentioned oatmeal. I would like to expand on the oatmeal theme for a little bit.

Oatmeal in itself is not that exciting, it’s what you add to it that makes it exciting. I know this is a hot topic among some of you because the last time I wrote about it (during the Blue Menu Healthy Eating Challenge, remember that?) I realized that Oatmeal Is Big News.

During the Sugar Fast I realized that sometimes I really needed something hot to fill me up and I quickly learned that oatmeal does the trick really nicely.

I have also learned something valuable about grains in general. Aside from couscous (which is a tiny and granular grain) if oatmeal or rice is labelled with words like “quick” or “instant”  … you don’t want it. The reason you are able to cook it so quickly is that all of the healthy stuff has been stripped away all in the name of convenience. ISN’T THAT HELPFUL.

In my view, the longer the oats takes to cook, the less processed they are, and the better they are for you.

“Research show that eating oats, oat bran and oatmeal helps lower elevated blood cholesterol level thanks to their special type of soluble fibre, called beta-glucan. This soluble fibre also helps stabilize blood sugar levels by reducing spikes and dips, especially in people with type 2 diabetes. Large flake and steel-cut oats … are low glycemic foods, meaning they’re slowly digested and gradually released as sugar into the bloodstream.” (from this site)

Enter STEEL CUT OATMEAL. Have you ever had steel cut oatmeal? If you’ve grown up (like me) eating cream of wheat (gag) and oatmeal from a little packet YOU WILL NOT KNOW WHAT HIT YOU.

Steel cut oats aren’t difficult to prepare. They take about 25 minutes to cook (and they practically cook themselves), and are slightly chewy when they’re done. The time spend is totally worth it.

This is what I was adding to my oats during the sugar fast:

And here’s what the end result looked like:

I like drowning the whole thing with a bit of 1% milk. The walnuts added a lovely bit of crunch, and the grated apple adds a surprising amount of sweetness. Totally yummy.

It’s worth repeating, there was no added sugar in these oats, although admittedly it’s very good with raisins and a bit of brown sugar.

It makes a delicious and filling breakfast. In fact, I think I’ll go make some right now.

First of all, did you know I’m hosting a very cool giveaway? Check it out and enter before time runs out!

Second I wanted to collect a few thoughts regarding my second foray into the Land of Very Little Refined Sugar and Flour.

Many of you will remember the first Sugar Fast. What you may not have realized at the time, is that the troops were starting to mutiny by the end of it. I was not willing to put them through again, so I was very much on my own this time around.

For the last two weeks I have been eating:

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