The Urban Nutritionist

As many of you now know, making soup is a new feat for me. I’m betting that there are a lot of you out there like me, who have never made soup. So, I wanted to show you a few of the main steps in pictures, so you can try it out - it is so easy! Soup is a great thing to make on the weekend, then keep in the fridge/ freezer for throughout the week. Depending on what kind you make, you are most likely looking at a big bowl of nutrition as well (whole grains, legumes, vegetables, herbs.)

The first step of making soup involves making a flavour base, which usually includes things like garlic, onion, carrots, celery. They are cooked first for a few minutes until soft, then herbs/spices are added and it is cooked another minute or two. Here is a picture of the base for my red lentil/rice soup (garlic, onions, carrots) before I added all the spices.

Then it’s time to add the rest of the ingredients which need to cook for the main portion of the cooking time - in this case the lentils and rice - plus liquid. Other examples of things which take a long time to cook would be potatoes, or other root vegetables, or meat. Tender vegetables like dark greens (spinach, kale) would be put in closer to the end since they cook very quickly. Here’s a pic of the lentils and rice, mixed with the base, before I added the liquid.

So once you add your liquid, you bring the whole thing to a boil, then turn it down to simmer for the time the recipe states. Things like fresh herbs (basil, cilantro) would be added at the end when the soup is cooked. Here is my finished product:

So for the most part, this seems to be the basic formula for making soup. Why not look up some recipes and experiment! For some great pictures and to get a ton of ideas, check out this soup challenge roundup at the blog running with tweezers which I participated in with my very first soup, kale and chickpea.

So I googled “lemon” today to see if I came up with any inspiration for a post, and found to my surprise “lemon and white” beagles. This is the name of a type of beagle which is coloured white and light beige, and apparently the true pure-bred kind is hard to find. I searched for a good photo, and found The Daily Puppy, which features puppy photos, including these very cute ones of a lemon and white beagle. Thought you might enjoy a bit of warm fuzzy on this cold and crisp Monday!

Tomorrow, Wednesday September 12 (10am-6pm) is another 5% day at Whole Foods Market. As I have said many times before, Whole Foods Market is an indulgence, but 5% of the net sales going to Willow Breast Cancer Support Canada is a good reason to indulge. Willow provides free services, information and emotional support to those affected by breast cancer. Pack your camera, head on down to Yorkville, stalk some celebs while you have a coffee, then go grab some goodies at Whole Foods (make sure to check out their baked goods!)

Good morning, and welcome to my photos of three days of food! This was a great challenge and really got me paying more attention to what I was eating. But then again, being pregnant, there were a few indulgences and also some laziness. But overall, I think I did pretty well. Let me know what you think!

Day 1:

Breakfast was grapefruit juice, blueberry yogurt (sweetened with honey, not aspartame!) with bran flakes. I prefer kashi cereals, but this is what we had in the house. The apple was sort of a mid-morning snack.

Lunch was a yummy lentil/brown rice soup I made. It was so easy, and tasted amazing. If anyone would like the recipe, let me know - I also have some bonus pictures of the soup making process I will post another time.

Dinner was sheppard’s pie made with with roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and salad with home-made balsamic/honey-mustard dressing. Sheppard’s pie is one of my husband’s favorite meals.

Day 2:

Breakfast was grapefruit juice, whole grain toast with almond butter and ground flaxseeds (lots of fiber here!), and yogurt was for mid-morning snack.

The lentil/rice soup makes another appearance for lunch (it’s great having soup available for days!) along with cucumber sticks, and I managed to get 10 minutes of sun outside for my vitamin D, before the bees came.

It was Friday, and we felt like a treat for dinner, so we tried a place near our house called Portugrill, which makes portuguese-style roasted chicken. I got 1/4 chicken white, with rice and roasted veggies. Was decent, but not as tasty as the downtown portuguese places.

Day 3:

The day before I had received some almost-too ripe fruit and veggies from a friend, and was going to spend the day making things out of them, so to get some energy, we decided to go to our favorite breakfast place. I had a fried egg and cheese on whole wheat sandwich, with a cup of decaf. Didn’t think that was really picture worthy, so took a pic of the strawberry banana muffin I ended up making instead (had as a snack!)

Lunch was home-made guacamole which used up my friend’s avocados and tomatoes, plus some of her goat yogurt. It was sooooo good. I also made baked garlic pita chips for dipping. I have the recipe if anyone is interested!

Well, I had big plans for this last dinner, I was going to make salmon and veggies in foil so people who haven’t done this before could see how to do it, but here some of the laziness set in. It was Sunday night, I had been shopping/baking/guacamoling all day, I was feeling big and fat, and I just couldn’t be bothered! So, I still did pretty well by whipping up this romaine, cucumber and broccoli salad with tuna, topped with my home-made dressing. The fish in foil trick will make an appearance on the blog at some point!

Hope you all enjoyed this little peek into my food world. Remember, please ask for recipes if you like - the muffins, guacamole and soup were all excellent!

Thanks again Sarah, for initiating this challenge!

Lately I have been making an effort to visit new blogs, and I stumbled across Living To Feel Good which is Sarah’s blog who lives in California and is going back to school for nutrition. Her posts are about all sorts of topics, but the one which caught my eye was her challenge to have people post 3 days worth of their meals on their blogs so everyone can get new ideas about what to eat. I think this is great, and I am up for the challenge. So, make sure to check back here next Monday, September 10 when I will have my meals posted. You will get a bigger glimpse into my food world!

If anyone is interested in participating, check Sarah’s blog for the rules and let her know you will take part. Not much time left as the pics need to be up Monday morning!