Member Sunshineluvr shared this soup recipe with members. We tried it – and it was great!
Soup is good in the summer, too! The lemon in this soup makes it feel light and refreshing, even though it’s a hot meal. You may be tempted to add additional ingredients because this recipe is so simple, but restrain yourself and enjoy the simplicity.
Enjoy a baguette and a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers on the side.
4 split chicken breasts, skin removed
1/2 cup diced white onion
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 cans quartered artichoke hearts, drained (chopped smaller if drinking from a mug)
3 cups broth (from cooking the chicken)
2 lemons
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 quart chicken broth (optional; try Imagine Foods brand)
salt to taste
Fill a soup pot with 2 quarts of water, and add salt. Add chicken and bring the water to a boil. Lower the heat to maintain a simmer, and cook for about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer and reserve. Pull the meat from the bones and cut into bite-sized pieces.
Wash the pot, and add the olive oil. Saute the diced onion. Add the broth (from cooking the chicken), chicken, artichoke hearts thyme and red pepper flakes. Add the zest and juice from both lemons. If you want it “soupier” add an additional quart of chicken broth. Simmer for about 30 minutes.
Yes. Play with your food. Especially with your produce – that’s fruits and vegetables.
This is berry season. If all you eat are strawberries and blueberries, it’s time to try something new. Raspberries and blackberries are good, and easily available (and can you say fiber? Chew those berries!).
It’s also the season for salad greens. There are so many kinds of salad greens – way beyond iceberg, spinach, and romaine. Try butter lettuce, frisee, arugula, red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce – they’re all available in just about every grocery store.
Make trying new food fun!
Set out everything in individual bowls, labeled A, B, C, etc. Have everyone taste each food and rank it. Comments are welcome, as long as they’re not “yuck.” Practice those adjectives – words like spicy, sweet, smooth, fresh, crisp, slimy, crunchy, nutty, tickle-y – you get the idea. Identify all the personal favorites, and figure out family favorites.
Mix up everything into one dish.
* Try a berry salad, topped with a dollop of vanilla soy (or rice or coconut) yogurt, a tiny drizzle of raw honey, and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Try macerated berries (sprinkle with a little sugar and let them sit for half an hour, then mash lightly with a fork) on shortcake. Try a berry smoothie. Identify personal and family favorites.
* Try a green salad, topped with a simple vinaigrette. Or top it with a scoop of tuna (or mock-tuna) salad. Or put a thick layer of salad greens in a grilled chicken or tofu sandwich. Identify personal and family favorites.
Play with your produce with a few taste tests. Learn what you all like and why. Teach your kids (and maybe your partner) that trying new foods is an adventure, not something to fear. Honor individual preferences, but remind everyone that it can take time to enjoy new foods, so sometimes things they don’t especially like will show up at meal time. A taste is good enough when it comes to new foods.
Challenge yourself to try some new produce this week! Have fun!
Get your kids outside. Heck, get yourself outside!
Go dig in the garden. Weed it, water it, harvest it. Go play on the playground. Swing, slide, climb. Go out on the trails. Hike or bike. Go out on the water. Swim, paddle, hoist the sails, drop the skis. Go play. Red rover, kick the can, flashlight tag, hopscotch, kickball, badminton.
What? It’s raining? Put on some boots and a jacket and jump in puddles (not during severe weather, of course). What? It’s too hot? Get out the sprinkler or the slip-n-slide. Make it fun.
No excuses. Everybody needs fresh air, and nobody’s too old to play.
June is dairy month, but… we don’t need no stinkin’ dairy. (Have you been in the cheese aisle lately? It really does smell like feet – the feet of a 13-year-old boy who hasn’t changed socks in a week. Not very appetizing, is it?
After giving up dairy, people report having more energy, better digestion, better skin, less puffiness, and less stuffiness in their sinuses. Seriously – you’ll look and feel better. And you’ll smell better, too.
Antibiotics are frequently used to treat the multitude of cow ailments that come from the common and unnatural dairy production practices such as hormone therapy, force feedings, and steroid use. If you’ve ever breastfed a baby, you know that whatever YOU eat, the baby also eats. Same thing works with the cow’s milk – whatever goes in the cow comes out in the cow’s milk. More antibiotics (and hormones, and steroids) for you.
Milk and dairy products are not a necessary source of calcium. The type of calcium in cow’s milk is too coarse for absorption in the human body. Most of us get enough calcium through other foods like salmon, sardines, soybeans, tofu, nuts, sesame seeds, spinach, broccoli, and other dark green leafy vegetables. (Pssst – where do you think cows get calcium? From grasses, of course. Green grasses. Unless they’re only eating some kind of feed – then the calcium is a supplement. Learn from the cows! Get calcium from greens!)
Dairy products have been linked to arthritis, kidney stones, allergies, nasal congestion, respiratory problems, childhood diabetes, heart disease, mad cow disease, canker sores, mood swings, and depression.
Cow’s milk is designed to turn a 50-pound baby calf into a 300-pound young cow, and that’s it! If weight gain isn’t the plan for you and your family, don’t drink it!
Bovine growth hormone is commonly found in cow’s milk. It’s an unnatural substance that poses health risks for humans.
Let the calves drink cow’s milk. You were weaned from mother’s milk long ago (well… that’s the norm). Drink water.
This vegan smoothie tastes like a chocolate milkshake. Guaranteed to satisfy a sweet tooth or chocolate craving!
If you’ve never tried carob powder before, this is a good recipe to try. If you prefer, substitute an equal amount of cocoa powder for the carob powder. The tahini (or almond butter) really is optional – it adds some protein and changes the flavor a little.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ‘Chocolate’ Shake Yellow * Serves 2
Blend the following ingredients and serve:
1 fresh banana
1 frozen banana
4 pitted dates (more or less, depending on how sweet you want it)
1 Tablespoon raw carob powder
1 cup water (more or less, depending on consistency you want)
1 Tablespoon raw tahini or raw unsalted almond butter (optional)
On this Father’s Day, take a moment to think about your dad. He probably wasn’t perfect – but he also probably did the best he could. Remember the good times, the fun times, the times that “perfect” wasn’t necessary for the love to shine through.
Call your dad, if you can. Tell him how grateful you are for everything he did for you.
And if you can’t call him, write him a letter to tell him, and put it in a special place.
Celebrate the dads around you, too – your husband, your brother, your uncle, your son.
Is luck something that happens to you?
Or do you create your own luck?
We like to think that our choices and our actions create our future. When you choose healthy living, you’re creating a life that includes fewer doctor visits, less medication, greater stamina, a youthful look and attitude, and a longer, happier life. (What’s not to love?)
Use this song to keep your mood happy while you declutter.
Or to put you in the mood for another kind of luck altogether.
If you only have 15 minutes to spare, declutter a bathroom drawer, or a shelf in your medicine cabinet or linen closet, or your car, or your fridge and freezer.
If you have 30 minutes, declutter the junk drawer in the kitchen, or your jewelry, or under the kitchen or bathroom sink, or your laundry area, or the top of your desk.
If you have an hour, declutter a closet, or the living room, or the dining room.
Empty the space, tossing anything old or useless or past its expiration date. Wash out the space with hot water and a little soap or disinfecting cleaner (as appropriate), or dust and vacuum. Then return whatever you’re keeping in an organized way, so you can find what you need when you need it.
There. That wasn’t so difficult. If you do it every day for the rest of the month, you may just run out of spaces to declutter!
Fitness is measured in many ways, and one of the ways we tend to overlook is balance.
It’s great fun to walk on the curb instead of the sidewalk, but not always so practical. Instead, take 2 minutes a day to practice the Tree pose (Vrksasana in Sanskrit, but you don’t have to know that to do it).
Stand with your feet together, shoulders down and back, and breathe. Focus on a point on the wall or floor in front of you, so your line of sight is at about a 45 degree angle.
Shift your weight to your left foot, and place your right foot on the inner thigh of your left leg. Use your hand to move your foot if you need to. If you can’t get your foot that high, place it just below the knee instead. Keep your knee turned out (pointed to the side).
Put your hands in a prayer position in front of your chest. Move them above your head if you can. Keep breathing.
Keep your focus on the point you chose. Imagine your left foot rooted to the earth, and your arms pulled to the sky. Feel the strength of that connection. Keep breathing. Hold the pose for about a minute, then bring your hands back to your chest and put your foot on the floor.
Repeat on the other side.
Our days are filled with moments of imbalance – surprises that throw us off our game, challenges we didn’t see coming, unfulfilled expectations. Being able to maintain physical balance and focus helps our minds stay balanced and focused when it matters.
