Source: Health Castle

As the winter weather really starts to chill us to our bones, there’s nothing more satisfying than a steaming bowl of hot, delicious soup. But when many of us think of eating soup at home, we turn to canned soups and packaged noodles, which are full of sodium, and often high in calories and fat. There’s no reason to limit ourselves to the pre-made varieties on store shelves. It’s really easy to make homemade soup that satisfies your craving for something hot and soothing, in a much healthier way than store-bought.

Top 4 Tips for Healthy Homemade Soup

Make your own stock:
Soup stock is surprisingly expensive to buy, and it’s actually very easy to make at home. Just save your vegetable trimmings and chicken bones (or chicken back if you buy whole chickens) in your freezer during the week. On the weekend, throw them all into a pot with some water and spices and simmer until you get the flavor you want. Use right away or freeze to use later.

Watch out for sodium and MSG:
These are often included in canned and packaged soups and noodles, including stock. If you must buy packaged stock as a base for your own homemade soup, choose one with lower sodium and avoid those with added MSG.

Add flavor instead of fat:
Broth-based soups have much less fat and fewer calories than cream-based soups, and are anything but boring. Add international flare and flavor using regional ingredients. For example, for Chinese hot and sour soup, simply add Chinese ingredients like tofu, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and sesame oil into your stock. For Thai Tom Yum Goong, add Thai ingredients like lemongrass, fish sauce, shrimp, limes, and so on.

Thicken up with food, not cream:
Many thicker soups use cream to create a hearty mouth-feel. But cream significantly boosts the fat and calorie content of soup. A healthier alternative is to use pureed pumpkin, squash, beans, lentils, or potatoes to create a luxurious thickness with extra nutritional value and much less fat.

There is research that has looked specifically at Cayenne to determine the health impact this super herb can make. Enjoy reading some of the varied uses and findings, including improving digestion, providing skin care and helping circulation in the body.

University of Maryland on Cayenne

LiveStrong on Cayenne

Cayenne Pepper and Inflammation

Enjoy this delicious Cranberry Salsa throughout the Fall season, brought to us by Medicine Net:

Cranberry Salsa

Ingredients:

• 4 oz 100% cranberry juice blend
• 1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes
• 1 cup fresh cranberries, sliced thin1
• 1/4 cup ripe medium avocado, diced
• 1/2 cup pineapple, diced
• 1/2 cup scallions (including green tops), sliced thinly
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/4 cup jalapeno peppers, chopped fine
• 2 cloves crushed garlic (1 teaspoon)
• Fresh ground pepper, as desired

Preparation:
1. Place juice into a saucepan. Boil for about 5 minutes until reduced to about 1 tablespoon of syrup.
2. Place the reduced juice and all remaining ingredients into a medium bowl and stir until incorporated.
3. Chill and serve immediately.<BR<
*Fresh cranberries may be stored in your freezer for up to 1 year.

Yield:
8 servings

Nutritional Information:
Per serving: Calories 40, Protein 0 g, Fat 0 g, Calories From Fat 0, Carbohydrates 8 g, Cholesterol 0 mg, Fiber 1 g, Sodium 76 mg.

4 servings

Active Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Nutrition Profile

Low calorie | Low cholesterol | Low saturated fat | Low sodium | Heart healthy | Healthy weight | High fiber | Gluten free |

View Our Nutrition Guidelines »

Ingredients

• 4 ripe pears, preferably Bosc, with stems, washed and dried
• 2 cups Riesling or other fruity white wine
• 1/4 cup honey
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• 4 bay leaves
• 4 strips orange zest, (see Tip)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Cut a thin slice off the bottom of each pear, so they will stand upright. Arrange the pears in a 9- to 10-inch pie pan or similar baking dish. Whisk wine and honey in a medium bowl until well blended; pour over the pears. Add cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and orange zest to the wine mixture around the pears.
3. Roast the pears, basting every 15 minutes, until they are wrinkled and tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the type of pear used.
4. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pears to shallow dessert bowls. Pour the wine mixture into a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Boil until slightly thickened, about 6 minutes. Drizzle over the pears and garnish with the cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and orange zest. Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled.

Tips & Notes

• Make Ahead Tip: Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day.

• Tip: Scrub the orange first—and if it’s an organic orange, so much the better—then use a vegetable peeler to remove strips of orange zest, leaving behind any of the bitter white pith.

Nutrition

Per serving: 241 calories; 0 g fat (0 g sat, 0 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 43 g carbohydrates; 1 g protein; 4 g fiber; 2 mg sodium; 176 mg potassium.

3 Carbohydrate Serving

Exchanges: 1 fruit, 2 other carbohydrate

Juicing for Health explains the nutritional benefits of eating pears:

Health Benefits

Pears are often recommended as a hypo-allergenic fruit that is high in fiber but less likely to produce adverse reactions.  Pear juice is safe to be introduced to infants as they are mild, yet healthful. 

Blood pressure:  Pears have anti-oxidant and anti-carcinogen glutathione which help prevent high blood pressure and stroke.

Cancer prevention:  The high vitamin C and copper content act as good anti-oxidants that protect cells from damages by free radicals.

Cholesterol:  The high content of pectin in pears make it very useful in helping to lower cholesterol levels.

Colon health:  When not juicing, eat the pear whole for its precious fiber that are highly beneficial for your colon health.

Constipation:  The pectin in pears is diuretic and have a mild laxative effect.  Drinking pear juice regularly helps regulate bowel movements.

Energy:  You can get quick and natural source of energy from pear juice, due largely to its high amounts of fructose and glucose.

Fever:  The cooling effect in pear is excellent in relieving fever.  Best way to bring a fever down quickly is by drinking a big glass of pear juice.

Immune booster:  The anti-oxidant nutrients in pears are critical in building up your immune system.  Drink pear juice when you feel a cold coming.

Inflammation:  Pear juice has an anti-inflammatory effect and helps relieve sufferers of much pain in various inflammatory conditions.

Osteoporosis:  Pears contain high level of boron.  Boron helps the body to retain calcium, thus prevents or retards osteoporosis.

Pregnancy:  The high content of folate (folic acid) prevents neural tube defects in infants.

Shortness of breath:  The summer heat may cause children to have shortness of breath with excessive phlegm.  Drink pear juice during this period to help clear the phlegm.

Throat problem:  The pears are in season during the summer for a reason.  Drinking pear juice every morning and night helps to cool your body down during this time.  It nourishes the throat and helps prevent throat problems.

Vocal chord:  Boil two Chinese pear juice with some raw honey and drink warm.  This is extremely healing for the throat and the vocal cord.

Lemonade made well is wonderful but for the summer, I find this drink to be the best. It’s a great way keep my system well hydrated. Enjoy! 

3 packet of Fortune Delight (your favorite flavor)
1 vial of Sunrider Evergreen
1 vial of Sunrider Electrosport
8 cups of water
several squirts of Sunrider’s Sunnydew (which contains stevia, a natural and healthy option to sweeten your drinks)

Just stir and drink throughout the day!

To order the Sunrider products utilized to make this drink, visit Dr. Karen Spencer-Dees’ website.

Here a few fun berry recipes to try this summer:

Local Strawberry and Goat Cheese Tart: http://www.mountainx.com/news/2010/eatin_in_season_berry_delicious
Berry Smoothie:

http://kidshealth.org/kid/recipes/gluten/cd_berry_smoothie.html

Mixed Berry “Salad”:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/mixed-berry-salad-recipe/index.html

When you add “dairy free”  (or casein free, which is the protein in dairy) to the equation, some parents feel overwhelmed. Today, it’s becoming much easier to be gluten free AND dairy free!

Enjoy this list of gluten free, casein free kid-friendly snacks and foods to help you get ideas:

Hummus + Mary’s Gone Crackers
Apple + almond butter
Salad (all kinds) + candied (w/ honey) pecans
Applesauce + walnuts
Brown rice tortilla + refried beans + salsa
Salsa + organic potato chips
Gluten free waffle + nut butter
Tator tots + ketchup
Gluten free chicken nuggets + gluten free dipping sauce (ketchup, some mustards,…)
Gluten free fish sticks + organic French fries (you can add salad to make this balanced)
Orange slices + walnuts
Coconut “ice cream” bar
Quinoa + chopped spinach
Steamed spinach + organic hamburger
Steamed broccoli + fish
Corn tortillas + refried beans + salsa + lettuce
Turkey wrap + all of your favorite veggies
Taco Salad (use gluten free corn tostadas or break up corn taco shells to create a base for the taco salad)
(For the adventurous kid) Smoked salmon + hummus smeared on gluten free toast (with good fiber per slice)
Indian food: curried lentils + basmati rice
Lentil/vegetable soup + brown rice
Stir-fries on quinoa or rice

Have any favorite gluten free/casein free snacks you’d like to share with everyone? Leave them in the comments!

You’ll need brown rice lasagna noodles, 1 jar of tomato sauce, 1 container of hummus, 1 container of washed organic spinach leaves.

Set the oven according to the temperature requested on the back of the brown rice lasagna noodles.

To make the lasagna, layer in the following order until you reach the near top of your lasagna pan:

1. Light level of sauce on the very bottom of the pan
2. Lasagna noodles
3. Sauce
4. Spinach
5. Hummus (spread across using a knife or spoon)
6. Sauce
7. Now repeat 2 through  until you reach the top – if possible, end with hummus on the top layer

Cover & bake in the oven according to the instructions on your lasagna noodle box.

Before removing, check the consistency of the noodles to ensure the lasagna cooked fully to your liking. You may find that 350 degrees for 40 minutes does the trick but check your lasagna box and actual lasagna to find the best cooking time for your oven & preference!

Add beans, or tuna – better yet, add some smoked salmon! The key is to stay open to a wide range of possibilities. All Recipes has done a great job of getting the creative juices flowing for a tasty summer of salads.

Turn that salad from a side dish to an entree by adding some protein. This will turn it into a nutritionally balanced meal and keep your tummy from growling again an hour after dinner.  Read more…