A soup for all seasons

Irish Cabbage Stew hits the spot summer and winter

When it comes to soups, I tend to think of my recipes in terms of the seasons, with lighter versions for summer and heartier ingredients added for winter stews. 

Last summer, I came across this recipe for Irish Cabbage Stew, and immediately, summer and vegetables from the garden came to mind. But I didn't put this recipe away when summer was over. On cold winter nights, this soup will warm and fill you up. 

Two things to know before you make this soup: This recipe makes a LOT of soup, approximately 10-12 servings, depending on your bowl size and appetite. This soup does NOT freeze well. The potatoes turn mushy in the freezer. the soup does keep well in the fridge for several days. Before I start making this soup, I think of someone to share it with. That's how I manage the the extra servings. 

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped

3 ribs celery, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 head cabbage, chopped

4-5 carrots, sliced

3 medium potatoes, cut in large pieces

1/3 cup pearled barley

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon rosemary

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

4 cups (32-ounce carton) vegetable broth

4 cups water

3 cups cooked great northern beans, (2 cans, drained)

1 141/2-ounce can diced tomatoes

Salt to taste

Into a large cooking pan or dutch oven, add all ingredients except the beans and tomatoes. Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are tender. Add the beans and tomatoes and simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes. 

Nutrition info:

Calories: 195

Total fat:0.3 g

Saturated fat: 0 g

Cholesterol: 0 mg

Sodium: 460 mg

Total carbs: 39 g

Fiber: 9.4 g

Sugars: 6 g

Protein: 8.3 g

~~~B~~~

Becoming plant-slanted

Last year, I spent several months studying some of the plant-based diets, as well as some studies conducted on them. At the conclusion of these studies, I decided that I would move toward becoming more planted-slanted by reducing dairy and meat to about 15-20 percent and increasing plants and whole grains to about 80-85 percent of my diet.

I've been very pleased with this change and discovered that filling up on plants and whole grains is different than stuffing myself on meat dishes. Although I'm full and stay full longer, I don't have that lethargic feeling of being overstuffed with consumption of a large meat serving. Many health benefits, which I won't go into here and may also differ among individuals, are derived from eating more plants and less meat. 

On the days that now I prepare meat, which is usually two or three days a week, I only use 100 percent grass-fed, organic beef and free-range, organic chicken and serve smaller portions. My husband and I had both given up meat for breakfast several years ago, so moving toward plant-slanted hasn't been a hardship for either of us. 

As a result of eating more meatless entrees and hearty soups, I will be adding a stand-alone page with recipes for these new dishes that we are enjoying.

As I introduce these recipes on the main page of the blog, I will also discuss some changes I've made in preparing some of these dishes. 

~~~B~~~

Pumpkin for all seasons

Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Cookies make a great breakfast cookie all year round

I can't think of a cookie recipe that I've experimented with more than this one. For the first year that I made these cookies, I served them as they left the oven, without any glaze, and thought they were wonderful.

 I've made them in assorted sizes, ranging from small to even scone-size. Soft and chewy, regardless of the size, I love them for breakfast and have taken th
em to holiday gatherings and even served them at my 25th wedding anniversary party, a few years ago. 

Last fall, I added a maple glaze to them. Rarely do I add a glaze or frosting to any cookie, and with these cookies already having that wonderful flavor from that super food pumpkin, plus ginger and cinnamon, I wondered if a maple glaze might compete with those flavors. To my surprise, the maple glaze did not complete with the other flavors but actually seemed to enhance the flavors. So I kept adding the glaze.

It seemed to me these cookies couldn't get any better. Well, last night when I started working on a fresh batch, I discovered my flour was getting low, due to a lot of baking this past week. I decided to substitue half the flour with Hodgen's Whole Wheat flour, which I love for some of my recipes due to its subtle graham flavor. 

When the first batch came of out the oven, I tried one as soon they were slightly cooled. Wow! Just as the glaze had combined to perfectly enhance the flavors, so had this whole wheat flour. I couuldn't believe this cookie had actually gotten even better. So now, I will be making future batches with a combination of white and whole wheat flour. And even with a dab of glaze, a medium-size cookie has only about 7 g. of sugar. Doesn't that make these cookies even more healthy and deserving to be a breakfast cookie? I think so. 

Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/3 cups oats (Not instant or quick cooking)

1 1/4teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree (Not pie filling)

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2-3 tablespoons milk (Might need more ,as glaze thickens while cookies bake.)

2 tablespoons maple syrup

Instructions for cookies:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking pans with parchment paper or use pans ungreased.

Whisk the flours, oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg in a medium bowl and set aside. Mix together butter and sugars until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla. With the slow speed of a mixer, or by hand, add half the flour mixture, followed by half the pumpkin puree. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture and pumpkin puree.

Drop dough onto baking pans with either a tablespoon or teaspoon, depending on the size cookies desired. Place baking pans in oven, one on top rack and the other one on bottom rack and back about 10 minutes. Then rotate the pans from top to bottom racks and bake an additional 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cookies cool in pan for about 3 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Let baking sheets/pans cool slightly and then repeat with the remaining dough until all cookies are baked. 

When the cookies are cool or cooled to slightly warm, drizzle a small amount of glaze over each cookie. When the glaze has set, usually about 20 minutes, cookies can be transferred to the freezer for future use. I always freeze at least half the batch. These cookies still taste great from the freezer. I've kept them in the freezer for at least a month. 

Yield: This will depend on the size of the cookies. Scone-size will yield about 36 cookies; medium-sized about 48; and small about 72. 

Note: These cookies freeze well.

~~~B~~~

It's been a while...

Didn't mean to be gone from this blog so long. Right after my last post LAST year, I went into full wedding mode, planning my daughter's wedding which took place July 2016.

These Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies, 

were among the three varieties of cookies

served at the wedding reception. Recipe is 

on the Sweets and Treats Page.

While she was finishing up her last semester of college, I took care of most of the details of the wedding and reception, which left no time for my blogs or much of anything else. With some help from one of my sisters, I also prepared all the food for the reception, except for the wedding cake and cupcakes. Without any help, I baked 27 dozen cookies for the cookie bar. I won't be forgetting that anytime soon.

All of our work resulted in a beautiful wedding and reception, and I'm so thankful it's all a beautiful memory, now.

Exactly three weeks to the day, following the wedding, my husband had a heart attack. His recovery involved several months of cardiac rehab and a few changes to our exercise routine. During that time, I studied some of the plant-based diets and adopted some of the cooking methods and recipes.

For the most part, the changes in our diet are more plant-slanted menus but not exclusively. We are probably 80 percent plant-based and 20 percent meat and dairy. I'm going to be adding some plant-based recipes to a stand-along page. Keep watching for that.Several of these recipes will be the soups I've been making for the past few months. They are delicious.

~~~

The joys of a minimalist closet

Part 2

'When I look in my closet, I don't see lack. I see freedom.'

When I reached my 30-pound weight-loss goal, I went shopping with my daughter but didn’t buy anything. I did try on some jeans and shorts to try and figure out my size. I was down three sizes, but I wasn’t done yet. I had just reset my goals and had 10 more pounds to go.

So I continued wearing the smallest of my large clothes as I had been doing throughout my weight-loss journey. Of course, this meant my wardrobe had shrunk considerably, but I found that I liked having a lean wardrobe.

On the first anniversary of my weight-loss journey, Oct. 17, 2013, I had lost 38 pounds and was two pounds shy of my goal. I celebrated by cleaning out my closet. It was also my birthday month, so I bought two new outfits in size small. These were the first additions to my closet since I had started losing weight.

As I began removing  all the clothes that were now too large for me, my thoughts went back to the summer I had tried to trim down my closet to twelve days of outfits. Now that I had so few clothes that fit, I could have that closet that I still longed for. Since I was not working outside the home, I decided to apply a rule of 5’s to my closet. (For a working wardrobe, I would have a rule of 12’s.) No more than five skirts, five dresses, five blouses, five pairs of slacks, five jackets, etc. And one more thing…before I bought and added anything to the closet, it had to pass the “love test.” I mean, I really had to love whatever I bought. It wasn’t going to take up space and become lost and forgotten. My wardrobe would now be like my iTunes playlists. All the songs are loved, not just liked. Anything I took out to wear would be something loved and special to me.

At first, it was a little difficult to pack away so many “good clothes” to give away. But as I kept going, it got easier. It took about three days to clean out my closet. I couldn’t believe how much stuff was crammed into such a small space. Instead of 12 pairs of pants that I had tried to have at one point, I counted more than 20 pairs. No wonder, I couldn’t find anything when I was getting dressed.

When it was done, I had three pairs of pants that I could wear: two from my new birthday outfits and an additional pair of khakis. While going through boxes, I found a pair of medium pants that I loved and added them. I kept four skirts that were size large but smallish with elastic waistbands. I found three large tops/blouses that were also smallish and with the two new tops with the birthday outfits, that gave me five tops. I didn’t have any dresses. I had two jackets that still worked and they stayed. For my knit shirts, I made this modification to my rule of 5’s. I would keep five shirts in white with varying sleeve lengths and up to five in pink. Other colors would share the rule of 5’s.

This rule of 5’s was going well until I got to my hoodies. I counted eight and loved them all. I have always loved hoodies. Although all of them were size large, they still fit in a comfortable way.  The only thing to do was keep out five and pack away three. That’s what  I did, and that’s still working. I just change out the colors occasionally.

My workout clothes, shorts and everyday tees are kept with my sleeping clothes in a dresser.  I kept all my large pajamas, because they are comfortable and I love them.

It’s been more than two years now, since I cleaned out my closet, and it’s still a minimalist closet. I love having just a few clothes. When I look inside my closet, I don’t see lack. I see freedom. I’ve gradually taken out more of the large sizes and replaced with small sizes.  For the past three winters, I’ve had one dress and four skirts. I’ve learned to make new outfits with these four skirts, using different tops and accessories. 

Last summer, I had four dresses and five skirts. I never felt like I was wearing the same clothes over and over. I’m always getting new ideas for interchanging skirts and tops and accessorizing my dresses.  I’m still applying the “love test” when I shop and before buying anything for my closet.  

After reaching my weight-loss goals, I have to say that having a minimalist closet is another huge achievement for me. For me, maintaining a bare but preferred wardrobe ranks with maintaining my 40-pound weight loss. I do love living light.

~~~B~~~

The joys of a minimalist closet

Part 1

It was probably about 10 years ago that I picked up a magazine one evening, and instead of flipping through it, my eyes were held… well mesmerized, by what I saw on the back cover. It was an ad for a company that organized closets. A picture of a closet showing racks holding a few skirts, a few pairs of slacks and a few tops, along with some shelves holding a few knit shirts and sweaters continued to hold my longing gaze. 

Every article of clothing was clearly visible, so I counted them. Hanging from the racks were 12 skirts, 12 pairs of slacks, 12 tops and 6 jackets. On the shelves were 12 knit shirts and 6 sweaters.  With empty spaces on the racks and shelves, these numbers were surprising. I would have guessed about half that number. The closet looked mostly bare, and I loved it.

As I thought about these numbers, I realized this closet provided work clothes for two weeks, without wearing the same outfit more than twice in a month. Wow! Not only did I see order in this closet, but I also saw freedom. This closet contained a well planned wardrobe. Not hunting for missing pieces or stressing over endless choices. Even the cleaning and care of this wardrobe looked easily manageable.

Trying to achieve this for myself at that time was very difficult. But I had a plan. Instead of trimming down my closet, I would just remove all but two weeks of wardrobe and store the rest. About once a month I would trade some items from the closet for those in the boxes.

So that’s what I did. I liked the results so well, that for several days I kept my closet doors open so I could see all the neatness and order. This worked for a few months.

But then, the seasons changed and I kept transeasonal pieces, while adding other seasonal and new clothing. It wasn’t long until my closet had returned to a packed and messy site.

I still longed for a slightly bare closet, filled only with what I needed and loved. But the problem was that I just couldn’t part with anything in it.

~To be continued~

Why I still use white flour

As I continuously learn more about healthy eating and make changes in the way I shop for food and prepare meals, I'm still buying and baking with white flour. This might seem a little odd to some, since I do strive to eat as clean as possible most days.

I love bread and most of the bread I eat is made with whole wheat or whole grains. I rarely eat white bread. But certain breakfast foods just need biscuits, and I still make them, occasionally.

There is much to read about why white flour should be avoided, and I have read many of those articles. I have also tried following very restrictive diets and failed. For me, the key is moderation or limitation.

For many years, I have used White Lily flour. When I learned about the possible harmful effects of potassium bromate, used as dough conditioner in some flour and breads, I checked and White Lily uses absorbic acid as a dough conditioner. That was good to know. I really like this flour. It's made from a winter wheat and has a softer texture. I even like the analogy of this winter-grown wheat becoming softer, just as the winter seasons of life can make us softer.

Most of my uses for white flour are in baking cookies, biscuits and scones and pizza dough. I don't like pizza dough made exclusively from whole wheat flour, but I will add a cup of whole wheat to the white flour. Not always though, because I really like pizza dough from white flour.

Another reason I'm not that concerned about the white flour in my baking is because when you consider that a cup of flour contains about 125 grams and that a medium-sized cookie has about 3 grams of flour...well that seems like moderation to me. A slice of pizza could have 35-40 grams, but I don't eat pizza everyday or every week.

Anyway, I just felt like I needed to speak to this in case anyone was wondering why so many of my recipes call for white flour.

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