Homemade Chicken Soup

I love cooking a whole chicken in the oven, it takes longer but it’s juicer and then you can make soup afterwards! Pulling a whole chicken out of the oven and carving it up, makes dinner feel like an occasion, it’s a great one for company. Especially if you can tell them a few months ago the chicken was running around your yard, it’s something I can do for the first time.

I know at least four people who were vomiting for at least 24 hours last week. One of them was my partner who didn’t leave the couch for a whole day; he was begging for gingerale and chicken noodle soup when I got home from work. Lucky for him I’ve been keeping homemade chicken broth in the freezer.

Ever wonder why chicken noodle soup is what a lot of people want when they are feeling ill? I learned some of the energetics of food, when you consider the energy that is in your food as it grows and you are what you eat. Chickens are light, move quickly, and have a lot of bounce in their step. You want some of that energy when you’re feeling sick.

Chicken Soup

Broth:

After having a whole roasted chicken for dinner, put the carcass, bones, skin, and any meat you’re not going to eat into a slow cooker (or croc pot). Add enough water to cover the carcass, set it to cook over night for as long as the longest setting allows. Mine will cook for 10 hours. You will have the best chicken broth in the morning full of good healthy fat and nutrients. Once finished, with a slotted spoon remove all the bones.

Now you have concentrated chicken broth, if you are not going to make soup right away, put it into containers and freeze it until you want chicken soup.

Chicken Soup:

You can have whatever you like in chicken soup, if you want onions, I would saute them in a little olive oil before adding the broth. For plain chicken noodle soup, put the broth in a pot (frozen or not) add equal amount of water. Once the soup comes to a boil (if it’s frozen everything is melted) add your noodles of choice. I like egg noodles in chicken soup. Add salt and pepper, once the noodles are cooked it’s ready to enjoy.

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Homemade Pizza

This is one of my all time favourite recipes that I learned when I first started getting into and enjoying cooking. Realizing how delicious and easy homemade food can be. One of the best things about this recipe is that the making of it can turn into a kitchen party with the help of lots of hands and then enjoying homemade pizza together. There is something really energizing about making food with and for people you care about, we talked about this extra vitamin in my nutrition schools as vitamin “L” for Love. It’s nourishing in a way that goes far beyond food.

Pizza Dough makes 3-4 medium pizzas

Ingredients:
1 8 gram yeast packet

1 teaspoon sugar

4 cups flour – I like to use whole wheat

1 tablespoon olive oil

pinch of salt

Directions:

Stir 1/2 cup of warm water, sugar and yeast together in a small bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes, it will double in size. Put 2 cups of flour in a mixing bowl. Once the yeast mixture has risen add 1/2 cup of warm water and olive oil to the small bowl. Pour into the mixing bowl with flour and mix together with a wooden spoon and then your hands. Once the dough can be kneaded into a ball add 1/2 cup of flour. If it still feels sticky add another 1/2 cup of flour until it no longer feels sticky. Knead it for 5-10 minutes. Let it sit in a mixing bowl with a clean dish towel over top for at least 1 hour or a few hours at room temperature to rise.

Once dough is risen:

Pre-heat oven to 475 degrees F. Divide by how many pizzas you want, roll the dough out on a surface sprinkled with flour with a rolling pin. Or an empty wine bottle if you don’t have a rolling pin. Place onto a baking sheet, add toppings. This is where you can get creative and your options are endless. I like to brush olive oil around the edge and sprinkle some sea salt over it. My favourite is to use pesto as the sauce, spicy sausage already cooked, broccoli, mushrooms, mozzarella cheese and goat cheese. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Look for the crispy crust and bubbling cheese. Let it cool (because it will burn the roof of your mouth), enjoy! – my mouth is watering for pizza, I really do love this recipe and hope you enjoy it too.

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Homemade Hummus

This is a really simple and plain recipe for homemade hummus, you can add just about anything to give it more flavour; roasted peppers, sweet potato, any herbs and spices. I’ve seen some awful additives and preservatives in the grocery store hummus, this is easy and then I know what I’m eating.

Hummus

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas

3 tablespoons olive oil

pinch garlic salt

pinch of pepper
juice from 1/2 lemon

Directions:

Add all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and use a hand blender to blend together until smooth. Enjoy!

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Meal Worthy Smoothies To Go

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, because it sets up your digestive system to burn calories or store them. If you skip breakfast your body will think it needs to store calories for a famine, instead of burn what you consume throughout the entire day. Your body will function on LOW and you’re going to feel tired.

Smoothies take 5 minutes to make and you can take them to go. I find even when my belly doesn’t feel like eating breakfast, because it’s too early and I’m too tired. I can still drink a smoothie, maybe even in the car on my way to work, or at work.

When you make smoothies, the most important part is for it to contain protein, to increase your energy. I always aim for a minimum of 10g of protein per person.

CREATE YOUR OWN SMOOTHIE RECIPE

Ingredients:
frozen strawberries frozen blueberries
frozen mixed berries celery
kale or any leafy green
unsweetened coconut milk
unsweetened almond milk cinnamon
lemon
any fruit

Most Important Ingredients contain protein:
chia seeds
pumpkin seeds
hemp hearts
soft tofu (non GMO)
almond butter any nuts or nut butter
walnuts
plant based protein powder

Strawberry Almond Smoothie
Serves 1

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons unsalted almond butter
3/4 cup light unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup frozen organic strawberries
2 tablespoon hemp hearts
2 tablespoon chia seeds

Directions:
With a blender mix everything together until smooth. Enjoy!

Mixed Berry Green Smoothie
Serves 1

Ingredients:
1 cup of Kale
1/2 cup of mixed berried
1/2 banana
1/2 lime wedge (peeled)
1 cup almond milk
small hand full of walnuts

Directions:
Mix everything together with a blender until smooth. Enjoy!

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No Sugar Added Dark Chocolate Fudge

This is the simplest fudge I’ve ever made. It’s very rich and you only need a little to satisfy your sweet tooth. You can feel good about the sugar content, it is just the dark chocolate chips. I just love it, and I think you will too!

Dark Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients:
3 cups dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup full fat coconut milk
2 tbls coconut oil

Directions:
Place chips in large bowl. Combine Coconut milk and coconut oil in microwave safe bowl and microwave until hot, about 1 1/2 minutes. Pour hot mixture over chips and let stand 2 minutes. Mix until totally smooth. Line mini muffin tin with mini liners. Fill each liner to the top. Freeze or refrigerate until set. Store in fridge or freezer. Sprinkle a little sea salt over each if desired. Enjoy!

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3 Ways to Cook Kale

When I first decided to clean up my diet I knew I had to add more greens. Kale has built up a reputation of being a “super” green. So I knew I should start eating kale.

I was most intrigued by kale chips, which is now my favourite way to eat kale, but there are many ways to eat kale.

Boiled or Steamed

Wash it, tear it from the stem and throw it in a pot of boiling water. This is the simplest way to eat kale. I will do this with pasta or throw it in with rice as it’s boiling. The kale will take about 5 minutes to cook to be soft and edible. Don’t bother with the stems, they are extremely tough. It’s also good on its own as a side. Cover the bottom of a frying pan with water, bring it to a boil and fill the pan with kale, let it steam until soft, add salt and pepper or any desired seasoning.

Raw

You have probably noticed how tough kale is, and maybe you’ve tried to eat it raw and thought this doesn’t seem edible. The secret to eating raw kale is once you have rinsed it clean, torn it away from the stem into bite size pieces and put into a bowl, pour a table spoon or so of olive oil and squeeze half a lemon over it. Massage the oil in with your hands, this actually takes the toughness away. You can than add more salad ingredients to it or just eat it on its own.

Baked

This is my favourite, crispy kale chips. A great snack or side dish.

Kale Chips

Ingredients:
1 bunch of kale
1 table spoons of coconut oil
1 table spoon of sea salt

Preheat oven to 350. Spoon 1 table spoon of coconut oil on a baking sheet and put in oven to melt. Rinse kale and tear into chip size pieces avoiding the hard stem. Bake for 10 minutes, check chips and stir. Bake for 2-5 more minutes. It’s a very fine line between great crispy kale chips and burnt kale chips, watch carefully when returning to the oven.

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Zucchini Noodle Stir fry with Peanut Sauce

If you haven’t had peanut sauce and you like peanut butter, you HAVE to try this. It’s delicious (I get specific cravings for it) and surprisingly easy to make. It was first made for me by family and then I started to get cravings for it and learned to make it on my own.

PEANUT SAUCE
serves 4

Ingredients
1 1″ piece of ginger peeled and chopped roughly (doesn’t need to be fine, it’s all going into a blender)
1 garlic clove
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
juice of 1 lime
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Direction
In a blender or food processor blend ginger and garlic together to start until it is finely chopped. Add all other ingredients and 1/3 cup of water. Blend together. If the sauce seems too thick add 2 tablespoons of water, beware of adding too much water. Can be stored in the fridge for a few days, serve at room temperature.

Zucchini Noodle Stir fry

Ingredients:
2 zucchini
1 onion
mushrooms
peppers
broccoli

Directions:
You can use any vegetables you want. The key to good zucchini noodles is using a spiralizer. I’ve tried for the same effect using a cheese grater and it’s weird. Ask around to borrow one, you will fall in love with it. Ask Santa for one, it’s a kitchen tool I wouldn’t give up. Spiralize your zucchini first so you are prepared when the frying begins. Start with your onions in a pan with your oil of choice, I always use coconut oil for frying. As your onions are getting soft chop your other veggies how you like. You can use any vegetables you want or have in your fridge for this, don’t get caught up in the ingredients. Add the zucchini noodles last once everything else is cooked, they don’t take long. Once the zucchini noodles are soft toss in the peanut sauce. Beware not to over do the zucchini noodles, they will become mush. They will be cooked in under 5 minutes.

For more great healthy recipes check out my fatigue fighting 3 day meal plan

SQUASH AND APPLE SOUP WITH MAPLE

serves 4-6

Ingredients:
2             onions, chopped
1 tbs       butter (I used coconut oil instead)
1            Large Butternut Squash; peeled and cubed
2            Apples; peeled, cored and cubed
2            cloves garlic
4 cups    vegetable broth
t tsp        fresh thyme
1 tsp       salt
1/4 tsp    pepper
3 tbsp     maple syrup
1/2 tsp    pumpkin seeds

Directions:
In a large pot, cook onions in butter over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add squash, apples, garlic, broth, 1 cup of water, thyme, salt and pepper: bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the squash is tender. Let cool slightly, blend, an immersion blender is easiest. Stir in maple syrup and nutmeg, serve garnished with pumpkin seeds.

This is a really nice fall soup when squash and apples are in season. Double or maybe even triple the batch and put left overs in your freezer for when you want it again. Make it your own, change up the ingredients as you see fit, I’m going to try ginger and garlic next time, because I love ginger and I have a really nice organic chunk of it that I got recently.

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Roasted Nuts & Sugar Cravings

This is one of my favourite snack recipes that I found while doing the 10 day sugar detox. I keep it handy when thinking about cutting back or giving up sugar for a while, like the 72 Hour Sugar Free Challenge starting this Monday.

When I crave sugar I find it helpful to deal with cravings by eating good fat and drinking water or herbal tea.

A craving means our body needs something, 90% of the time it’s water. We will also get cravings when our body needs vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. Sugar has totally changed the game, we have been brainwashed by sugar. Our brains get addicted to sugar and instead of craving what we really need, the brain just wants sugar. Which makes cravings very confusing.

So try some water or herbal tea first. If that craving is not going away a good fat snack will give your body the energy it might be craving. If it’s still there try something naturally sweet like fruit. If the craving still does not go away, and you made a good effort, satisfy the craving with something sweet. Ice cream or chocolate are my go to’s, be aware of how much does it take to feel satisfied? This is something to experiment with and bring your awareness towards.

I really do love this easy to make roasted nut recipe.

Roasted Mixed Nuts

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups of mixed nuts
3 table spoons of coconut oil
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil. In  large bowl combine coconut oil and spices, if the coconut oil is not a liquid microwave for 30 sec until it is. Pour the mixed nuts  into the bowl to coat in the oil and spices. Spread the nuts in an even layer on the baking sheet. Bake for 20-30 min, stirring and tossing occasionally until lightly toasted. Cool and enjoy. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Nutritional Analysis per serving (1/4 cup nuts): Calories 206; Fat 19g, Saturated Fat 4 g; Cholesterol 0 mg; Fiber 3 g; Protein 5g; Carbohydrates 8g; Sodium 66 mg

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