Comfort Food! Two Great Soups for Fall: Barley Vegetable, and Bean with Sage and Mustard

I love fall, and I love warm comforting soups - beef stew, chicken noodle, corn chowder.  I have been pleasantly surprised at all the amazing warm fall veggies I have been eating.  I thought when summer left was gone, I would really struggle on a mostly vegan food plan.  Boy was I wrong!  Fall veggies - and fruits - squash, potato, corn, onion and their relatives are wonderful and rich and loaded with flavor - especially when roasted!

Here are 2 I made this week.

Barley Vegetable Soup in Crock Pot
Based on Sarah Jayne's recipe at Food.com

Highlights - Amazing variety of textures and layers of flavors - This is cold rainy day comfort food heaven.

This was my first try - and I loved the way it came out.  I have a big crock pot.  This made a lot of soup.  Basically It involves broth, barley, leeks and 1 cup of as many other vegetables as I could find.

Ingredients I Used:

6 cups veggie broth (low sodium)

1 cup water

1 cup low sodium V8

¾ cup barley (Use more for thicker more calorie dense stew)

Rough Chopped Veggies:

2 cups leeks*** (I love the way these break apart and flake into a wide noodle-like texture)

2 cups mushrooms

1 cup carrots

1 cup celery

1 cup spinach (I used fresh- I would not mind more)

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup baby potatoes

1 cup of mung bean sprouts (more noodle texture)

1 bay leaf and 1 bundle soup herbs in cheesecloth

1 tbl dried parsley

½ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried onion flakes

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

5 cranks of salt and pepper grinder

*** If you have not worked with leeks before, chop of the end, and then split down the middle and THEN rinse them like crazy - very gritty - then proceed with your rough chop.

Just throw all this stuff in a crockpot on low and let it go for 4-7 hours - you may want to check in after 3 hours if you are worried about it getting too thick from the barley absorbing the water. Take out the bay leaf and soup herbs



Pinto Bean with Sage and Mustard Soup

Based on this white bean recipe by Patricia Wells at foodandwine.com

Highlights - Warm, and rich, and extremely simple. Initially I planned on this being a side dish but it was thin enough it made a great soup..

Ingredients:

2 cans salt free pintos
1-2 cups of veggie broth
1 onion - halved
2-4 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp ground sage
1 bay leaf
3 Tbls Stone Ground Mustard
Oil to Coat Pan

1. Spray pan with oil and quickly saute whole cloves of garlic...just sweat, don't brown. A little water will also help keep it from burning.
2. Add the broth and onions and bring to a boil.
3. Turn down to simmer and add beans, sage, bay leaf.
4. Allow beans to heat with onion and garlic etc for 15-25 mins.
5. Remove boiled onion and garlic, and 1 cup of beans and whirl in food processor.
6. Add the whirled mixture and the stone ground mustard back into the soup and stir. Remove bay leaf and serve.
Optional: Drizzle with high quality olive oil.

What About Exercise?

Every healthy living plan involves exercise to some degree.  I have exercised in the past, and have had the most success with varied routines such as P90x or T25.  By success I mean I felt good while doing these, and had moderate improvement over the course of the program.

However, when you are busy, something has to give.  In my case, nutrition was neglected.  The time I put into exercise was time no longer available to prepare great healthy meals and shop for fresh healthy foods - not that I was doing that beforehand - but you get the idea...

A cycle develops where I work out, and kind of get in this excuse or reward scenario, where I then grab breakfast out and pick up some prepared foods for dinner, and maybe slap a quick sandwich together for lunch.

This summer, I decided to NOT exercise. I was going to focus on food only. By the time school began, I had lost 20+ pounds and had a ton of energy.  I also decided I really had the food program pretty well under control.

2 summers back I started a walk-run program and progressed with it to the point that I actually enjoyed running.  After a long cold winter I had trouble starting up.  I have back issues when I run too much without building up to it.

In the late spring I ran a bit too aggressively and my back was sore for 3-4 days, so I just laid off it, frustrated at all the progress I had undone.  After losing weight and having more energy, I decided to attack it again, but from a very different approach.

Here's what I began to do - a simple walk run routine based on a 1 minute walking recovery period.  Unlike the food plan, which I dove into full tilt, the exercise plan I entered cautiously for fear of set backs.  Despite feeling great, I know I'm an old man :-)

My routine began with a simple 1 minute walk, 15 second run cycle.  I use bit timer to monitor my cycles and Runkeeper to chart my runs.  Each time I go out I add 5 seconds to my run cycle but keep my recovery walk at 1 minute.  I am up to 1:45 run vs 1:00 walk, and approaching 3 miles in my half hour window for exercise.  The terrain is a nice variety of dirt, stone, and paved surfaces with a variety of elevation.

I shoot to get out 3 times each week, and also try to add some walks in here and there.  Hiking, photo walks, or just wandering around local towns.

While this is certainly not a huge athletic accomplishment, I have noticed it continues to add to my overall feeling of wellness, and while my weight is close to stabilizing now that I have dropped 40-45 pounds, my belt loop was down another notch despite minimal weight loss.  Perhaps my weight is shifting a bit.

For most things in life, you just need to try it.  Commit and set yourself up for easy wins and noticeable growth.  When you don't meet the goal you set, just aim for that next benchmark.  Don't view it as a failure or cheating.  Just consider it feedback for long term progress!

Next up for me - upper body - core and more - I'm going to try to ease into a program to help me feel stronger and tone up!  

Pack on the Veggies!!

One thing I am always trying to do is eat as many veggies as I can everyday.  I do love salads, and I love beans, but I am always looking for ways to add texture to my meals, and come up with more healthy alternatives to things I love that might be a little loaded with processed foods.

I have always loved pasta salad.  Specifically noodle salad.  However, with a food plan that tries to limit processed carbs, I have a few options when making pasta salad.

1. Up the ratio of veggies to pasta - where normally I might have 2/3 pasta and 1/3 veggies, I can flip the switch and go 1/4 pasta and 3/4 veggies.  This is an ok alternative, but I have not done this because a) I really love the texture of noodles, so if I am going to overwhelm it with chunky veggies, what's the point?  b)  I would rather add a different starchy vegetable in instead, like a potato, or corn to my daily food intake, or have a decadent piece of sour dough (I like bread WAY more than pasta) with my salad.
2. Use Bean Pasta - The grocery stores in my area sell pasta made from beans and water.  Those noodles have the same nutrition as beans and some taste pretty good.  However the texture is a little dense, and if I want pasta with some chili, or bean salad, then I am doubling up on beans, and the calories from beans can add up quickly - so I would typically eat smaller portions of both things.
3. Spiralized Vegetable Pasta -  BINGO!!  I have been wanting to try this for so long, and finally got around to it.  Finally, I can eat "pasta" salad with the nutritional value of a garden salad.  I can eat HUGE quantities and still consume very few calories and MORE nutrients! 

A spiralizer cuts veggies like squash and zucchini into long spaghetti like strands.  They range in price from $5 to $99.99.

I got one like the above for $5 at TJ Maxx.  It does a great job cutting but is kind of a pain to clean.In about 5 minutes I used zuchini and yellow squash to make enough pasta for 2 lunches.

I grabbed my "pasta", some onion, carrot and cherry tomatoes and a few tablespoons of my favorite balsamic vinaigrette (Bolthouse Farms), some Apple Cider Vinegar, and let it sit.  I gotta say, it was AMAZING.  It really did feel and taste like I was eating refined carbs.  The squash was NOT too wet, and really held the dressing well, and provide a perfect al dente style base for this yummy side dish!

Here are some other spiralized veggie recipes I want to try!  Let me know if you get to them first!

Cold Pesto Salad

Vegetable Lo-Mein

Zuchini Pomodoro

There are a million on line!  Can't wait to dive in!