Cabbage and Barley Soup

Cabbage is known for it's nutritional value and some say it is a good vegetable to eat for cancer prevention, but if you don't particularly like the taste of cabbage, say in cabbage rolls or coleslaw, then you'll find that cooking it in a soup makes it much milder and more palatable.

Ingredients:

1/2 small head cabbage, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsps olive oil
a handful of fresh parsley
28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 quart chicken broth
1/4 cup pearl barley
black pepper to taste

Sweat the onion and garlic in a large saucepan with olive oil. Add the cabbage and grind some fresh pepper in to taste, along with the tomatoes and broth. Bring everything to a boil then stir in the barley. Simmer, covered for 45 minutes or until barley is tender.

Add the chopped parsley just before serving.

Protein Egg Puff

Here's a quick little breakfast that you make in the microwave.  It puffs up like a little mini soufflé.

To serve 2:

4 eggs
4 oz cream cheese
2 tsp sweetener (sugar, stevia)
2 pinches cinnamon
2 tbsps protein powder

Put 2 oz cream cheese in each of 2 large mugs or microwave bowls. I used 12 oz mugs.

Even though this recipe makes 2 egg puffs, microwave one at a time. 
Microwave the cream cheese and a pinch of cinnamon for 20 seconds.

Add 2 eggs, 1 tsp sugar and 1 tbsp protein powder and mix well.

Microwave 45 seconds. Stir again, breaking up any set egg. Finally, return to the microwave for a full 2 minutes and watch the magic happen. (Sorry, too dramatic?)

But it is pretty cool to see it puff up. Loosen the sides and turn out on to a serving plate or eat right out of the mug. Top with a little syrup and a side of fruit.

Repeat for the 2nd serving.

Adapted from sugarfreelikeme.com 

Sweet Potato Muffins

I tried this sweet potato recipe the other day,

http://www.cookforyourlife.org/recipes/sweet-potato-muffins

substituting 1  1/4 cups whole wheat flour and 1  1/4 cups all-purpose flour for the 2  1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour that was originally called for.

2 raw sweet potatoes makes this a dense muffin.

But surprisingly not heavy.

I made 22 medium sized muffins that can be frozen and taken out of the freezer when you need a little something packed with a lot of something.

Roasted Garlic, Barley and Vegetable Soup

Everyone knows chicken soup is good for you. But this soup has a whole lot of things going on!

8 cups chicken broth (or more)
2 onions, sliced
olive oil
4 heads of garlic
4 carrots
1 celery stalk, with leaves
1 - 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup black beans
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup barley
bay leaf

Prepare your roasted garlic first. Here's how to do it.
Then set aside.

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2014/12/roasted-garlic.html

Heat a couple of tbsps olive oil in a soup pot.  Add onions and cook until lightly browned.  Remove to a bowl.  Add the broth and garlic.

Purée in a food processor in batches, putting the purée back in the soup pot as you go. Add bay leaf.

You could have the soup at this point and call it Roasted Garlic and Onion Soup, but let's add more stuff.

Add sliced carrots, celery, canned tomatoes, and black beans to the purée.  Heat to boiling and add barley. Cook as per package directions.  Mine cooked in 45 minutes.
Remove bay leaf. Add peas.

As it cooks the soup really thickens up.  If you don't want it quite so thick just add more broth.

Nourishing barley is supposed to be good for your blood pressure as well as digestive complaints.

Garlic helps to boost your immune system so great to ward off colds.  And this is something else I read about garlic.  
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Cancer Prevention

Consumption of roasted garlic may offer some protection against cancer. Aside from the antioxidants present in garlic, the sulfur compounds it contains also act directly on carcinogens and toxins, helping the body remove them before they can cause damage. In addition, these compounds induce cancer-cell self-destruction, a process called apoptosis, in cell culture experiments and animal models, explains the Linus Pauling Institute.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/350760-roasted-garlic-health

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Note:

If you are cooking garlic in any recipe you should chop or crush it, then allow it to sit for 10-15 minutes before cooking. Apparently this allows it to keep it's healthy compounds intact. So for roasted whole bulb, press down to slightly crush the bulb.

The basic garlic and onion soup recipe was found here:

http://www.freshbitesdaily.com/garlic-soup