Hearty Get Better Vegetable Soup

This soup contains lots of great cheap vegetables to make a hearty and healthy soup for sickies.  I have a 3 1/2 year old sickie right now and we want to get better by Thanksgiving!  I recently discovered leeks and love them!  They have a nice mild onion-like flavor so I would think they would be more mild on the acid as well.

Leeks, garlic, carrots, parsnips, and celery sauteing

Potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, and spices added.

Hearty Get Better Vegetable Soup

1/4 - 1/2 c Canola oil or your choice of oil (do some research about high heat on olive oil if that is your preferred oil. It is not safe.)
3 Leeks (Here is a great simple picture tutorial of how to slice your leeks at whfoods.com. Make sure you take the outer layer off and wash them well to get grit out from between the leaves.)
3 Cloves garlic, minched
1 Parsnip, diced
3 small carrots, diced
2 stalks of celery, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
4-5 small russet potatoes, diced
1/2 a cabbage, chopped or shredded
1 can diced tomatoes
4 cups water or brother of choice (if you don't use brother you will need to salt heavily)
Your choice of dried or fresh herb (I used basil)

1) Heat oil in dutch oven or soup pot to medium high heat. There should be enough oil to coat all the veggies. Add leeks, garlic, carrots, parsnip, and celery to hot oil. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes. Then add salt and pepper and choice of herb.
2) Add potatoes and cabbage and stir in well. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring often to keep food from sticking to pan. I like to try to cook soup ingredients together first before adding much liquid so it does not dilute the flavor action happening.)
3) Add can of diced tomatoes and 4 cups of water or broth and let simmer for 30 min to 1 hour.

You could also add chicken and even some chicken or beef broth.

The only veggie not fresh in this soup is canned tomatoes.

Enjoy!  It's not often I actually have my own recipe for something.

I'm Pregnant!!!

We are 12 weeks pregnant as of Sunday (tomorrow)!  It has been an interesting year of hoping and trying.  I have learned how thankful I am for new knowledge of human health and people who promote natural remedies.  It was about 7 months after trying that I really started to think "am I as healthy as I think I am?"  and started to read about cycles and fertility. Boy have I learned A LOT and have also discovered what mysteries still are out there in the medical/health arena.  Even the experts don't know everything about the amazing work of the creation of human life!

Anyway, I do not want to drag this post on, but the two books that impacted me most were "Taking Charge of your Fertility"  by Toni Weschler and "Fertility, Cycles, & Nutrition" by Marilyn Shannon

Some bullet points that I remember from these books:



Taking Charge of Your fertility:
-Many women are unaware of just how their cycles work (I was one of them!)
-The importance of charting and seeing your own body's patterns during your cycle
-The amount of things you learn about yourself from charting!
-How to take my BBT (Basal Body Temperature) and check cervical mucus (not my thing.. I did not do this consistently and eventually gave up.)
-Although this isn't a Christian based book I learned more detail as to how God created our bodies as a reproductive system and was fascinated by how intricately and specifically we are designed! If one thing is off it throws the whole system out of whack!



Fertility, Cycles, and Nutrition: (My Favorite!!)
-Food plays a big role in our bodies function, especially as women.  We really need to watch how much synthetic stuff we are putting into our bodies.
-This book also taught me about charting and taking my BBT in a very simplified and understandable way. It was not wordy or full of medical information and was also written in such a way that inspires the reader to do what is best for their body.
-Through this book and charting I realized I was progesterone deficient. It was so obvious. I had every symptom in the book. Literally. I did not go on the cream without first checking with my midwife. She said most women are progesterone deficient.
-I learned that spermiglutination (clumping of the sperm) is solved by vitamin C... needless to say my hubby started eating an orange a day, just to be safe. (Is that TMI? Sorry) Who knows, maybe his swimmers were clumping and that's why we weren't getting results. hehe Let's not ALWAYS blame the women. :)
-This book inspired me to make the changes I needed.  Less sugar, no caffeine, and lots of healthy food. I did all these things about a month prior to starting my natural progesterone cream.  The month after I started the cream I was pregnant! Who knows what did the trick, but ultimately I praise God for the little life inside of me! We are so excited.

I wish I had read these books years ago! I would recommend both to anyone who is having a hard time getting pregnant or plans to have more children soon.

Soon, hopefully tomorrow, I will start taking belly pictures. I kick myself for not getting one early on, but we'll start this week!

I have to give a big thanks to my friend Christy over at onelittlewordsheknew for lending me both of these books.  You are a gem, Christy!! <3

Dandruff Home Remedy

My husband was on a quest to find a home remedy for dandruff and finally found something that worked for him.  He mixes half olive oil and half vinegar in a bottle and applies it after his shower.  So simple!

All you have to do is give it a little shake before applying it. Please excuse the awkward picture. He is not nearly that creepy in real life. I did marry him for better qualities than taking a good creepy picture.

My own critique is that the bathroom smells like vinegar for a bit in the morning, and by the end of the day when I get close to him he smells like oil. Perhaps he uses more oil than necessary in the mixture. He loves being dandruff free, though, and raves to others about his concoction every time dandruff comes up in casual conversation.

We are going to try to add an essential oil to the mix to see if that helps with the oil smell.

Great job at being a ingenuousness thinker sweetie! He is also the optimism to my pessimism and the steadfastness to my extreme emotions. He stretches me and helps me to not be content with my weaknesses so I can grow and become better. I am looking forward to whatever years God blesses me with him.

"Tapped" Bottled Water Documentary

I was able to sneak over to my neighbor's house after the kids went to sleep to watch the documentary "Tapped".  Eye opening information is given in this documentary that you will not want to miss. I never want to drink bottled water again. I would recommend this movie to everyone.



There was not a lot of new information for me, but what I did learn was life changing. They drove their intended point home very well.  The movie addresses the issue of what big beverage companies are doing with water and the bottles they put it in.  The movie is centered around a couple different communities who are affected by these large corporations. 

One community in Maine gives their account of how Nestle came to their town and started pumping water to sell as bottled water. Another big part of the movie shares the story of people whose health has been adversely affected by living next to a manufacturer that produces PET plastic bottles. The story then shares shocking results from independent studies on what is contained in the bottled water. The documentary also shares the extent of the problem of plastic being dumped in our oceans. You will be amazed at the lack of regulation the government is putting on these companies, but we also learn that a change starts with us refusing to buy bottled water. 

They make a great case for local water facilities and tap water, but I challenge you to look at just what is in the water you are drinking and consider all filtering options intelligently.

To help start your journey I recommend a few reads from one of my favorite blogs "One Little Word She Knew": 
What's in my Water: Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3 , Chlorine Shower Filter, Eww , and Hexavalent Chromium

Low Calorie Veggie Sandwich

Sorry it's been so long since I have posted.  This time of year is so busy and blogging has had to be put lower on the priority list. Today, for the first time in a while I thought "I need to share this with someone." I also actually have a few minutes to sit down to type!

My husband I have begun to count calories together again which usually leads to some weight loss in our house.  We are not doing it to the point of obsessing about it, but we are learning how many calories are in what. We try to watch portion sizes of high calorie/starchy/sugary foods.  I am having a great time learning and discussing foods with my husband.  Plus, our pallets learn more of how to enjoy those healthy foods.

At the risk of sounding overly enthusiastic about a sandwhich, I'm posting today's lunch.

I tried to get a picture of the sandwich, but it was terribly blurry. I decided just to post a link to Annie's Naturals Lite Gingerly Vinaigrette Dressing from Amazon. This is what made my sandwich taste awesome today. If you buy it online through the link below I get a small commission. I almost want to stock up on this for fear that they would stop making it.  Maybe if I tell people about it there will be more of a demand!

With that said here is what was on the 160-200 calorie sandwich today that made it so very good and so very healthy:

-2 toasted thin slices of white/wheat bread made in my bread maker
-2 thin slices of fresh mozzarella cheese
-4 cucumber slices
-5 Grape tomatoes
-baby spinach leaves
-some small slices of sweet red pepper
-sliced mushrooms
-carrot shavings
-of course, the lite gingerly dressing brushed on one side of the bread (2T is 40 calories!) This dressing tastes a lot like the pickled ginger that places with sushi serve. Add the cucumbers, carrots, and peppers and it tastes a lot like a california roll topped with some pickled ginger!  

My hubby added some celery to his sandwich.  I would have liked to add bean sprouts, but we haven't had a chance to go get the right beans to do the sprouting from our health food store.

I highly recommend trying this sandwich for a healthy and tasty lunch! Cheers to less calories and weight loss!  Now to tone some muscle?  (eh.. maybe tomorrow. LOL)

Natural Remedies

I just came across this natural remedy site, earth clinic. This will be a great link to go to during cold/flu season and I'll be bookmarking it for easy access.  Being sick is really inevitable in the cold months.  Rather than worry about our health I am thankful that God has created us in such a way that our bodies can heal.  Sadly, the medical community often portrays these natural cold/flu times as something terrible. We should be more concerned about the sugary sweets and processed foods that we consume that hinder our immune systems.

If you have a integrative doctor in your area who works both with natural remedies and common medicine chances are they are interested in doing what is right for your body, not the almighty dollar.

We do have a wonderful Doctor in our area who I have heard more than good stories about. For that I am thankful.  I just wish I could get my hubby to go to him with his lingering cough and tonsil stone issues.

Don't forget to eat your veggies! :)