A Tomato Basil Soup to die for

The holidays are behind us, we’ve eaten a lot of things we normally wouldn’t, and our pants are tighter. It’s the new year, which probably means you’re looking to clean up your act and make healthier choices.

For me, and probably most of you, that means refocusing on vegetables. The one universal rule of all diets has got to be that there is no vegetable off limits. I think no matter which diet you’re on, we can all agree that veggies are good and need to be eaten daily.

A great way to get your veggies in, while staying warm on these cold winter evenings, is to turn them into soup. It’s also a good opportunity to get some nutritious broth in us. Hopefully, I’ve convinced you to make your own every chance you get. Homemade bone broth is high in nutrients, heals the gut, and tastes better than anything you can buy in the store. Bone broths (as opposed to just “broth" or “stock") can be purchased at health and other food stores now, but they are pricey and some are not all that great tasting. Please read my post about making your own. It’s really easy, especially if you own a slow cooker and/or roast a chicken every now and again. It’s so totally worth it.

This is perhaps the best Tomato Basil Soup I’ve ever had. Even though it’s a simple recipe, the quality of the ingredients, just like in everything, matters. Get your canned tomatoes organic and in a non-BPA-lined can. They are thankfully becoming increasingly easier to find. I like the Muir Glen brand.

Tomato Basil Soup isn’t really the same without cream and here again look for organic, whole fat (not low fat or, good Lord, nonfat) cream or sour cream. Creme fraiche works too, if you can find it. You don’t have to add a lot, but without it, the soup lacks the mouthfeel that makes it both delicious and satisfying.

This recipe is also a little bit different in that there are some surprise ingredients. It’s also not going to take long to make. You could have it done in 25 minutes. Without further ado, on to the recipe.

Tomato Basil Soup

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp butter or ghee
1 onion, diced
3 pint sized cans of diced tomatoes (preferably organic and in a BPA-free can)
1 qt. chicken broth (preferably homemade)
salt, to taste
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp honey
1/4 cup fresh chopped basil (about 15-20 leaves)
1.5-2 cups heavy cream or sour cream
Freshly ground pepper

Directions:
Melt butter in a 2-3 qt. saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and cook until they turn translucent. Add tomatoes and broth, cover, raise the heat, and bring to a boil.

When boiling, reduce heat to medium, uncover, add salt, vinegar and honey. Stir. If still bubbling too vigorously, turn to low. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Just before serving, remove from heat, add basil and cream and a little pepper. Blend soup with an immersion blender (or by transferring to a regular blender).

Enjoy!

Notes: Now, the quintessential pairing of this soup would of course be with a grilled cheese sandwich (I would go sourdough with cheddar), which would could whip up in the 20 minutes the soup is simmering. If you’re particularly hungry, add a small green salad. Or you could serve the soup at the beginning of a meal, like before Chicken with Pesto Sauce.

Leftover soup makes a great lunch the following day at work, where your co-workers will likely look over at your food with some jealousy.

Be honest with yourself

I recently started seeing a new GP because I thought it was time for a physical again (it had been a few years). We talked about my digestion problems and she surprised me by saying that nearly 80% of her patients have digestive issues. That surprised me. Really, that many people? If so many of us have issues, why? What could be the cause?

I have spent a lot of time thinking about this since she told me that. What are we doing, or not doing, to cause our collective digestive problems? What could be to blame? Are we all too stressed out? Likely. Are we taking too many medications that can cause issues? Probably. Are we not eating right? That’s probably the most likely. When I look at the lunches of the people I work with, I see that is the most probable cause. All the highly processed and “fake” food that they are eating cannot possibly help their digestion, only hinder it.

So they run to the doctor and get prescriptions for this and that to mask their symptoms. While I am certain that this particular doctor I’m seeing is more interested in solving the underlining problem than throwing drugs at her patients, most doctors will do just that: throw a Rx at them and hope they feel better, never addressing the cause.

But is that “health care”? Not really. It’s more “sick care”. Health care should really be about returning to health, not masking symptoms with pharmaceuticals. Health care really means looking at the cause of the dis-ease and attempting to bring the body back to its natural state: health. “Health care” should mean being honest about what needs to change in order to regain health.

So, if you’re not feeling well, what are you going to change to get back to health?

For me personally, I have to be honest about the fact that starchy carbohydrates cause me dis-ease. This is why I do best on a low carb diet. It also is what naturally brings me down to a healthier weight. When I eat too many carbs, I cause an inflammatory response which makes my joints hurt and drives my weight up. This is likely true for most of us, actually, but for me, my digestive system really feels it when I eat more than a little bit of foods that are starchy. I simply have to be honest about my condition. I have to accept that this is the way it is, and change my eating habits so that I can more easily lose weight and feel better. Sometimes I am not honest with myself and give in to the thinking that I can get away with eating what I want (like during the holidays!). But then my stomach reminds me that this is a load of crap. And I resolve, again, to get back on the wagon.  Like now.

It's nearly time to make our New Year’s resolutions. I’ve made mine. What are yours? How about making some health goals? How about being honest and finally tackling your health issues? Maybe it’s your heart, or maybe it’s your joints, your brain (depression, anxiety), your energy level, your sleep, that are suffering. Maybe it’s your digestion, too. (If so, apparently you’ve got a lot of company.) Let’s tackle it together! Stay tuned and together we’ll look for ways to improve it.

Wishing you the best of health in 2019.

Harissa - what is it and what to do with it?

Harissa is something that rarely comes up in recipes so it’s not surprising that many people have never heard of it. If you are a lover of spicy things, you should give this a try.

What is it?

It's a chili pepper paste, basically. The main ingredients of which are roasted red peppers, Baklouti pepper, serrano peppers or other hot chili peppers, spices and herbs such as garlic paste, coriander seed, saffron, rose or caraway, as well as some olive oil for preservation. It is most often associated with Tunisian, Libyan, Algerian, Moroccan and Syrian cuisine.

The paste, as you can imagine, since it contains peppers, can be searing hot or just a little tingly; made tangy with lemon or vinegar, or smoky; it can be loose like a salsa or a thick chunky paste.

In other words, as with most condiments, recipes vary, depending on the region from which they come.

You can make your own by roasting peppers and blending with spices and olive oil, or just buy a jar, trying various ones until you find the one you like best. If you end up with one that’s a tad too spicy, you can always add yogurt to tone it down.  The acid acts as a great neutralizer for things spicy. Keep that in mind next time your mouth is on fire!

These are quite good.

So, harissa is versatile as a condiment, kind of like ketchup and sriracha and, like both of those, it’s great with eggs. It’s also good with poached salmon, or grilled chicken, lamb or beef kebabs.

You can smear it on a burger, mix it with aioli and use it as a dip, add a spoonful to some mayo for sandwiches or add it to Ranch as a salad dressing. Add some to the ground meat in your next meatloaf to kick it up a notch.

You can mix it with labne (a Persian cheese/yogurt) or puree it with crumbled feta cheese, fresh herbs, lemon and olive oil as a dip or spread. Olives work well with harissa’s briny heat and so the  dip in this link combines them with carrots to make a rich spread for celery sticks or pita bread, or perhaps on a sandwich.

If you like food with a little heat and you haven’t heard of harissa, I would give it a try.