Metro Lentil Soup Recipe from Patient

Wow. It's been awhile since I've blogged. Things have been crazy busy around the clinic with tons of old patients coming back for their fall detox and lots of new patients wanting to feel better overall and boost their immunity for the upcoming winter season.

Last week one of my favourite patients from the building came upstairs to the clinic because she saw a soup recipe in the Metro newspaper on her way into work. She knows I'm a big soup fan, because they're easy to make on a weekend and then freeze into individual portions for fast, no-think lunches for work!

This one is great if you enjoy warm strong flavours like curry and cardamom!

Here it is:
Curried Lentils, Sweet Potato and Cauliflower
1 large onion, roughly chopped, 3 tbsp Indian curry paste,10 cardamom pods,2 medium sweet potatoes, about 1lbs peeled and cut into ½ pieces,¾ cup green or brown lentils, rinsed, 2 cups vegetable broth, 5 cups cauliflower florets, 1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves, salt and pepper

Heat a large, heavy saucepan over medium low heat. Add onions and curry paste, stirring paste thoroughly into onion. Cook, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes. To remove seeds from cardamom pods, smash pods with a large knife of meat mallet. Remove the small brown seeds (discard pods) and stir into onion mixture along with sweet potatoes. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Stir in lentils and broth, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer, covered for 15 minutes. Add cauliflower and return to a boil; reduce head and simmer 8-10 minutes or until lentils and vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, stir in coriander, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Let stand a few minutes before serving.

Green Pesto Pasta

mmmmmmm....

Today is detox day 4. Doing great.... yesterday was a touch hungry because I didn't bring enough snacks to work.

Last night for dinner we whipped up something in 20 minutes. Got the brown rice pasta boiling while I made a parsley pecan pesto (no dairy - completely detox friendly!), sauteed a bunch of asparagus, threw in a can of tuna (but could have done chickpeas instead), and then mixed the pesto with the asparagus and tuna. By the time that was done the pasta was finished cooking so we mixed it all together and presto... delicious pesto pasta!!!!

This Sunday may be tricky as we are going to the Buffalo Bills game..... I think my husband Chris will be starting this detox on Monday instead of tomorrow as planned!!!!

Detox Day 1

Ok so summer is over, trips are done for now and autumn is coming.... DETOX TIME!

Today is day 1. So far I've had my Metabolic Cleanse shake for breakfast, a lentil and sweet potato and leek soup, a cup of cooked beets, a peach and lots of almonds. Since we got back from Chicago late last night we haven't had a chance to do groceries so nothing is on the menu for tonight as of yet. I'll have to grab some stuff on my way home!

So far so good.

Hurricane Ike

Chris and I just got back from the "windy" (more like rainy) city of Chicago. Fabulous city!

We flew in on Friday morning and flew out on Monday night. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we toted around umbrellas making the best of the wrath of Hurricane Ike. We were lucky as some parts of Chicago were completely flooded!

We saw as many sights and neighbourhoods as we could and spent some of the wettest times inside at the Art Institute and restaurants. We went to some fantastic places to eat - so if you are ever in Chicago and looking for an upscale vegetarian restaurant (Green Zebra), a hip Japanese spot (Japonais), a small plates, tapas style dining experience (avec), or a Mediterranean inspired localavore chef (Naha) try these spots out.

So between eating and shopping we stayed dry and had a great long weekend.

Dalton McGuinty and David Rocco Do Hip Cooking Video

See the video at http://www.premier.gov.on.ca/home/default.asp?Lang=EN

As most of Ontario knows (or should know) Premier Dalton McGuinty is big on education. Last year the Ontario government started the daunting task of trying to eliminate junk food from our schools and promoting healthy eating.

This video is of David Rocco (I love his show on the Food Network!!), the Premier and a few kids on a farm in Ontario talking about the benefits of eating locally, how good our Ontario produce is, and of course demonstrating how to cook a quick couscous salad.

I love the music in this video too!

Baron Baptiste to the rescue!

Wow. After a weekend of eating I was glad that Ang was in town. We went for a walk after dinner so I could show her our neighbourhood and work off some of the perogies and the dessert bonanza that was this weekend.

When we got home she took me through 30 minutes of power flow yoga that she recently did additional training in, in NYC. What a fantastic workout - now I have to find a Baptiste DVD so I can try to do some on my own. This yoga is definitely not for beginners.

90% of the time be good.....

Well remember that saying in the last blog - this weekend clearly wasn't one of those times....

We had brunch with our good friends Kirsten and Matthew on Sunday at the Drake. Kirsten suggested the Drake because it has a variety of breakfasts so everyone would be happy. I had the yogurt and granola and fruit - can't go wrong with this and I also knew there were perogies in my future that day as my parents and my sister were coming over for dinner!

Problem came when Kirsten gave Chris his birthday gift in a beautiful green box. She spent the morning baking cookies and brownies topped with this fudgey icing and layering them carefully in the box. The 4 of us also discussed more ideas of food network tv shows as Kirsten is a great cook and baker... I could take her recipes and make some substitutions to make them healthy! (Apparently I would be the one that would take all the fun out of recipes!)