Minestrone Soup or Stew - Fresh Veggies

This is the season of garden abundance and even my little plot offers us whatever it can. Too much rain and many of the tomatoes split. Rain meant that I couldn't pick the beans either (terrible for the plants to handle them when wet) so my rejuvenated beans produced more succulent beans than expected.  Corn is best fresh off the cob, but it will taste nearly as marvelous if cut off immediately upon cooking and cooled, tossed in a freezer bag and frozen for mid winter.  What to do with a kitchen counter covered in harvested veggies? Make minestrone! When you add the al dente pasta it will absorb a good bit of the soup broth, so if you want it to stay soupy, add a little more water, and if you want to eat it more like a stew, cook down the broth a bit.

Here's my impromptu version.

Garden Plenty Minestrone - makes 2 quarts

2-3 cups of 1" green bean pieces

1 medium yellow squash cut into slices
1 large onion, cut fine or slices
1 can chick peas (or red kidney beans) or fresh cooked
2 small stalks celery chopped (with leaves if you like 'em)
3 cups chopped chunks of ripe tomatoes
2 carrots cut into pieces
1/2-1 cup corn kernels
3-5 cloves smashed and chopped garlic
1 Tablespoon dry oregano (or more if fresh)
1/2-3/4 cup fresh basil leaves chopped roughly
1 tsp Bragg Liquid Amino
Springs of fresh parsley for garnish
4-6 cups water for soup
4 ounces firm tofu cut into small pieces (optional)
black pepper, grated fresh
dash of salt
1 cup brown rice pasta of your choice & water to cook it

1. Cut up the veggies into pieces you want to find in your soup -- though squash and tomatoes will soften and some of it will become broth.
2. Add all the veggies to a good sized pot, with 4 cups of water and bring to a boil, then turn it down and simmer with a lid on at such an angle that steam can escape.
3. In a separate pot, boil up 4-5 cups of water and add the 1 cup of brown rice pasta, cooking at a boil for about 5 or 6 minutes, drain in a colander and set aside.
4. When veggies are nearly all softened, remove the lid, add the tofu and either add liquid if needed to keep it soupy, or let the liquid cook down a bit. Turn the whole thing off, add the pasta and stir. Salting to taste and adding fresh ground pepper and a sprig of parsley.

So Much Fun Eating Only Veggies, Fruits & Whole Grains

Everything we eat changes our biochemistry and that, in turn, really does make us who we are. Food can have a big effect on mood, energy level, risk factors for a whole host of medical conditions, and in our social and family life. Food has a way of entering into our daily pattern, interactions, budget and sense of satisfaction. It makes a difference when we change eating habits, and even if it seems like a good change, making it work can be complicated.

When my husband declared, the morning after seeing the movie "Forks Over Knives"   (forksoverknives.com), that he wanted to “give it all up” and begin eating a meatless, diary free, no gluten, no oil, whole grain, vegetable based diet, I was delighted if incredulous. So, we took the plunge. From that moment on, we began talking about, planning around, buying, preparing, and sharing delicious whole grain, vegetable based meals. This blog will explore our experiences, my invented dishes with recipes, leftovers that make great meals, disasters, new ingredients, our upstate garden and whatever else happens. 

I invite you to try the recipes and let me know how it goes, what you did, how you changed things, and what you like best.  Perhaps I'll compile the recipes that come out best when tested by everyone else and make that available. I'll try to organize my key words so that you can find recipes for various parts of meals, to use specific ingredients, and so forth. Please let me know how this works for you or not, so that I can improve as we go along.

My way of making food is intuitive, using what I see and hardly ever measuring anything. I’ve estimated quantities, and encourage you to change ingredients depending upon what you have in the kitchen and what you like in the way of flavors and colors. I have been using a free program (chronometer.com) to get an idea of the nutritional values of the recipes and I assign serving sizes to see some measure of the protein, fats, carbohydrates and calories each meal contains. Giving up all dairy, meat and fish all at once made me curious about what all these vegetables and grains would provide, and I wanted some way to know if we ought to be taking some kind of nutritional supplements or not. 

So far, it looks like our meals are giving us just about all the nutrition we need, except for vitamin D and calcium, which we are taking as supplements. We've both lost a few pounds just naturally by eliminating oils, all processed foods and dairy and animals. 

Recipes and photos will follow! Let the deliciousness and fun begin!