For All My Kale Lovers - A New and Delicious Recipe

So winter is still upon us and in some cases still dumping major amounts of snow. I don't feel so bad for all my friends with 30 inches of snow on their front step because you can't go sledding or make snow angels in spitting rain. Yes, that is what Atlanta has been experiencing since December. It hasn't been fun. But the good news is that kale, the dark green leafy vegetable that prevents cancer and is high in antioxidants, is still in season. What better to chase the winter blues away with then a warm and hearty soup?

Well, I just made a kale and white bean soup that you must try. Its so tasty that you won't even realize you are eating something good for your health. I actually halved the recipe and I got about 4 servings. But here is the recipe that serves 8.

Ingredients:

2 Tbls EVOO
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 large onion, chopped
Raw sea salt
Crushed black pepper
2 15.5oz cans cannellini beans, rinsed
1 cup orzo pasta
1 bunch kale, thick stems discarded and leaves torn into 2 inch pieces (8 cups)
2 Tbls fresh chopped rosemary (optional, cause if you don't love rosemary in a soup then you won't love it in this soup either)
1/2 cup shaved Parmesan cheese
1 Tbls fresh lemon juice

Steps:

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, celery, onion, 1 and 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 4 to 6 minutes.

Add the beans, pasta, kale, rosemary (optional) and 8 cups of water. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the pasta and kale are tender, 4 to 5 minutes (or until the pasta and kale are cooked to your liking).

Stir in the lemon juice and sprinkle with the shaved Parmesan before serving. Serve with warm fresh baked bread, cause who doesn't always have a loaf of fresh baked bread in the house, right?

So seriously, this soup was delicious. Now if only I could get my kids to eat it.....

Fake Sugar = Poison

The diet craze has been upon us for decades now. One of the most ubiquitous signs of dieting has been no calorie sugar. We use it in our coffee, tea, and to sweeten cereals. More recently we have been able to bake with it as a substitute for refined sugar and even more plentiful are all the diet sodas out there that contain it. We know these sugars as Sweet n' Low, Equal and Splenda but their real names are aspertame, saccharine and sucralose. They have all been proven to cause cancer in high doses but why should we care? Well, over a lifetime, how much of these poisons do you think a regular user would consume? I am sure in combination with all the other synthetic chemicals we ingest, it would be enough to cause cancer or some other kind of disease. There is a reason why they say not to have these "fake" sugars while pregnant. So why would you want to consume them when you aren't? The scariest part of this is that these "fake" sugars are made by big pharma and are positioned as a healthy alternative to sugar (especially for diabetics) in the case of Splenda. Big Pharma has a huge lobby in Washington and a choke hold on the FDA. If they don't want a natural sugar substitute to make it on the shelves of our stores, it won't. They don't want the competition from a healthy option. I have had first hand experience with this. After I read The Hundred Year Lie, I was introduced to Stevia. This is a natural sweetener over 100 times sweeter than refined sugar with no calories. It is extracted from the Stevia plant and is 100% natural. One day while shopping in Whole Foods, I saw the Stevia extract on a tiny shelf way up high. I approached a sales associate so that she could help me reach it and also tell me more about it. She promptly told me that the FDA prohibits her from discussing anything about the product but I should feel free to buy it if I chose to. I was perplexed. Was the FDA really censoring people about the health benefits of Stevia? What has our government come to? Are they really just puppets for big companies that are trying to poison us? Its truly frightening.

Well, as time went on and the big "three" poisons continued to be used in abundant supply by the general public, a new brand emerged on the market. Truvia. This is supposed to be the answer to Stevia. Why stick with the natural form when you can add synthtic chemicals and kill people? All the commercials for Truvia say its "born" from the stevia plant but if you look closely, you will see that its manufactured by Cargill. Cargill is the company that I spoke about in my earlier posts. They own all the corn elevators, the CAFO's and processed corn that goes into our foods and makes us sick. Cargill is not looking out for our best interests. I highly doubt that Truvia is as good and healthy as the actual Stevia extract. I would caution anyone believing this as well.

If you want to avoid the poisons that are ALL OVER the marketplace, just use unrefined sugar. Or more commonly known as raw sugar. This sugar comes right from the cane and has not been stripped of its natural properties. It takes longer to raise your blood sugar (lower glycemic index) and tastes just as good. Yes, it has calories, but dieting shouldn't have to be posionous. Healthy food choices and exercise can help out instead of food substitutes that are just a boat load of synthtic chemicals proven to cause cancer.

My house has officially banned all diet sodas. I never drank them in the first place, but my husband did. We now drink water or organic juice. Raw sugar fills up my canisters and I cook with it and sweeten my coffee with it. It tastes absolutely great. Plus, I feel better knowing I am not killing myself with chemicals that big pharma doesn't mind marketing to the public. To them, its easy profit!!

Another great blog post about Truvia can be found at www.marksdailyapple.com/the-truth-on-truvia/ its worth checking out!