Happy National Homemade Soup Day!

A piping hot bowl of soup is my favorite way to incorporate vegetables into my diet. I especially like puréed, low-starch vegetable soups that are quick and easy-to prepare.

Today, I’m sharing my recipe for Zucchini and Watercress Soup.

Diagnosed with hypothyroidism in 2006, I make every effort to incorporate thyroid-nourishing foods into my diet. I enjoy eating most of the iodine-rich foods, but I struggle with watercress. Its pungency doesn’t sit well with my fussy taste buds. While experimenting, I discovered that adding zucchini and almond butter to watercress results in a creamy alternative that hits my sweet spot.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1½ cups chopped carrots
1½ cups chopped celery
4 cups of zucchini, diced
4 cups of vegetable broth
¼ cup unsweetened almond butter
2 cups watercress, chopped
Handful of parsley
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat the vegetable oil and sauté the onion and garlic in a large soup pot.

2. Add the celery and cook until translucent.

3. Add the carrots and zucchini and sauté for three to five minutes.

4. Add the vegetable broth and stir in the almond butter until well combined.

5. Increase the heat and bring to a boil.

6. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the zucchini is tender.

7. Add the watercress and parsley. Simmer for about five minutes.

8. Turn off the heat and let the soup cool.

9. Stir in the lemon juice.

10. Remove from heat and purée the soup in batches using a hand or immersion blender.

Makes 6 servings, about one cup each.

More Soup Recipes…

Broccoli | Celery | Asparagus | Lazy Woman’s Soup | Easy Avgolemeno | Vegetable Quinoa

Advertisement

Happy National Humor Month!

In 1976, comedian and author Larry Wilde founded National Humor Month. His intention: Share the therapeutic benefits of humor with the world.

Humor plays an essential role in our overall health. Everything from a giggle to a deep-rooted belly laugh can improve the quality of our lives. The benefits include lowering blood pressure, reducing stress hormone levels, triggering the release of endorphins, and improving cardiac health.

One study conducted by Dr. Lee Berk and Dr. Stanley Tan at the Loma Linda University in California suggests that laughter can even help tone our abs. When we are laughing, the muscles in our stomachs expand and contract, similar to when we intentionally exercise our abs.

Continue reading on the Soul Mate Authors blog.

Celebrating Our Canadian Flag

Raised for the first time on February 15, 1965, our national flag is 54 years old.

On July 1st of this year, Canada will celebrate its 152nd birthday.

A discrepancy that can be explained by our history…

For almost 100 years after Confederation, Canada flew the Red Ensign, a design based on the flag used by British naval vessels and Canada’s Coat of Arms.

In the early 1960s, Canadians started to voice their concerns about a flag that didn’t recognize our sovereignty. Aware of the public discontent, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson decided to make the creation of a new Canadian flag a priority.

At the time, I was in elementary school. My teacher—and many other teachers across the country— assigned a “Flag Design” project. While there were several artists in the class (not me), I don’t recall any exceptional sketches. I’ve often wondered if any student sketches were part of the thousands of submissions made to Ottawa.

A fifteen-member bipartisan committee was created to pick the most appropriate design. The submitted designs featured union jacks, Fleur-de-lis, maple leaves, and beavers (the most common element). Almost all of these submissions were eliminated, leaving three possibilities.

Here are the two semi-finals:

The winning design (our present flag) came from Dr. George Stanley, a professor at Royal Military College in Kingston.

10 More Interesting Facts…

1. King George V proclaimed red and white as Canada’s official colors in 1921.

2. The flag is twice as long as it is wide. The white square and its maple leaf make up half of the surface of the flag, equal to the two red bars combined.

3. The French nickname for the flag is L’Unifolié, which means one-leafed.

4. In 1982, Canadian mountaineer Laurie Skreslet brought the flag with him to Mount Everest.

5. In 1984, the flag was launched into space by Marc Garneau, the first Canadian astronaut on the NASA space shuttle Challenger.

6. In 1996, February 15 was declared National Flag of Canada Day.

7. The flag at the Peace Tower (Ottawa) flies 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s changed daily, usually early in the morning and by a designated employee who has received training on how to perform the task. Flags on the East and West Block are changed weekly. Once a flag is taken down, it is sent to the Ministry of Public Works and Government Services. Canadians can request these flags by emailing minister@pwgsc.gc.ca or faxing (819) 953-1908.

8. Anyone who wishes to receive a flag that has flown on the Peace Tower will be placed on a 10-year waiting list. The wait is five years for a flag that has flown on the East or West Block.

9. The role of flag-bearer for Canadian teams attending international sporting events is a special honor reserved for outstanding athletes like Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who proudly represented Canada at the PyeongChang Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2018.

10. The largest Canadian flag ever made was unveiled at a football game in Hamilton between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts in 2009. The flag was 38 meters by 76 meters and required at least 80 pairs of hands to carry it on the field. The flag cost $15,000.

Happy National Flag of Canada Day!


Happy Family Literacy Day!

In 1999, ABC Life Literacy Canada, a non-profit organization, introduced Family Literacy Day to “raise awareness of the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family.”

This year, ABC Life Literacy is encouraging families to take 15 minutes out of their day to prioritize learning.

Here are ten suggestions on how to achieve this goal:

1. Start reading aloud to your newborn. Children become attuned to the sound of your voice and the tones of the language you speak as their hearing develops.

2. Ask older children questions about the story to ensure comprehension.

3. Encourage oral storytelling by providing prompts: “What did your doll or teddy bear do today?” “Tell us a story about the Christmas/Halloween/Valentine’s Day party at school?”

4. Record or write down your children’s stories. Use an app to convert them into a book, animation, or slide show. While read or watching the end product, point out new words, story structure, and grammar.

5. Turn off the television and use that time to read together.

6. Organize a children’s book club in your neighborhood.

7. Make regular visits to the local library. Check the events calendar for more information about activities and crafts offered.

8. Keep teenagers reading by providing magazines and newspaper articles that appeal to their interests.

9. Invite children to participate in activities such as making shopping lists, sending e-cards, or checking directions on Google Maps.

10. Volunteer your time in local literacy groups. You could read to children, tutor adults, or help with administrative tasks.

Find out more information about ABC Life Literacy Canada here.


Honoring Grandma Moses

Born this day in 1860, Anna Mary Robertson Moses was the third of ten children. As a child, she attended a one-room schoolhouse that is now the Bennington Museum in Vermont. She took art lessons at school and was encouraged by her father at home. At a later age, she wrote, “I was quite small, my father would get me and my brothers white paper by the sheet. He liked to see us draw pictures. It was a penny a sheet and lasted longer than candy.”

As a young wife and mother, Moses applied creative touches to her home. She used house paint to decorate a fireboard, created beautiful quilted objects, and made embroidered pictures of yarn for family and friends.

At the age of 76, she developed arthritis and was forced to abandon embroidery. She turned to painting, focusing on episodes of farm life she had experienced firsthand. A prolific painter, she created over 1,500 canvasses in three decades. She was “discovered” in her eighties.

Here are ten of my favorite quotes from Grandma Moses:

A strange thing is memory and hope; one looks backward, and the other forward; one is of today, the other of tomorrow. Memory is history recorded in our brain, memory is a painter, it paints pictures of the past and of the day.

I like to paint something that leads me on and on into the unknown, something that I want to see away on beyond.

I’ll get an inspiration and start painting; then I’ll forget everything, everything except how things used to be and how to paint it so people will know how we used to live.

A primitive artist is an amateur whose work sells.

People should take time to be happy.

Life is what you make it.

If I hadn’t started painting, I would have raised chickens.

I look back on my life like a good day’s work. It was done and I am satisfied with it.

Even now I am not old. I never think of it, and yet I am a grandmother to eleven grandchildren.

I would never sit back in a rocking chair, waiting for someone to help me.

Happy National Grandma Moses Day!


Happy National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!

Celebrate this National Day by treating yourself to a cookie (or more) containing those tasty bits of chocolate. If you’re looking for a quick-and-easy recipe, try this family favorite from my mother’s kitchen.

Ingredients

14 ounces brown sugar
14 ounces white sugar
1 pound Crisco
7 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
12 ounces chocolate chips
7 cups Monarch flour
Dash of Salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Cover the bottoms of cookies sheets with aluminum foil.
3. Beat sugar and Crisco.
4. Add eggs and continue beating.
5. Add flour and continue beating.
6. Add the remaining ingredients and continue beating.
7. Shape into balls and drop on cookie sheets.
8. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Honoring Amelia Earhart

Born this day in 1897, author and aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart was the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. For this flight record, she received the United States Distinguished Flying Cross.

Ms. Earhart continued to set record after record demonstrating that women could aspire to the same heights as men. And even more amazing she was able to transform her hobby into a career going on to become an author, lecturer, poet, and airline industry vice-president.

A powerful role model, she continues to inspire girls and women of all ages.

My favorite quotations from Amelia Earhart:

Everyone has oceans to fly, if they have the heart to do it. Is it reckless? Maybe. But what do dreams know of boundaries?

Never interrupt someone doing something you said couldn’t be done.

Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off! But if you don’t have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.

There’s more to life than being a passenger.

Never do things others can do and will do if there are things others cannot do or will not do.

Preparation, I have often said, is rightly two-thirds of any venture.

The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one’s appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship.

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do.

A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.

Decide whether or not the goal is worth the risks

Happy National Amelia Earhart Day!


In Praise of Homemade Soup

Today is National Homemade Soup Day, a day devoted to celebrating those warm bowls of comfort that nourish our bodies and souls. Take some time to make your favorite soup or experiment with a new recipe.

Here’s my go-to recipe for vegetable quinoa soup. I like making a large batch and then dividing up the soup into one-cup portions that I freeze for the week.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 small zucchini, chopped
8 cups of vegetable broth
2 cups cooked quinoa
Salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Rinse 1 cup quinoa under cold water. Add quinoa, 2 cups water, and a pinch of salt to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 5 minutes. Turn the heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over medium-low heat. Once hot, add the onion and cook until tender (about 5 minutes). Add the garlic and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes. Add the carrots, celery, and zucchini. Continue cooking for another 4 or 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the vegetable broth. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook until the vegetables are fork-tender (about 25-30 minutes).

4. Stir in the cooked quinoa and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Yield: Serves 6 – 8

Buon appetito!