Soup Cleanse: Delicious recipe

Bonjour. I consider myself a skilled, ardent and appreciative soup creator. My pots of warm love (eww is that weird sounding!!??) are well reviewed by those who know. This attribute alone will constitute one of the (few) better things on my epitath.
 Let's be real: most soup is pretty darn healthy. Yeah you can cream it up with, well, cream or sour cream, cheese - but even then: it's eaten by the spoon, it's basically a liquid, you have to eat A LOT to really overdo a portion. It's easier for your hardworking intestinal track to process due to the liquidity and smaller, well cooked vegetables and proteins simmered in soothing, healthy broth. Most soups begin with a mirepoix (celery, carrot, onion and often garlic) so we begin with healthy vegetables, almost always and almost always add more. And olive oil - we simmer the mirepoix in the golden juice of the noble olive. So soup is mostly- almost- always healthy.

But this, this soup cleanse soup, it is a wonder!! Easy, inexpensive, vegan, cleansing, ultra nutritious and absolutely delicious.   You will make it over and over as I do. Beta carotene baby!

Sweet Potato Cream Soup

8 sweet potatos - I quickly scrub and dry them and bake, intact, at 400 degrees for about an hour.
                            When cool I cut them in half an squeeze the potato pulp into the following:


This is made while the potatos bake:
One onion sliced and sauteed in about a tablespoon of olive oil. Add
one to two tablespoons of minced garlic, don't burn it! Lightly salt. After a few minutes of sauteeing on low-med heat add 8 cups of vegetable broth and bring to a simmer/low boil. You can partially cover to speed up the process and then:
This is when you add the pulp of the sweet potatos. Add a bit more salt, lightly. Lower heat and let cook softly for about 10 minutes. Let it cool and then puree with blender in batches (or immersion blender). Check seasoning add: salt, pepper for sure. Then you can add: hot sauce, sour cream (this is not a cleanse variation!) or go your own crazy way. A healthier variation is to add ginger, grated raw (about a tablespoon) would be great - toss right into the broth before pureeing.

Delish, enjoy!
La

Living with intent

Why is your (delicious) morning coffee so important? Beyond the caffeine - it's because it's a ritual, a way in which you treat yourself, first thing (?!), every day. Self love. Deliberation. Curation/deliberation, the world is wide and there is always room for more - but I want to live a life, here where I am now, that resonates and calms. That feeds the concentric circles of La.  So I must choose, often, and make the effort to upgrade when I can; make the effort to know what I want; organize,think, have the discipline to implement this new way.
I guess I'm thinking this way b/c we are thinking of paying off some real estate to live in our current home indefinitely.  We are facing winter cold currently and snow. Is that what I want? I love this house: our kids were all born and raised here, it's got a layout that works for us -  it's a 1953 era home, well built, with details like lovely hardwood floors and a large wood deck we designed with railing walls including an old, folding brass elevator door bought in Toronto and wrought iron railings salvaged from somewhere (behind the bike shop??).  We have grapes and golden raspberries and other well established perennials in our gardens. We are 1.1 miles (1.77 km) from city center. Just a bit too much for walking (for me, at this point!) and it's just a bit more to my preferred Aldi and Target etc. The bottom line: do I want to really dig in, here, at Elmwood? Can we stay really long term? Do we want to remodel the kitchen (we must) and first floor full bath? I actually picture an older woman from a blog photo - probably from copenhagencyclechic.com - walking alongside her basket laden bike, elegantly pushing it as a very practical shopping cart. This time that woman is me.

My love/hate/really hate relationship with Facebook

This isn't very well thought out but I woke up early and feel like ranting about facebook. I really hate it. It's one of those things that you can't cut loose even tho you hate it. I found out about the sudden death of a dear friend via facebook. I was filled with doubt and anger and disgust and fear at postings by 'friends' during the recent election. I scroll the vacant lives of people I don't really know or care about. I wonder if I can delete my account and live with the FOMO that might result?  In full disclosure I am one of those musicians who use facebook to promote gigs and, wow!, wonderful tool! Amazing, free way to do what used to be accomplished by a copier, a stapler and someone with the desire to plaster up the available, appropriate telephone poles and bulletin boards with your flyer. So on the one hand - as I said, amazing. On the other hand, who are these people??? Seriously I have friends that I don't know. It's my fault, I accepted them and they are probably people that have seen one of my two bands or friends of friends etc. but I don't care what they are up to. I get seriously riled at their, or their friends, inane comments, posts, rants. Then I see one, sweet thing that inspires me. Or get some important information and keep scrolling.
I have got to quit this.......but......are you on facebook? what are your thoughts?
La

11/26/2016: from my journal

Just back from Toronto - the nuclear family (minus cfj of course) on our annual Thanksgiving holiday. Our long weekend destination has been Baltimore for a few years as cfj finished at Loyola but....2016, she's in Thailand and we're heading north.
Musings: There is definitely a European feel to Toronto and, altho subtle, it's very refreshing. Cities are made for walking or there is no point.  I think I like the small florist shops every few blocks or so the most. The chandelier purveyors catch my eye every time too. How many can a city support? I wonder this time and again as we pass yet another charming coffee/bakery/cafe or vintage clothing retailer. All local merchants. Cannabis stores. (local? not sure on that?!). Assorted gated, hidden, painted, locked, half forgotten doors leading to the mysterious apartments occupying the upper floors of these pleasantly busy businesses that line mile after mile of Queen Street.

Good Thoughts and Yoga with Raquel Welch

That's the secret to a happy life. Good thoughts. If you can hold onto them.....
Good morning (on my end at least). It's been awhile. Recently I rediscovered an old love of mine:
Raquel Welch's yoga video from the 1980's.  youtube is incredible,  and I love this workout. An hour and 20 minutes of slowing down. Of breathing. Of being worthy of the attention I'm giving myself. Such a gift -  and the kicker - I try to do it every day!
In addition I'll be walking Scout in the woods.  We've been happy with the wonderful autumn weather here this year, (we walk no matter what's going on out there!) and I'll be researching the soup cleanse a bit more altho what I've seen so far basically jives with my "regular" soup. Soup is healthy no matter what - even the richer, fattier ones - because it makes you slow down in the moment. The soup "cleanse" uses homemade broth and or miso, one purees all soups, heavy on the prime ingredients garlic, onion, ginger -  all the usual suspects when it comes to fighting illness. There is some real estate business to do, an email regarding an other real estate issue and I'd like to repot my new ferns.  Huge boston ferns!! Summer patio plants were destined for the landfill, sitting on the tree lawn awaiting their fate. It makes me so happy to have saved them and to love them so.  Win win. Swimming is on the agenda and the wood floors need mopped. Ambitious!! But this is a 2 - 3 day plan. xxoo La