Food
By Dr Joe
How do you add some flavour to mushrooms and make them more palatable in a soup context? The easiest way is to get your mushrooms into a ceamy frenzy.
Mushrooms are typical vegetables. Without flavouring, mushrooms taste bland. Of course, you can jazz up many vegetables by careful seasoning.
This is a two-step soup preparation. The end-product of the first step tastes alright but for many folks it might taste too herbal. Therefore I had to think of way of making the taste unversally acceptable to every taste bud out there.
Hence the addition of the cream. But we will be using a single cream instead of double.
Why single cream? We want to keep the fat content of this soup low. If you are on a high fat diet, be at liberty to use the double cream of course.
For the records, single cream has 18% fat content whilst double cream has 46% fat content. Choose the fat content that suits you. For me, the single cream is just about how far I will go. I’m not on a high fat diet!
Adding the cream transforms the taste of this mushroom soup from a herbal palatial experience to a silky one. A silky taste is a lot more appealling to the palate of most people and that’s the objective here.
What do we need to make this easy creamy mushroom soup?
Ingredients:
Mushrooms X 300 g
Celery X 1 stick
Red Onion X 1
Parsley (flat leaf) X 3 sprigs
Garlic X 3 cloves
Single cream X 180 mls
Leek X 1
Black pepper X 1 tbs
Vegetable stock powder X 2 tbs
Thyme X 1 tbs
Salt to taste
Nutritional information for mushrooms per 100 g
| Calories |
23 kcal |
| Total fat |
0.3 g |
| Saturated fat |
0.1 g |
| Polyunsaturated fat |
0.2 g |
| Monounsaturated fat |
0.1 g |
| Total Carbohydrate |
3.3 g |
| Sugar |
2.0 g |
| Fibre |
1.1 g |
| Protein |
3.2 g |
| Sodium |
6 mg |
| Potassium |
315 mg |
How to make the Easy Creamy Mushroom soup
>> Slice up the mushrooms, celery, leek, red onion and garlic.
>> Chuck all the pieces of the mushrooms, leek, red onion, garlic and celery into the soup maker jar.
>> Add the black pepper, vegetable stock powder, thyme and the sprigs of flat leaf parsley into the jar.
>> Pour in a cup and half of water into the mix.
>> Close the soup maker and lock in the lid.
>> Swith on the soup maker and choose your soup mode. I go for the ‘smooth’ soup always. Turn the soup maker on and let it do its thing for 21 minutes.
>> Come back when the soup maker beeps at 21 minutes.
>> Pour the soup out into your chosen soup bowl. This is the step 1 of the soup making. At this stage, the soup is fine but it does taste quite herbal which does not appeal to a lot of people. You can have the soup as it is if you are happy with this taste, otherwise move on to step 2.
>> Move on to step 2 by pouring in the single cream (or double cream if you are on a high fat diet). Stir the cream into the soup homogenously.
That’s it. Your creamy mushroom soup is ready.
Serve with seeded bread, rye bread, lentil chips or whatever complementary healthy food that tickles your fancy.
1 hour post-meal, I had a blood glucose reading of 4.3 mmol/l (77.4 mg/dl) which is very healthy. I had my easy creamy mushroom soup with 4 slices of seeded bread and I still had that blood glucose reading. Pretty good!
Don’t have a soup maker? Get an affordable one here on Amazon.co.uk or over here on Amazon.com
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Food
By Dr Joe
The beauty of vegetables is that you can prepare them in various ways – steam them, roast them, bake them, boil them, microwave them, stir-fry them etc.
It’s always a good idea to exploit that versatilty. In doing just that, I thought why not start doing some veggie soup recipes.
I love soups. When I go to a restaurant and I am presented with a menu, I don’t wrestle with my decision about the 1st course when there is soup on that menu.
I choose soup always as my 1st course. For me, you really cannot go wrong with soups. Maybe you can. The only way you can go wrong with soup as far as I am concerned is if you serve it cold.
That’s a sin – serving someone cold soup is a No No.
Beyond that it’s all cool when it comes to soups.
With that in mind, let me present my first soup recipe on this site. It’s the carrot coriander soup recipe. This soup is so innocent looking, you just want to hug it, sorry, drink it. The coriander brings this herby flavour that makes you want to go for seconds and why not.
Oh, let’s I forget. If you want to get serious with soups, here is my one and only tip – Get a soup maker. Soup makers make soup-making a breeze. Seriously they do. The final product comes out hot and really gorgeous. Of course, the ingredients make a huge difference too but the soup maker is the ultimate must-have tool to bring everything together to a fine finish.
I use the Morphy Richards one below and I love it. Get one here on Amazon.co.uk and over here on Amazon.com
What do we need to make the Carrot Coriander Soup?
Ingredients:
Carrots X 5
Coriander powder X 2 tbs
Vegetable stock powder X 1 tbs and half or 1 and a half cube if that’s what you are using.
Black pepper X 2 tbs (you may use 1 tbs if you are spice-averse)
Red Onion X 1
Garlic X 2 Cloves
Salt
Olive virgin oil or Rapeseed oil X 2 tbs (optional)
How to make the Carrot Coriander Soup
>> Slice up your carrots into small chunks.
>> Slice up your red onion and garlic too.
>> Chuck in the sliced carrots, garlic and red onions into the soup maker jar.
>> Add coriander powder, the vegetable stock powder, black pepper, oil and salt. Gotta say, the oil is optional. Sometimes I use it, sometimes I don’t and it makes no difference to the taste.
>> Add some water. How much water you add would depend on how thick or thin you want your soup to be.
>> Now lock your soup maker and turn it on. Select the smooth finish unless you want the chunky texture in which case you select that. I like mine smooth.
>> The brand of soup maker I use takes 21 minutes to finish the job and you hear a bleep when the 21 minutes is done.
That’s it. Your carrot coriander soup is ready.
Garnish with chives and serve hot…and enjoy.
I had mine with 4 slices of seeded bread and I had a blood sugar reading of 4.6 mmol/l (82.8 mg/dl). Great.
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Food
By Dr Joe
Now this soup is not going to win any awards in the “looks” department but what this green soup lacks in aesthetics, it sure makes up for in nutrition and taste. Surprised? Don’t be. I’ve got it down to a tee.
Like I said the other day, you need to take advantage of the fact that vegetables can be prepared using a variety of methods.
Soup is one of them. Soups used to be somewhat complicated to prepare. Heat this up. heat that up, pour into a bowl and blend with a hand-held blender or pour into a regular blender to liquidize the cooked ingredients.
Not anymore, folks.
Get a soup maker. A soup maker does all of those steps for you. It makes life so much easier. It will get you making soups more and more. It got me.
Having soups means you don’t have to struggle with the fruit and vegg recommendations of 5 portions a day. Whack your vegg into your soup maker and off you go.
There are many soup makers on the market but this is the one I use. Available both on Amazon.co.uk and in the US on Amazon.com
This mackerel infused broccoli coriander soup will make you go Uumm. It’s yummy and will make you ask yourself if indeed you are now a qualified chef. Because the soup taste is so good, you will think you are in a restaurant.
So, what do we need for this Mackerel infused broccoli coriander soup?
Ingredients:
Broccoli X 1
Smoked Mackerel X 1 fillet
Red Onion X 1
Garlic X 2 cloves
Coriander herbs X 1 bunch
Black pepper X 1 tbs and half
Vegetable stock powder or cubes X 1 tbs and half or 1 cube and half
Salt
How to make the mackerel infused broccoli coriander soup
>> Slice up your red onions, garlic and broccoli. You just need to chop up the broccoli florets into half chunks. No hard work needed.
>> Slice up your filleted smoked mackerel into small pieces too.
>> Chuck in your chopped up broccoli, red onion, garlic into the soup maker jar.
>> Add the bunch of coriander. You may chop it up but it is not absolutely necessary. I simply put in the entire bunch after rinsing it.
>> Chuck in the sliced up smoked mackerel.
>> Add all the seasoning agents – vegetable stock powder or cube, black pepper and salt.
>> Lock in the lid of your soup maker and turn it on.
>> Select the mode of soup – smooth or chunky. I always go for smooth. It’s soup after all. But if chunky is your bag, then by all means select that option and you are good to go.
Once you have selected your soup type, the soup maker goes to work. My soup maker cooks soups in 21 minutes and it will be counting down. When the counter hits zero it beeps and voila, your soup is ready.
Now enjoy this ravishing taste of the mackerel infused broccoli coriander soup. It’s just awesome!
I had mine with 4 slices of seeded bread and I had a blood sugar reading of 4.4 mmol/l (79.2 mg/dl)1 hour and half post-meal. Cool or what.
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Food
By Dr Joe
There’s a lot of emphasis on quick meals these days. The same reason why people turn to takeaway meals and fast foods that are largely unhealthy.
All of these contribute to the obesity epidemic. See my piece on how the South Pacific nations are rocketing ahead in the obesity never-ending marathon.
Food preparation doesn’t have to be a chore. Putting quick meals together doesn’t have to require exceptional culinary skills. Not at all.
An example is this rocket (arugula) fried eggs salad.
The only skill (if you call it that) required is frying an egg. Surely, that’s within everybody’s reach, I’d like to think.
That being the case, you will run out of excuses to avoid making this simple recipe.
This rocket (Arugula) fried eggs salad could pass for breakfast meal or a brunch depending on your circumstances.
What do we need to prepare this Rocket (Arugula) fried eggs salad?
Rocket (arugula) vegetables X 120 g
Eggs X 3
Blueberries X 150 g
Beetroot X 4
Plum X 1
Coconut oil
Salt
Black Pepper
How to make the rocket (arugula) fried eggs salad
>> Place about 4 tbs of coconut oil in a frying pan and turn on heat, but make sure heat is turned down low. We want gentle cooking.
>> Once the oil has heated up, break the eggs one at a time and quickly sprinkle some salt and black pepper to each egg. Allow to fry gently. This should last about 3 minutes or thereabout.
>> Place your washed arugula (rocket) in your salad plate in readiness for the fried eggs.
>> Once you are satisfied with how your fried eggs look, scoop each and place on top of the rocket (arugula) vegetables.
>> When you have placed the fried eggs on the arugula rocket veggies, garnish the salad with bueberries, sliced plum, and sliced beetroot.
>> You may add a splash of salad dressing, but for me it is not essential. It may be for you. If it is, go ahead and make a salad dressing splash.
Now enjoy your arugula (rocket) fried eggs salad and watch your blood vessels relax their walls for a healthier cardiovascular health.
Blood sugar reading 1 Hour after having the rocket (arugula) fried eggs salad was 4.8 mmol/l (86.4 mg/dl). I like that!
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Food
By Dr Joe
A smoothie with banana in it is almost guaranteed to make a splash on the taste buds. You have to try very hard to make it go wrong. You probably won’t succeed!
So, it’s no surprise that this banana apple blueberries smoothie actually does tickle the taste buds, so much so that you will gulp down a whole Nutribullet jar of it and would be wondering where it all went in flash.
You will even be tempted to have seconds but hey, you have to watch the calories, buddy.
The beauty of the banana apple blueberries smoothie does not end with the taste, it packs a punch with nutrition too.
Why bother if you are not going to get any nutritional benefits. Fear not with this smoothie. It is gleaming with macronutrients and micronutrients.
What do we need to make the banana apple blueberries smoothie?
Ingredients:
Banana X 2
Celery X 3 sticks
Apple X 2
Blueberries X 150 g
Natural yogurt X 200 g
Plant-based milk X 80 mls
How to make the banana apple blueberries smoothie
>> Slice up your celery, apple and banana.
>> Chuck the celery, banana and apple slices into the Nutribullet jar. If all the content do not fit in at first, do not worry. Put in an amount just enough such that you will be able to close the Nutribullet lid.
>> Blitz the content. The idea is to reduce the content with the first blitz to make way for the next set of ingredients. Pause the nutribullet after 1 minute.
>> Add the remaining banana along with blueberries, natural yogurt and the milk.
>> Blitz the content again now for another 45 seconds. Pause the nutribullet.
>> Pour the content into a glass and enjoy your banana apple blueberries smoothie.
Don’t have a Nutribullet smoothie maker? Get one here on Amazon.co.uk and here on Amazon.com.
You can get How did this banana apple blueberries smoothie score with the glucometer? I got a blood sugar reading of 4.3 mmol/l (77.4 mg/dl). Excellent!
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Food
By Dr Joe
I like a quickie breakfast because time is always not on our side. We have got places to go to, people to see and not enough time. But you gotta eat, haven’t you?
Hence this nice quickie oatmeal porridge breakfast. It is the almond butter oatmeal porridge.
This porridge will keep hunger at bay for hours and it is very nutritious because we are going to pepper it with some nice berries.
Don’t forget berries are packed with polyphenols. Polyphenols are antioxidants with a whole raft of benefits and in particular, good for your cardiovascular health.
Prevent heart disease with polyphenols and rather than get your polyphenols from supplements, how about going to the direct source – fruits and veggies.
Yes, it is more work chewing fruits and veggies compared to popping a supplement pill but you don’t have to worry about additives in supplements when you eat fresh fruits and veggies.
What do we need to ake this almond butter oatmeal porridge?
Ingredients:
Oats X 1 cup and half
Almond butter X 2 tbs
Honey X 2 tbs
Plant-based milk X 120 mls
Blueberries X 150 g
Strawberries X 150 g
How to make the almond butter oatmeal porridge
>> Pour in the plant-based milk into a cooking pot. Turn on heat and add the oats. I use the hemp milk or almond milk. You may use any other.
>> Stir together to mix thoroughly. Add enough milk to ensure the oat stirs easily within the milk. If you don’t want to use too much milk, you can add water too to get the right consistency.
>> As the oat gets heated up, it will thicken. Add some more milk to lighten it up and stir continously.
>> Turn down the heat.
>> Add the almond butter and the honey inside the heated oatmeal in the pot. Almond butter does take a while to melt unlike peanut butter that dissolves pretty quickly. Keep stirring until the almond butter dissolves uniformly in the oatmeal porridge.
>> Allow to cook a further half a minute and turn off heat.
>> Pour the almond butter oatmeal porridge into your preferred bowl.
>> Now garnish with strawberries and buleberries.
Enjoy your heavenly almond butter oatmeal porridge and forget about another meal for the next 7 hours or so because that’s how long you will feel full for.
What about blood sugar friendliness? I got a blood glucose reading of 5.4 mmol/l (97.2 mg/dl) with this oatmeal porridge. Nice!
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Dr. Joe