Saturday night I made a delicious and filling nutritious lentil soup.

Brown lentils

I like to eat lentils because they are local. Washington state, just north of me, is one of the biggest growers of lentils in the U.S.  I also like that lentils cook quickly, are versatile, and they taste great.

I started out with the idea earlier in the week of making a different dish so set about 1 ½ cups of lentils on the counter in a bowl to soak. When I was unable to fix the dish I planned, I put the bowl containing the soaking lentils in the refrigerator where they sat for 2 more days.

When I got ready to cook the recipe which had now changed to soup, the lentils were very soft and took only about 20 minutes to cook.

Soups aren’t about recipes. After you know the basics, just play.

To get started:

• Choose your bean/legume/dal and soak overnight
• Check your refrigerator for likely ingredients—anything you think sounds good to go in your soup. I go for veggies I have one or two left over from something else—mostly these will be roots that work well with a longer slower cooking dish
• Gather these basics that go into (almost) all soups: onions, carrots, celery or celeriac, garlic

Have everything ready, start to heat a heavy 5- to 6-quart pot or Dutch oven. Iron is good unless you plan to add tomatoes or other acid food.

Since my lentils were presoaked, this soup was ready in 45 minutes from start to table.

Measurements are not exact—remember you are experimenting. Add what you like in the amounts you like.

• Versatile Lentil Soup/Stew

2 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil

1 ½ cups (about) dry brown lentils, soaked

1 large red onion

8 ounces (about) mushrooms*

1 large carrot, diced or sliced

½ celeriac root, diced (about 1 cup)

1 -2 large garlic cloves, finely minced

Unrefined sea salt

Freshly ground pepper

Red pepper seeds

Enough water to keep your lentils covered throughout cooking, or more if you prefer a more soupy soup.

1. Melt the coconut oil in the pot.
2. Add the onion, mushrooms, carrots, celeriac, and garlic as you have them ready in that order.
3. Stir well, let them cook together about 5 minutes.
4. Pour the water from the soaking lentils and add the lentils to the pot.
5. Add water to cover.
6. Stir well and bring to a boil.
7. Lower heat to simmer. Cover with a lid. Let cook about ten minutes.
8. Add the seasonings to taste. Stir well.
9. Cook another 10 to 15 minutes until everything is done to your liking. The beans need to be completely done all the way through.
10. Add more water if needed at any time during cooking.

*I used crimini and stems from 2 Portobello mushroom caps I grilled a few days before

With the soup I served a plate of various raw and fermented vegetables: pickles, black radish, watermelon radish, scallions, olives, and, always avocado.

We also had whole grain crackers with cheese.

Something I like to do when I eat soup is to put about ½ cup of my salad blend, which I usually have in the refrigerator, in the bottom of my soup bowl. Then ladle in a serving of soup—about ¾ cups. Yummy.

Slice Napa cabbage leaves—about 12 leaves are enough for 4 – 6 salads. Slice or dice or cut anyway that looks attractive and is easy to eat with a

Winter Salad Blend

fork, any or all of the following: sweet onion; radish: red, black, watermelon, daikon; carrot; jicama; red cabbage. These should be crunchy veggies everyone likes. Store this mix in a  covered glass bowl. When it’s time for dinner place in individual salad bowls or plates and add other, more fragile ingredients like sprouts or a leftover cooked veggie and avocado. This saves a lot of time when you’re trying to get dinner on the table. Dress with your favorite unsweetened dressing or any of mine.

Is also known as celery root or knob celery. Celeriac is a knotty bulbous root that tastes similar to celery.

Celeriac

I prefer it to celery because I’ve never liked celery (except with peanut butter) and it cooks better than celery does. Celeriac is brown and gnarled and sold when it is about fist-size. It’s only about 6% carbs by weight. Celeriac has a tough, furrowed, outer surface that needs to be cut or peeled off before using. It keeps well in the refrigerator for several weeks.

Me demonstrating the posture

There may be a link between core muscle flexibility and artery wall stiffness. Both our muscles and arteries can lose flexibility as we age. If there is truly an association between them, then getting physically flexible is motivation to begin a doable exercise routine. Exercise is good anyway so if you are over 40 and unable to do this simple test, get a check-up from your doctor and get motivated to start moving.

This study was done on people between the ages of 20 and 83 by North Texas University and several universities in Japan. After further testing it was determined that in people over 40 this was a good test for arterial flexibility. See the “New York Times” for the whole report.

• To test yourself

It’s simple—sit on the floor with your legs out straight in front of you, your toes pointing upward. Stretch your arms out straight in front as you lean your upper body toward your toes. If you cannot touch your toes, get to work. There are all kinds of ways to loosen up: pilates, Tai Chi. My personal favorite is yoga but look around until you find something that interests you that you will stick with.

You can find classes at local community colleges, if you belong to any clubs or senior centers ask around there for free or low-cost classes. It is important that you first learn from a professional. After you’ve taken a few sessions and feel comfortable going it alone, go for it. You can always go back for refreshers.

DVDs and tapes are helpful once you’ve gotten some hands-on experience with a teacher so you know what it feels like to do a position correctly so you don’t injure yourself.

• My experience

As I’ve mentioned before, I am not an athlete. Several decades ago I was introduced to yoga by a friend who returned from the Peace Corps in Malaysia where she learned yoga—it was new here in the U.S. at the time. Over the decades I’ve stuck with it but have taken classes only occasionally. Just enough to refresh myself and learn new postures. Then 13 years ago I got very ill with a hyperthyroid an autoimmune disease. Because the thyroid controls all the body’s systems everything was breaking down including my muscles. I could not walk down a flight of stairs without holding on to something; I shook all the time due to loss of muscle tissue. I am fine now due to some marvelous help from my naturopath but it took 3 years before I was able to do any exercise. Once I was able, I started my yoga practice again from scratch. Today, I am stronger and healthier than I was before I got ill. I own my physical strength and flexibility recovery to my yoga practice.

I like to scan the Internet, my daily paper, and the “New York Times” for ideas for capturing and maintaining good health. In a weekly column I will bring this information to you as I find it. Usually I’ll just describe a report and perhaps add a comment.

Me demonstrating the posture

I am especially attracted to simple little tests we can all do to measure ourselves against others as an ideal with regard to our physical abilities. Who did the study isn’t as important as what the results showed.

I trust these kinds of tests when no one is trying to sell anything—it’s just about putting out reliable and useful information.

I am also interested when a new mirco- or phyto-nutrient is ‘discovered.’ This is practical information that can positively influence our eating choices. At the same time, all the uproar is often a “Duh” moment as these studies continue to confirm that eating a minimally processed whole foods diet is best.

In this week’s paper there was a report on a study done in Canada that tracked 8,000 men and women for 13 years testing muscular fitness. Those with the lowest scores for sit-ups were more than twice as likely to die as those who could do the most sit-ups. The lead on the study, Peter Katzmarzyk, concluded that sit-up capacity is a good indicator of fitness.

• To test yourself

Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor and your arms on the floor alongside your body, your hands face-down. Keep your lower back pressed to the floor as you curl-up your shoulders enough so your hands slide about 3 ½ inches. Lower your shoulders—you’re not pulling your whole body up, just your shoulders. You will feel the ‘crunch’ in your abs. Count the number of times you can do this movement in one minute. Here is what you are aiming for:

Women: 25 for women aged 40 – 49; 31 for those aged 50 – 59; 12 for those aged 60 – 69.

Men: 33 for men aged 40 – 49; 39 for those aged 50 – 59; 18 for those aged 60 – 69.

For some of you this might be a wake-up call to get more active with core strength training.

For everyone who falls in a good range: KEEP IT UP.

• Rice with Lentils and Yellow Peas

Red lentils, yellow split peas, and brown Basmati rice

This is one of my favorite recipes adapted from a 1984 cookbook by Sumana Ray called “Indian Vegetarian Cooking.” It’s slim but full of great ideas. I like this dish because it combines the lentils, beans (dal) and rice in the same pot.

Indian cooking is regional. Curry as a powdered spice in a jar doesn’t exist in India. When Indian cooks prepare dishes they heat their karahi (traditional Indian wok) put in the ghee and throw their chosen spices whole into the hot oil and let them sizzle a bit before adding the rest of the ingredients. Buying spices in a can is convenient, but they limit your options, and they are not as flavorful. Once the spice is ground it immediately begins to lose essential oils. If you keep a few whole spices you like on hand, you can make any Indian dish to your taste.

Basmati is the kind of rice used in Indian cooking. White basmati is often used. Eating a whole-foods diet means to eat whole grains, I always use brown (whole) Basmati rice. Whichever you choose to use, Basmati rice is so fragrant and delicious that I think it’s a necessity for Indian cooking. If you cannot find it in your local stores or buy on-line, use regular brown rice.

Time to prepare: about 1 to 1 ¼ hours

• Ingredients

3 tablespoons coconut oil or ghee

2 bay leaves

2 inch piece of cinnamon stick

4 cardamoms

1 large onion, finely sliced

3 cloves garlic, smashed link

1 inch piece fresh ginger, grated

2 – 3 fresh chilies, halved (optional)

1 ½ teaspoons ground turmeric

1 teaspoon (or more) chili powder

1 teaspoon unrefined sea salt

1/3 cup red lentils

1/3 cup yellow split peas

1/3 cup brown basmati rice

4 – 5 cups water

1 fresh tomato, diced or 1 15 ½ ounce can diced tomatoes

• Directions

1.       In a heavy pot, I use iron, heat your oil. Add the bay leaves, cinnamon stick, and cardamom seeds letting them sizzle for a few seconds. They will only sizzle if your oil is hot enough.

2.       Add the onions, chilies (if using), garlic, and ginger. Stir fry until all the ingredients are combined. Lower heat,  add a lid, and cook until the onions are golden. This might take 10 minutes. Be sure to check several time to make sure the onions are not burning. You want them a golden brown.

3.       Add the turmeric, chili powder, and salt.

4.       Drain (or rinse) your peas, lentils, and rice and add to the pot. Stir fry a few minutes.

5.       Add the water and bring to a boil. Lower heat to simmer.

6.        Add the tomatoes after cooking about 20 minutes.

7.       Check the water level a few times to make sure everything is always covered in water by at least an inch or two.

8.       Check for doneness. If everything thing isn’t completely soft, add more water and let simmer a while longer for a total of about 50 minutes.

Serve this dish to the thickness of your liking. If you’ve eaten in Indian restaurants, you know that dal dishes are served quite soupy. I prefer mine a bit drier. When you heat this dish for leftovers you will need to add a bit of water.

• Indian Spiced Winter Squash

You can use any type of winter squash you like. I used butternut because that’s what I had. To me there isn’t a huge difference in the flavor of most winter squashes—they are sweeter than their summer cousins, so have more carbs. They are a good sources of vitamins and antioxidants. Winter squash can be prepared as a sweet dish, like ‘pumpkin’ pie, or as a savory dish, my preference.

For this recipe I used a smallish (about 2 – 2 ½ pounds) Butternut squash.

2 tablespoons coconut oil or ghee

½ teaspoon onion seed (optional)

2 dried red chilies

1 large onion, thinly sliced

4 cups winter squash, diced into ½ cubes

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon chili powder (or more to taste)

½ teaspoon unrefined sea salt

1.       Heat oil in a pot over medium high heat, add the onion seed (if using) and chilies and let them sizzle for about 15 seconds.

2.       Add the onions and stir fry until golden, about 5 to 10 minutes.

3.       Add the squash, turmeric, chili powder, and salt. Stir fry for a few minutes to thoroughly mix.

4.       Cover with a lid, lower heat, cook another 10 minutes or so until the squash is soft.

Is clarified butter used in Indian cooking as well as in some African countries. Whole butter has a low smoking point making it unsuitable for sautéing or frying, That’s when ghee comes to the rescue. You can buy ghee in stores, especially stores specializing in Indian cooking, but it’s easy to make.

Simply put the amount of butter you need in a pot—if you will be using this often, start with a pound of butter. Or you can start with a stick. Turn on the heat to med-low and let the butter completely melt. Turn off the heat but let the melted butter sit on a warm burner for a while until all of the solids, which is what is burning when whole butter smokes, settle in the bottom of your pan. Then carefully pour the clear yellow liquid into a glass jar and refrigerate. The ghee will last a long time this way and won’t get rancid. Use it to sauté and stir fry foods.

To cook liquids, like soup, in a pot so that the liquid on top is barely moving.

In another blog I cover the reasons for soaking dried beans and grains. Here is information about things that can affect the cooking time of beans. In general, presoaked beans cook quicker than non-soaked; this depends on the type of bean as well as the bean’s age.

Cooking time can also be affected by adding tomato, vinegar, citrus juices, or other acidic foods too early. Since the definition of ‘too early’ is so random, I prefer not taking a chance and add any of these ingredients later on. About half way through cooking I test a few of the beans for doneness before adding the acids. If your beans are soft but not done all the way, I feel OK that adding the acidic ingredient won’t increase the cooking time and will allow time for the beans to absorb flavor.

This is also true of salt—adding it too soon can slow cooking time. For all these reasons I recommend presoaking, and adding acidic foods and salt after the beans have begun to soften.

Some cooks say they never have a problem, I prefer not to take that chance.

Is widely used in Indian cooking. The pods are whitish to light green. They can be used whole and sizzled in oil, or ground as an important ingredient in Garam Masala (literally hot mixture). When using whole remove the seeds from the pod and make sure the skin is broken from the seeds to release their delicious flavor. I often use ground cardamom on oatmeal or in yoghurt drinks. In Ayurvedic medicine it is used in treating digestive problems and has detoxifying properties among other medicinal uses.