Warding Off the Illustrious Cold: Onion Wild Rice Soup

I haven't had a cold in over a year, but one finally caught up with me.  The stars aligned. In two weeks time the following occurred: I ate out more than I like.  I held a sick child two days in a row.  I was sleep deprived and very stressed.  Then, I ate something that upset my stomach, which was the last straw.  These were enough to put me on the bench for a few days.

The above is not my natural routine.  I eat out only on occasion.  I eat a diet rich in organic fresh whole foods - lots of lean meats and poultry, vegetables and fruits (generally at least 5 daily), whole grains.  I also drink plenty of water and occasionally enjoy mineral water.  Pellegrino is my favorite, Gerolsteiner a close second.  I tend to get a fair amount of rest and also build in ample margin, allowing myself time for rejuvenation and refreshing.  This generally works to keep me healthy.  For example, even given the horrendous cold season last fall and this spring (and my significant exposure), I had not succumbed to infection as so many had.

Taking care of ourselves is important, something I need to be reminded on occasion.  It is the very thing that keeps us vital, healthy and able to give to and take care of others.  To take care of myself last night, I made a nice hearty soup (but light enough for spring) with lots of nutrients to boost the immune system.  Onions have lots of sulfur compounds to help kill infection, the carrots vitamin A and lots of phytonutrients.  And celery is touted to clean the blood (don't know the mechanism on this.)  Then, there is the protein, B vitamins and trace minerals in the rice.  All in all, it's a great combo, one of the first things to which I turn when I start to feel flu-like symptoms.  Hope you enjoy.

Onion Wild Rice Soup
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
2-3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 1/2-2 c. wild rice, cooked
3 1/2 c. water
1 t. parsley, dried
1 1/2 t. basil, dried
Salt and pepper to taste

Note: I prefer to use fresh herbs.  When using fresh herbs, generally 2 times the amount of dried.

Cook rice prior to making soup.  Generally 2 1/2 c. of water to cook 1 1/2 c. rice.  Yields ~2- 2 1/2 c. rice.  Saute onions in 1 T. olive oil, 1 T. butter until translucent.  Add water.  Cook 15 minutes on medium low heat (to extract essence of onion).  Add carrots, celery and rice.  Cook 10 minutes.  Add herbs, salt and pepper.  Simmer 2-3 minutes.

Enjoy.  To your health and mine.  Hope you have a great Memorial Day.

Finding Peace

It is so easy to become bogged down with the day-to-day of life that we leave no time for what I like to call margin.  Margin is the space we leave in our lives for restoration, time to be refreshed, rejuvenated, and yes, restored.

Margin can look like a million different things.  For my mother it would be spending time in her perennial beds, digging in the dirt and enjoying her flowers.  My brother, being a landscape architect in the wiles of New York City, would be similar.  My sister shares their passion for digging in the dirt, along with jumping on a trampoline and time alone with God.  For my dad it is snowmobiling.  For my sister-in-law it is getting out of the city and to the ocean, especially if the temperature is above 90 degrees.  For my brother-in-law it is things like fantasy football, sports (especially the St. Louis Cardinals), nature, and snowmobiling with my dad.  For me it is a combination of those things and more.  I love nature, and taking a walk in the woods is wonderful.  Sitting by the ocean is tops.  Horseback riding, a quiet day to sip tea by the fire and read a great book.  A good movie.  Laughing with my girlfriends.  (I recently heard of a study that found 1 hour of laughing with your girlfriends is the same as an hour of yoga.  Fabulous!)  Time alone with God every morning.  Writing.  All these things and more are ways that I step back from life's toils and busy-ness and refresh.

Yesterday after work, it was a walk in the park, touch a few trees, smell the blooms on a crab apple tree, then home for good food.  Great for the soul.  When we take time, even if it is a few minutes each day, to breathe or get quiet, it refreshes us.  There are great physiological implications as well.  These practices allow our often overstressed nervous systems to quiet.  When this happens, our hormones and blood sugar stabilize, our heart rates and blood pressure decrease, our minds clear; we can regain our focus and breathe.

I cannot stress the importance of this enough.  We need to take time for the things that refresh us as much as we need to eat nutritious foods and exercise.  Time to breathe isn't a luxury; it's a need.  And when we don't take time to do it, even if only for a few moments, each day, we pay a heavy price.  We age more quickly, our health and bodies deteriorate, and we place ourselves at greater risk to develop chronic illnesses.  Not good.

Consider this a license to relax and have a little fun.  I encourage you to make a list of 10 things you love to do and that make you laugh out loud.  Then, do one of those things every day.

Enjoy and reap the life-changing benefits of taking time to restore.  It brings more peace than you can imagine.