HolisticGuru's Wholesome Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Soup

This soup is different and delicious every time I make it. Just get creative and customize it to your preferences. Think of it as a choose your own adventure story…




Choose a base: 6-8 cups of Chicken or vegetable broth or bouillion
Onion: 1 small, medium or large; sweet, green, white yellow or purple onion
Garlic: 1-10 cloves of garlic, chopped (remember, this is about you, do you love garlic?)
Grain: Leftover brown rice, quinoa, millet, pasta, etc (or you can use uncooked potatoes instead)
Roots: carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, turnips, celery all work (choose 1-3 and chop ‘em up)
Other veggies that might need to be used up: broccoli, green beans, squash, etc (as many as you want; chopped)
Greens: escarole, spinach, beet greens, chard, collards, kale, etc (choose one, clean it well and tear it to pieces)
Protein: tofu, tempeh, chicken, beans, fish, etc (I love using leftovers from last night’s baked chicken)
Flavoring: basil, parsley, thyme, rosemary, any herbs (choose no more than 2 or 3 unless you are a wild one; start with a teaspoon of each and see how that works)
Salt and pepper

1. Heat a little oil in a large soup pot and sauté the garlic until it is golden.
2. Add your broth and bring to a boil while you are chopping everything.
3. Toss the onion in whole- I’m not kidding, it becomes very sweet this way and creates a shortcut avoiding a n0n-emotional tear-fest.
4. Add ingredients in this order: pre-cooked meat or other protein, hard root veggies, other veggies, grain (pre-cooked), greens, and flavoring. The order doesn’t even really matter, just get the harder veggies in there early on because they take the longest to cook through.
5. Simmer on low for at least 30 mins until all veggies are tender. If you have a slow cooker you can have it cooking the entire time you are at work.
6. Enjoy! And let me know how you did!

Live and Eat ... My Cookies

It's no joke. I finally perfected my gluten-free cookie recipe. This has been my latest quest.

Last night I was invited to a friend's apartment for a gourmet, home-cooked meal. She said she had been cooking since Tuesday (it was Thursday night). So I was all, "Dang. I better bring a faboo dessert".

*Note: I did not say sugar free, fat free or calorie free. These cookies are healthier but that doesn't mean that you can lose control of yourself in their presence. They do not fight the flu, they do not help you lose inches from your waistline, they will not improve your digestion... but they do taste damn good. So eat 2 or 3 of them, not 12 or 13. Mindfulness, people.

So, without further ado, I am pleased to present:

MY COOKIES (Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal)

1 and 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose flour (I like Arrowhead Mills)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 sticks of UNSALTED butter
1/4 cup peanut butter (I used natural with no added salt or sweetener)
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups rolled oats
1/2 bag of dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and turbinado sugar until smooth (you can use your mixer... I didn't... I used my huge muscles). Then add eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth.
4. Combine the flour mix and the wet mix together, then stir in the oats and chocolate chips. Refrigerate the dough for 10 mins to 6 hours.
5. Drop by Tbsp-fuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, 3 inches apart. Bake 13-15 mins until golden on the edges and soft on top.
* You can freeze some of the dough. Just roll it into balls and put them in the freezer on a cookie sheet until they are solid enough to be put into a ziploc bag.