Unlike what happens during stewing and frying, vegetables, meat and poultry cooked as soup conserve much more of their natural nutrients. And despite the fact that soups usually contain a lot less calories than the main dish, they aren’t any less nutritious or filling. Served with whole grain bread or muffins, they become the main dish.

Vegetable soups are a great way to get a picky eater to eat their veggies. For a truly picky eater, puree the soup and they’ll never know what’s in it! Broccoli Cheese Soup and Cauliflower Cheese Soup are perfect examples. The Broccoli Cheese Soup is green…Try Rannosaurus’® favorite! After all he loves to say, “Green food is yummy!”

Chicken soup is good for the soul…unless you’re a chicken!

Chicken soup is known as Jewish penicillin. It’s said to have healthful benefits for cold and flu symptoms. Chicken soup (especially if homemade or organic) has anti-inflammatory effects and can help lessen the symptoms of the cold and flu. Make sure your chicken soup has lots of garlic, as it’s the germ terminator. Garlic kills bacteria, fungi, and viruses on food and in your body by inhibiting particular enzymes in germs.

Dr. Stephen Rennard, a specialist in pulmonary medicine, put his grandmother in-law’s chicken soup recipe to the test. He concluded chicken soup inhibits inflammation of the cells in the nasal passage, reducing the symptoms of a cold.

Homemade soup can take hours to simmer, like chicken soup (unless you use a premade chicken stock and simmer chopped veggies), or it can be whipped up in a few minutes, like these three yummy recipes (Click on the name for the recipe): Sweet Potato Soup, Beef & Cabbage Soup, Broccoli Cheese Soup.

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First the good news:
Dark chocolate has been found to have more flavonoids than any food tested so far, including blueberries, red wine, and black and green teas! In fact, dark chocolate has four times more flavoniods than tea. Dark chocolate has been found to have more flavonoids than any food tested so far, including blueberries, red wine, and black and green teas! In fact, dark chocolate has four times more flavoniods than tea.

Can you guess what hot drink Angel is wishing for?…Hot Cocoa
Studies suggest eating chocolate with at least a 70 percent cocoa content, in moderation, can be beneficial in conjunction with exercise and a healthy diet. If you eat chocolate, only eat DARK chocolate. Dark chocolate has antioxidant properties, which may actually help to protect the body from damaging oxidative stress.

Chocolate is derived from plants, as are fruits and vegetables. Flavoniods are plant pigments, which have antioxidant activity with health promoting benefits: they have anti-allergic, anti-cancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-viral properties.

Dark chocolate is far better than milk chocolate, as some say adding milk cancels out the chocolate’s antioxidant effects. However, just because chocolate is dark, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s healthy. Are you ready for the not so good news?

Even though chocolate contains flavonols and calcium, both said to have a positive effect on bone density, chocolate also contains oxalate, an inhibitor of calcium absorption, and sugar, linked to calcium excretion. Oxalate is a naturally occurring compound, which in large amounts may inhibit absorption of calcium. They occur in many plants, especially greens like spinach, Swiss chard, beet greens, rhubarb, and the cocoa bean.

This is disappointing news for those of us who love chocolate. Some research suggests that regular consumption of chocolate may weaken bone density. This could increase the risk of health problems, especially for women, such as osteoporosis and fracture.

According to a study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, women who eat chocolate daily have an overall bone density about 3 percent lower than those who consume it less than once a week.

The study found that women, who ate chocolate less than once a week, had significantly stronger bones than those who consumed the treat on a daily basis, with calcium supplementation having little effect on the results. Additional studies are needed to confirm these observations.

In fact, another study from the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, contradicted these findings. They said the body absorbs calcium just as well from chocolate milk as it does from unflavored milk. Because, milk contains much more calcium than oxalate so there’s plenty of free calcium left over. Only 6 milligrams of calcium is tied up, out of the 250 milligrams in a glass of milk.

These studies manage to really confuse the chocolate issue, don’t you think? One study links chocolate to weaker bones, another says the body absorbs calcium with chocolate just fine. There’s a lot were not told. What type of chocolate was eaten in each of the studies? How much did sugar compromise the results concerning weaker bones?

Chocolate Lovers Should Be the Healthiest People on the Planet

Did you know each person eats approximately 11½ pounds of chocolate in a year? Of course, real choco-halics eat more. Although chocolate-lovers often quote the study finding flavonoids in chocolate to be heart-healthy; they often ignore the fact that they may be eating inferior chocolate and sugar, which destroys the very benefit they’re hoping for. They also ignore the part about moderation, a healthy diet, and exercise.

Most cocoa is processed in ways destroying the majority of the beneficial flavanoids. Consumers are generally unaware that standard manufacturing removes as much as half the flavonols. But, you can safely assume all milk and white chocolate do not have these beneficial nutrients.

While the verdict may be out on chocolate, we know sugar is detrimental to health. Chocolate, even if it’s dark, it still contains sugar, and eating sugar compromises your immune system. A good rule of thumb is to eat dark chocolate occasionally and only eat it if you’re healthy.

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Method:
1. In a large pan, sauté the onion, celery, and pepper for about 10 minutes in olive oil or chicken broth. Add the garlic the last 2 minutes.

2. Wash and drain the lentils.

3.  Add the lentils, salt, pepper, bay leafs, and the broth to the vegetable mixture.

4. Bring to a boil; then reduce the heat. Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes, until the lentils are tender.

5. Cook the small shell macaroni and add to each bowl of soup.

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There’s nothing like a nice hot bowl of soup on a cold winter’s day. Soup is winter comfort food. Unfortunately, most soup consumed is the processed variety, full of additives.

Today, homemade soup is a rarity, because of the time involved. Cooking a soup stock can take hours. So, we rely on the canned and dried varieties of soup. No matter the brand of processed soup, the flavor is never the same as one cooked from scratch.

You can make yummy soups in a fraction of the time, using premade chicken broth. Chicken broth will give your quick soups depth of flavor. In fact, it may be hard to discern a 30-minute soup from one that’s simmered for hours.

If you purchase organic, free-range chicken broth, you’ll avoid many of the additives in canned soups and other broths. Look for chicken broth made from grain-fed chickens, raised without hormones or antibiotics. Also, in this broth the salt content will be lower.

On the next cold winter day, make a hot sweet potato soup that’ll warm you from the inside out!

Sweet Potato Soup
This recipe takes only 30 minutes to complete from start to finish. It’s so tasty, you’ll think that your eating at a fancy restaurant! Serves 4

You’ll need:
3 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 lb)
1 small onion
1 medium carrot
1 stalk of celery
32 ounces of chicken or vegetable broth
½ teaspoon each of sage and pepper
1/3 cup heavy cream or canned organic coconut milk

Method:
1. Coarsely chop the veggies and potatoes.
2. Place in a pot with the chicken broth and seasonings.
3. Boil until the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and cool for about 5 minutes.
5. Alternatively place veggies and potatoes in a blender with 1 cup of the broth. You control the texture of the soup with the amount of broth used. (We like it thick and creamy.) Puree, until the consistency is smooth.
6. Repeat until all is pureed and ladle into bowls.
7. Add most of the coconut or cream to the soup.
7. Drizzle remaining cream or coconut milk in each bowl.

Make these yummy oat bran muffins and your meal will be complete!

Oat Bran Muffins
Yield: One dozen muffins
Heat oven to 400 degrees
1¼ cups oat bran (pulse 1 cup rolled oats in your blender to make oat flour)
1 cup whole-wheat flour
or pastry wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup milk
¼ cup honey
2 eggs
1 tablespoon melted butter
or coconut oil
½ cup raisins or blueberries

1. Put paper muffin cups in a muffin tin (or coat with coconut oil or butter).
2. Chop fruit into bite-size pieces
3. In a mixing bowl combine dry ingredients.
4. In another small bowl combine applesauce, milk, honey, eggs, and oil.
5. Make a well in the center of dry mixture. Add wet ingredients. Stir until moistened.
6. Spoon batter into greased muffin tin. Fill each about 2/3 full.
7. Bake at 400 degrees for about ten minutes
8. Remove from oven and cool.

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Hot Cocoa…
without sugar

When you need warming from a spring shower, an autumn storm, or a winter blizzard, you can enjoy an occasional hot cocoa without the worries of added processed white sugar.

My recipe uses Stevia as a sweetener. Stevia is a naturally sweet herbal plant from the Chrysanthemum family and it pairs nicely with chocolate. Stevia has a slightly licorice taste. Some don’t care for it’s flavor, but when it’s used in a recipe with another distinctive taste, such as hot chocolate or lemonade it works very well.

I recently made this Hot Cocoa recipe for guests, only I used goat milk. They raved about it, saying it was the “best cocoa” they ever had! They were very surprised when I tole them that I used goat milk and that there was NO sugar added!

Nicole can’t wait until her hot cocoa is ready!

Hot Cocoa

1) For every cup of whole milk mix together  in a blender (or whisk):
2 tablespoons of organic unsweetened cocoa powder
2 to 3 Stevia extract packets (I use two to two and a half packets, but most people like it sweeter) — packets of various brands of Stevia have different levels of sweetness. You’ll want to taste as you add it to the cocoa. It’s sweeter than you think, so don’t add too much.
Optional: A pinch of salt and cinnamon

2) Slowly heat until hot, stirring all the while. Don’t boil the milk.
Ladle hot cocoa into mugs and enjoy!

Don’t you love the way hot cocoa smells? …heavenly!