Tuscan Style Potato Soup

I like soup any time of the year. Especially when I can use locally grown produce from our CSA. This soup is the perfect comfort food, and is full of healthy fats. Our toddler loves it. But he pretty much loves any soup. He must have a thing for bone broth, which is a key ingredient in all the soups I make. (And it's no wonder! Broth is an excellent food for babies and toddlers!)

So on to the recipe. Eat it up and don't feel one bit guilty about the butter and cream and cheese and bacon. Your body needs saturated fat!

Tuscan Style Potato Soup

Ingredients:

4 T. butter

5 mini onions (bulbs and tops) or one large onion

3 cloves garlic

1 t. salt

freshly ground pepper to taste

1 lb. potatoes, cubed (peeled or not, according to preference)

4 c. chicken broth

1/4-1/2 lb. nitrate-free bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 c. whole milk

1/2 c. sour cream (additive-free) or plain yogurt

1 c. grated sharp cheddar

a fistful of fresh parsley, chopped

(optional: a few leaves of kale or swiss chard)

Method:

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add chopped onions with salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes, until beginning to soften. Add minced garlic and cook a couple minutes longer. Add potatoes and broth. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer and cook until potatoes are tender. Puree all but one cup or so of the mixture in the pot.*

Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine over low heat. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

If desired, you can add a few leaves of kale or swiss chard to this soup. Chop and add after pureeing the potato mixture, along with the other ingredients. Cook about 10 minutes or until tender. If you want to retain the probiotic qualities of the sour cream or yogurt, add that at the very end.

*A note on pureeing the soup:

The easiest way to do this is with an immersion blender, apparently. Simply set aside one cup of the potato mixture, puree the rest, and add the cup back in. If you do not have an immersion blender (I'm with you), puree in batches in a regular blender, putting the blended soup into another bowl as you go. Leave a cup of the potato mixture un-pureed in the pot, and then pour the pureed soup back in. And then wash the mound of dishes you just created, and tell your husband you want an immersion blender for your birthday, which is coming up in three days. ;)

This is part of Fight Back Friday, Friday Potluck, Food Trip Friday, I'm Lovin' It Friday, and Weekend Gourmet.

Easy Change #5: find lunch meat alternatives

Welcome back to my Easy Changes You Can Make Today series! It's been awhile, but I'm back with another small change you can make to help you and your family become healthier people! (Did you miss the other Easy Changes? Check them out here!)

This series is all about taking small steps toward a healthier diet. Depending on your current relationship with pre-sliced deli meats, this step may feel like more of a medium sized step. But be encouraged: I'm not going to suggest you never eat lunch meat again. This blog is not about judgement, it's about the joy of real food.

But before we get to the happy part - the mouthwatering lunch-meatless options that await you - we have to talk about why we might want to stop relying on this very convenient convenience food. So here goes...

Three Reasons to Avoid Conventional Lunch Meat 

 

1. You don't know how the animals were raised.

And if you don’t know, you can assume it’s probably not good. Too many animals in a small space, with no access to the outdoors, fed GMO grain and soy, getting pumped full of hormones and antibiotics…it’s a sad story. And it makes the meat you eat a lot less nutritious. I used to think that meat was meat, but it's just not true. Corn-fed meat, unlike its distant cousin grass-fed meat (or pastured chicken/turkey) has a ratio of omega-6’s to omega 3’s that is extremely out of balance. Chickens were meant to eat bugs! Cows were meant to eat grass! Pigs were meant to roll around in the mud! If animals are living in the great outdoors they are healthier and don’t need a constant stream of antibiotics to keep them “healthy.” Unfortunately most of the lunch meat you see in the store (unless it is grass-fed or from a reputable organic farm) is factory farmed. No, thank you. This reason alone is enough to dissuade me, but here are a couple more good reasons... 

2. It contains nitrates or nitrites.

See Thursday's post on what these are and why we might want to avoid them. The jury is out but I'd rather play it safe whenever I can. 

3. It's wasteful.

You get a small amount of meat in a plastic package that comes from petroleum, often can’t be recycled, and doesn’t biodegrade. Convenient? Yes. But not exactly earth friendly. 

(Side note: I met someone last night who is majoring in Package Engineering. Fascinating! He mentioned that one aspect of his field is trying to get the job done with less packaging. Even in our fallen system of processed and packaged everything, I'm grateful that there are people trying to design packaging that uses less resources!)

So, if you’re not going to eat lunch meat all the time, what do you eat for lunch?? I’ve got all sorts of easy lunch ideas to help you out! They might take a little longer to prepare than slapping some ham between two slices of Wonderbread, but they are ever-so-delicious and WAY more nutritious, too.
 

Ten Alternatives to Conventional Lunch Meat

 

1. Tuna or salmon salad.

Though I'm not thrilled that salmon and tuna come in a can lined with BPA and who knows what else, it's a compromise I choose to make. We eat tuna or salmon salad once a week or so for a quick lunch. Just open the can and mix with a little mayo (homemade is best!) or plain yogurt if you’re in a pinch (or a combination - the yogurt is great for digestion!) Add some chopped celery and something onion-y (chopped onion, scallions, or chives). A bit of mustard, squeeze of lemon juice, and you’re done! Fresh herbs like parsley and thyme take it to the next level. 

2. Chicken salad.

Got leftover meat from roasting a chicken? Shred the meat and use the same technique as above, or try my Shallot Cranberry Chicken Salad. Or skip the “salad” part and just shred some chicken and throw it on a sandwich with some cheese and veggies.

3. Egg Salad.

Hard boil some eggs and plunge into cold water. Peel and chop. Add the same ingredients you would add to tuna salad, plus some paprika and parsley if you have it.

4. Deviled eggs.

These are an Easter tradition in my family, and we devour them! But they work great as a simple lunch, too. Here is a simple recipe. 

5. Hummus or other bean spread.

These are satisfying, inexpensive, and delicious! Try my recipes for Hummus, Roasted Garlic Black Bean Dip, and White Bean Dip with Garlic Scapes (even if you don’t have garlic scapes).
 

6. Quesadillas

Buy some traditionally prepared corn tortillas (we get El Milagro brand from our local Mexican grocery), or make some sprouted, soaked, or sourdough tortillas. Add some muenster cheese, fold in half, and cook in an iron skillet until the cheese melts. Serve with sour cream, guacamole, and/or salsa. If you had beans for dinner the night before, just reheat them on the stove in a saucepan to round out the meal. I also keep a couple cans of black beans handy for emergency lunches (like when the menu plan says "leftovers" but somehow there aren't any).
 

7. Grilled cheese and veggies sandwiches.

You know how to make grilled cheese, right? (Make sure you butter the bread!) If you want to take it to the next level, sauté some mushrooms, onions, and/or bell peppers and throw those into your sandwich, too! We also make a big batch of pesto every summer and freeze it in ice cube trays. Pesto grilled cheese is a definite favorite around here! Or skip the grilling and just eat a cheese sandwich. In that case, add some tomato, lettuce, and avocado. Yum!

8. Nut Butter Sandwiches.

Simple enough. Just be sure to buy all-natural peanut or almond butter with no added partially hydrogenated oils or sugar. (We LOVE Trader Joe’s Almond Butter.) Even better, make your own with soaked and dried nuts. I’ll do that some day, when I have a powerful food processor. Add some local raw honey or homemade jam and you've got a filling lunch and a slightly sweet treat all in one!

9. Leftovers.

This is our favorite thing to eat for lunch. Reheat some of last night’s dinner (preferably on the stove or in the oven/toaster oven). Or eat it cold! 

10. Nitrate/nitrite free, sustainably raised lunch meat

If you absolutely HAVE to have lunch meat, you can find healthy versions. Applegate Farms makes organic, nitrate free deli meats (and other cured meats like hot dogs and bacon!). They are more expensive, but if you only buy them occasionally and you save money by buying less processed food in general, perhaps you can fit it into your budget. There are certainly times in life where lunch meat can be a life saver!

11. Make your own lunch meat! The Nourishing Gourmet has a recipe for homemade chicken lunch meat that looks delicious! 

 

What’s your favorite simple and lunch meat-free lunch?

This is part of Fight Back Friday and Monday Mania.

Words of the Day: Nitrate and Nitrite

Part of your journey towards eating real food is discovering what your food is made up of - both good stuff and bad stuff. Once you tune in to labels and learn where your food comes from, you can simplify by buying more foods with fewer ingredients, and getting as much as you can from local farmers.

Today and tomorrow we're talking lunch meat. Tomorrow I'll be discussing alternatives to nitrate-ridden, factory-farmed lunch meats. In preparation for that, let's talk about nitrates and nitrites.

First, please know that I am not a scientist, nor do I claim to have all the answers. I'm just a wife and mom trying to feed my family as healthfully as possible.

Nitrate and nitrite are chemicals that are used in the curing process in lunch meats, bacon, pepperoni, ham, and hot dogs.

According to the Applegate Farms FAQ's: "Nitrates (NO3) are naturally occurring compounds that are created when plants break down nitrogen during photosynthesis. When nitrates come in contact with certain bacteria they break down into nitrites."

So nitrates are "naturally occurring." They aren't just in cured meats; they are also found in vegetables and in our water. Our body naturally converts some of them into nitrites. This is not harmful. Nitrites turn into nitric oxide which can lower blood pressure and reduce inflammation. (source)

But sodium nitrite is added to cured meats.

From a report on Nitrite in Meat by the University of Minnesota:

Sodium nitrite, rather than sodium nitrate, is most commonly used for curing (although in some products, such as country ham, sodium nitrate is used because of the long aging period). In a series of normal reactions, nitrite is converted to nitric oxide. Nitric oxide combines with myoglobin, the pigment responsible for the natural red color of uncured meat. They form nitric oxide myoglobin, which is a deep red color (as in uncooked dry sausage) that changes to the characteristic bright pink normally associated with cured and smoked meat (such as wieners and ham) when heated during the smoking process.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but part of what I'm reading here is that when we consume naturally occurring nitrates, the process of nitrate>nitrite>nitric oxide happens in our bodies. When nitrate or nitrite is added to meat, that process happens during the curing of the meat.

Foods can be cured using salt and naturally occurring nitrates such as those found in celery juice and sea salt, but adding nitrate or nitrite is supposed to help prevent botulism and makes the meat a brighter red color. These curing agents also give the characteristic cured meat flavor we are used to. Apparently their naturally occurring cousins just don't cut it (even though, for thousands of years, people just used salt to preserve meat). No botulism and more appealing food sound like good things, but there is a potential problem in using nitrate or nitrite in the curing process. These chemicals can form nitrosamine, a known carcinogen. Yuck.

Now, I simply don't know if there is a difference in how our body deals with nitrate and nitrite depending on whether it comes as an isolated chemical or in the form of celery juice and sea salt. But I certainly like the idea of it coming from real food. (How's that for scientific?)

My mother-in-law (a very wise woman!) always made sure her boys drank some orange juice if they were eating cured meats containing nitrate or nitrite. The vitamin C, if consumed at the same time as nitrate, prevents your body from forming nitrosamines during digestion! You could also eat an orange or grapefruit or tomato with your meal for the same effect. And apparently the FDA requires that ascorbic acid be added to cured meat for that purpose. (Wow, go FDA! It's not every day that I say that...)

So, the jury is still out on how harmful these suckers are. I'm choosing to avoid them if possible, but that won't stop me from ordering bacon with my eggs at a restaurant (preferably one that uses meat and eggs from local, sustainable farms.) Whatever you may think of this nitrate business, there may be other reasons to think twice about grabbing that package of honey ham at the grocery store. We'll talk about that tomorrow, and I'll give you some simple ideas for lunch meat alternatives. See you then!

This is part of Simple Lives Thursday. Check it out!