Frugal Nutrient Preservation (& Fire Roasted Tomato Soup)

Steph here –

Welcome to the first installment of Frugal Soups &Stews! We have a fabulous line up of fugal cooks – bloggers and non-bloggers alike – who will be sharing their knowledge and recipes with us over the next few weeks.

Our first guest post is from my friend Dawn, a true whole foods enthusiast who is passionate about finding frugal ways to feed her family only the best food – both in taste and nutrients. I met Dawn the old fashioned way (as in, in real life first, not through the internet) a few years ago, and since I’ve had the pleasure of eating multiple dinners at her family’s table, I can personally attest to the deliciousness of her meals.

Enjoy!

We frugal minded like to save everything we might be able to use again in the future, right? ‘Tis a loaded question… okay, not EVERYTHING because we only WISH we knew the future! We can do both to a degree.

Let’s talk about how to save our NUTRIENTS as well. When we prepare our vegetables, we preserve at least a FEW of the nutrients by lightly steaming rather than long-cook boiling. If we steam only until brightly colored, we’ve preserved some nutrients, and our steam water will hold the color lost as well as the nutrients.

Sue Gregg, the first person I learned of Whole Foods from, taught me to save the steaming water also. In a labeled jar, keep and reuse that water you’ve gathered through out the week in your weekly batch of Refrigerator Soup.

Another cooking method to preserve nutrients is the low-heat method. Traci Sellers taught me this fabulous method. Works beautiful for grains and legumes that you’ve soaked and sprouted and wish to preserve as much LIFE in them as possible. We rinse and soak our grain about 8-12 hours (either all day or all night), then we allow the grain to ‘sprout’ for another period of time.

I often begin the soaking process at night, rinse, and allow to sprout by just leaving it in a bowl or colander on the counter for the better part of the day, then low heat for our evening meal or the next day. Lentils will show their ‘tail’ in as little as three hours. Rice will take closer to a full day. There are specifics on how long to let each grain sprout for, but I’m a simple girl… I just watch it and use it when I need it.

Low-heating saves energy and nutrition! Bring the soaked, sprouted, fully rinsed grains in a pot covered by an equal amount of clean water to a boil. Immediately remove from heat and cover and let the residual heat continue cooking the grain. The water should fully absorb and you’ll have grains and legumes with some precious life left in them! How nourishing! I use this process with brown rice, quinoa, millet, barley, rye and lentils and more.

What, you’re not ready to try this new fangled technique?

You don’t want lentils or have any quinoa?

You want to make something healthy and yummy right NOW?

Try this super simple tomato soup recipe. I almost feel guilty when I make this because it’s so EASY!! I’m ‘preserving’ my TIME on this one without sacrificing gourmet taste! Hope you do, too!

Basil and Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil (or olive oil)
• 2 28-ounce cans crushed, diced, or ground tomatoes (I use Fire Roasted for RICH flavor!)
• ½- 1 teaspoon basil
• 1-2 teaspoon honey (to taste)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

• Sauté onion and garlic in soup pot
• Add tomatoes (can also use 7 cups fresh, peeled and chopped if desired in place of canned tomatoes), herbs (basil), salt and honey
• Gently heat through and with a stick blender, blend soup in pot until smooth as desired

Dawn is inspired by her six young girls to learn and apply all she can to achieve balance in natural body health and wellness. She and her daughters enjoy making healthy food fun and tasty. Together they experiment (read: play!) a lot in the kitchen.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Dawn said Sue Gregg’s products first introduced her to “whole foods.” I’m curious to find out who or what may have started you on that journey. Who was the Sue Gregg in your life?

My mom (Steph here) first taught me about whole foods. While my early childhood was full of white bread and cold cereal, she and some of the other women in our homeschooling community started exploring healthier eating when I was a young teenager. I caught on pretty quickly and never looked back.