Nutritious & Delicious: Warm Winter Recipes for Surfers

Now that the holidays are done and gone, we can all agree to start shaving off the winter weight and start preparing for summer. Without all of mom’s home cooking, as good as it might be, we’ve been getting ourselves back in surfing shape in several ways. One of the most important is through a healthy diet.

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It’s easy in the winter to hunker down and eat yourself into hibernation mode. But with hints of sunshine and warmth theses past weeks, we can see light at the end of the tunnel. Aside from 2 cups of swimming at the pool and 1 Tsp  of donation yoga here at the office, we’d like to provide some good, healthy, easy recipes to make it through the winter.

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The first is a delicious tummy settling Ginger Chicken Vegetable Soup. It’s a warm flavorful soup that beats the cold or a cold. To make this recipe even more healthy is to head to your local co-op or health food store for locally grown, organic ingredients. You really can taste the difference…

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Ginger Chicken Vegetable Soup

2 T olive oil

1 5-inch piece fresh ginger minced (3 Tablespoons)  I added more – we love ginger!

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

2 medium parsnips, peeled and chopped

1 medium turnip, peeled and chopped

2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

2 celery stalks, thinly sliced

2 32-ounce boxes low sodium chicken broth (8 cups)  (I used water)

½ t kosher salt

½ rotisserie chicken, meat shredded (2 cups)  (I used a sautéed chicken breast, thinly sliced)

1/3 cup frozen peas, thawed

3 scallions, trimmed and sliced

In a large saucepan or stockpot, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the ginger, garlic, and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes.

Add the parsnips, turnips, carrots, celery, broth/water, and salt and bring to a boil.  Simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender, 15-20 minutes.  Add the chicken, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat, stir in peas and scallions and let sit, covered, for 1 minute.

If you don’t like parsnips or turnips, I think peeled and chopped sweet potato would be good, and you could leave out the chicken for a veggie version – replace with tofu if you want.

I served each bowl with a squeeze of fresh lemon on top.  Very Asian tasting dish!

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The next recipe is a more hearty savory soup for the colder nights of the winter. This Barley Mushroom Soup packs in a lot of protein with a combination of beans, greens, and mycoprotein from the mushrooms.

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Barley Mushroom Soup

(this is ½ of the recipe.  When I made the whole one, it needed a much bigger pot than I had.)

2-3 large carrots, chopped

2-3 stalks celery, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

4 T barley (I increased to 1 cup)

¾ cups of dried large lima beans (soaked in water overnight or in hot water for 2 hours)

1 5-oz. pkg baby spinach, chopped

1/8 cup butter (or use olive oil)

½ quart of water

salt, pepper, dill

1 lb. mushrooms

½ quart milk (almond or soy should be fine)

½ large onion

1/8 cup butter (or olive oil)

1 ½ T flour

Sautee the carrots, celery, onion inbutter/oil and then add barley, dried limas, water, and seasonings (don’t add salt until beans are soft.)

After beans start getting a little soft, add most of the mushrooms, chopped.

When beans are soft (and barley should be, too) add milk.  Chop remaining onion, sautee it in butter/oil, and add flour.  Allow flour to brown a little and then add entire ingredients to the soup.

Add remaining mushrooms, sliced, the spinach, and more dill.  Cook a little longer for sliced mushrooms and spinach to cook.

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Enjoy