Is it Soup yet Article by Derrick Lim

Derrick E. Lim of Sacramento wrote a nice article on Teresa's book, A Tradition of Soup (North Atlantic Books, 2009). It is printed in the Summer 2010 issue of Currents.

Safe Amount of Omega-3 Intake

While people with coronary heart disease are advised to take about one gram of omega-3 fatty acid daily, Dr. Robb-Nicholson of Harvard warned against taking more than three grams per day due to their interactions with blood medicine (aspirin, coumadin), antiplatal drugs (Plavix) or anti-inflammatory drugs (Motrin, Advil, among others).

Which is better, flaxseed or fish oil?

When asked the question, Celeste Robb-Nicholson M.D, editor and chief of Harvard Women's Health Watch answered that "Fish in the diet is generally preferred."

Source: Of the omega-3s that lower blood triglyceride and cholesterol levels, amongst other benefits for heart health, EPA and DHA are found mainly in seafood while ALA comes from plants such as flaxseed, soybean, and walnut.

The American Heart Association recommends at least two 4-ounce servings per week of EPA and DHA rich fish such as anchovies, halibut, mackerel, salmon, sardine, and tuna. For people who can't or won't eat fish, plant-source ALA provides a reasonable alternative.

An All-Purpose Soup Stock

Personally, I am not in a habit of making a lot of soup stock and storing it up for future use. While soup stock made from soup bones and/or meat does well with refrigeration, fish and vegetable soups lose their freshness overnight. Hence, I offer only one recipe for making a generic soup stock

2 pounds chicken breast bone

2 pounds pork neck bone

1 ham shank bone (optional)

10 - 20 black mushroon stems (optional)

1-2 cups shrimp shells (from peeling 1/2 - 1 pound of shrimp) (optional)

1 pound of chicken gizzards

1 pound of chicken feet, toenails clipped off (optional)

4 ounces of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into thick slices

Rinse all ingredients.

Bring 5 quarts of water to a boil in a large soup pot. Add half of the ginger and all of the bones, chicken gizzards and the chicken feet (if using) to the boiling water. Boil until fat and scum rise to the top (about 10 minutes). Drain and rinse solids after discarding the liquid.

Fill a large stockpot with 5 quarts of water and add the parboiled solids, shrimp shells and mushroom (if using), and the remaining ginger. Bring to a boil, boil for 10 more minutes, and then reduce the heat to medium-high. Continue to boil, with the lid elevated by a pair of chopsticks, for 3 hours or more.

Strain the stock. Skim off any obvious fat. Cool stock, then pour into lidded containers or double-zipped storage bages to go into the freezer, stacked upright. Be sure to label and date each storage bag. The stock will keep for a month in the freezer, but it is best to use it sooner.

This should result in 2 quarts of stock.

Calcium Calcium in the Bones

Happy New Year!
It is my plan to blog more often about Healthy Eating.

I want to start with Calcium in our diet.
Oyster shell ground into powder and made into calcium pills may be a familiar source of calcium, but it is much easier and convenient to get calcium from our food, if, and IF, you eat the right food.

From animal source, bones are rich in calcium. Make a soup base with bones (pork, beef, lamb, or fish) or eat sardines with bone and all. Most likely, your body can absorb more calcium this way than from a pill (the absorption rate is 7-10%) depending on how efficient your stomach can dissolve that calcium pill.

We're Back

For some reason unknown, this blog was removed for about 2 weeks. There was no email to tell us why. We could not find a contact to inquire about this either. It would be easy for us to create another blogspot, but there seems to be no gurantee that it won't be removed again. Today we tried again to make contact to no avail. Then the strangest thing happened. When we entered our original blog name it returned! How the blog disappeared and then returned remains a mystery.



If you have had simliar experiences, please let us know!

Yin & Yang

The Yin and Yang design is very attractive for a soup. I would call the yin-yang combination a Tai Chi Soup. Here is one with cream of potato soup matched with a cream of mushroom soup with chopped spinach mixed in.
I have tried this with cream of asparagus soup and cream of mushroom soup. I have also replaced the cream of potato with cream of corn with equally stunning result.