At my last renal appointment I learned that the regiment of drugs tat I was taking, a regiment which prednisone, only kept my levels stable. This means that while my kidney disease is not getting worst, it is not getting any better either. The good news is that I am no longer required to take prednisone to try to stave off the disease! The doc has been monitoring weaning me off the prednisone so while there are some side effects, I am sleeping through the night (yay), no longer manic (yay!) and no longer HANGRY all of the time (double yay!).
There is really nothing I can do to fight the inevitable (FSGS is something that will destroy my kidneys) I can slow down the disease with meds and with changes to my diet. One thing she told me was that I should focus on a plant-based diet and after that last appointment I have decided that the number on the scale is not where I want to be. Instead of using “I have pain!” as a reason not to workout or “I get so hungry!” as a reason to eat all of the things, I decided that it’s time to be real and be right and take some control of my health.
Which is why I found myself at Produce Junction buying more veggies than I usually purchase and using those cookbooks that I am hoarding, er collecting for inspiration.
For today’s Souper Sunday, I tried to recreate a root soup a friend of mine served me a while back and thumbed through Cooking Light Global Kitchen to try to find a recipe to recreate. Here’s the thing, when H invited me to lunch she shared her recipe but it’;s been a while and I tried to recreate the recipe as best I could. To night’s creation was a base of veggies that I never really consider: parsnips, rutabaga and familiar veggies sweet potatoes and white potatoes.
Look at these veggies!
My attempt to recreate the Roasted Root Soup:
I chopped up a jumbo sweet potato, three white potatoes, a parsnip and a rutabaga. These veggies were seasoned with nutmeg, all spice, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, parsley and a touch of curry and put in the oven to roast for about 30 minutes. (I could have roasted them longer but was feeling the time restraints of needing to get dinner on the table because hungry).
Our spice tins, ready for use!
While the chopped veggies were in the oven, I peeled two carrots (a veggie I always try to sneak into soups because The Bee is always complaining about them), chopped up two stalks of celery and minced a few cloves of garlic. These were then sauteed with some Earth Balance butter. After these cooked for about six minutes or so, I added some chicken stock and let this boil. After boiling for a bit, I let this mixture simmer while I waited for the oven veggies to be ready. We only had chicken broth in the house but going forth I am going to stock up on veggie stock. Since we are trying to go for more meatless meals, I feel like veggie stock would be a great way to sneak in the veggies. (Please, correct me if I am wrong!)
When the timer went off for the root veggies, I added them to the pot, brought the mixture to a boil and then let the soup simmer for about 40 minutes. After a few anxious tastes tests (in which both The Bee and The Librarian declared the soup spicy but sweet and ready) I let the soup cool and made some croutons to go with it.
After the soup cooled enough, I pureed the mixture in the blender and rewarmed the soup.
Some scallions were added for garnish and dinner was served.
Reactions from the family
The Bee said it was on the sweeter side but spicy. It had a nice cinnamon flavor but the heat from the pepper made it more complex (yes, I am not sure what this means either).
The Librarian said it had the right amount of heat with a nice sweet to it. It was warming, filling, and satisfying.
Either way, they both ate dinner and joyfully cleaned the kitchen while I wrote this post.
In a few weeks I am attending a class through the Free Library to learn to make soup without a recipe. Hopefully this class will help me get over that anxiety I feel when cooking without a recipe.
So now talk to me…how do YOU use root veggies? Tips and tricks wanted, please!
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