Thank you for your comments in yesterday’s post! It really cheered me up when I read them this morning after another rough night of little sleep.
Lately, my eats have looked like this…
Blah. Those two pictures look about as exciting as I feel right now.
I think Eric got sick of watching me eat oatmeal, Coconut Bliss, and chia seed pudding all weekend, so he took matters into his own hands and made a kick-butt stew for dinner.
He grabbed every veggie he could find and he announced that a HEALING stew would be made for our unconventional Easter dinner.
With a little guidance from a recipe on Whole Foods, healing magic happened.
Husband's Healing Stew
Yield
Over 10 cups
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Adapted from Whole Foods.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 small sweet onions, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground corriander
- 2 bay leaves (optional)
- 2 small zucchini, chopped
- 1 yellow pepper + 1 red pepper, chopped
- 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 4 cups organic vegetable broth (not low sodium), or more as needed
- 1, 28-oz can diced organic tomatoes (no added salt)
- 1/2 cup uncooked raw buckwheat groats, rinsed (or grain of choice)
- 1/2 cup uncooked pearled barley, rinsed (or grain of choice)
- 1/2 cup frozen Edamame (or bean of choice)
- 1.5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp minced fresh parsley
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder (optional)
- 5-10 shakes red pepper flakes, to taste
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt + Black pepper, to taste
Directions
- In a large pot over low heat, add 1 tbsp olive oil and the chopped sweet onion, green onion, and minced garlic. Heat over low until translucent, about 5-8 minutes.
- Stir in coriander, cinnamon, and two bay leaves and heat an additional minute or two. Now, add in the chopped vegetables (zucchini, peppers, carrots) and cook for about 5 more minutes. Add a bit more oil if necessary.
- Stir in the diced tomatoes, vegetable broth, rinsed buckwheat and pearled barley (or grains of choice). Simmer on low-medium heat (dial 3-4) for 20 minutes, checking often to make sure it doesn’t burn or thin out too much. Add a bit more broth or water if necessary and reduce heat when needed.
- After 20 minutes, add in the lemon juice and additional seasonings- all to taste (minced parsley, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and salt & pepper). Cook for another few minutes, remove bay leaves, and serve with fresh bread. Freeze leftovers or store in the fridge.
Tip:
- You can have success using a wide range of vegetables, seasonings, and grains of your choice.
- Always adjust the seasonings to taste and add them gradually. My taste buds are quite muted right now, so we made it spicy. :)
Every good healing stew begins with garlic!
We used pearled barley and raw buckwheat, but you could use any kind of grains you want.
Oh and some frozen Edamame was thrown in at the last minute for extra protein.
Like most soups, there is a lot of chopping to do, but other than that, it is fool-proof.
After simmering for 20 minutes the grains cooked up and the stew got nice and thick.
Eric asked me to add more seasonings, and I think I went a bit crazy with the red pepper flakes! He said it was quite spicy, but I didn’t really taste it. ;) Oops.
Served with fresh bread and Earth Balance….it was the perfect, healing meal.
Even though I can’t taste or smell that well right now, I know this was a good stew! There was a lot of love in it.
The best part about this stew was that my sinuses were clear after eating it. ;)
For dessert, we had a piece of Carrot Cake Loaf with Lemon Glaze– which defrosted wonderfully by the way- and was SUPER fresh! We are in love with it. I will be making this loaf again and again.
There are a lot of healing leftovers for me this week! Take that flu. I’ll squash you like an ant.
Before you go, I have a little assignment for you…
Quite a few of you expressed interest that you would love a follow-up after my Lessons in Self-Love post. Intuitive and mindful eating seemed to be a topic that you wanted to explore more.
I thought it would be cool to see if you have any questions pertaining to the following areas:
- Intuitive & mindful eating
- Binge eating
- Calorie counting
- Weight maintenance
- Happy weight
- Disordered eating
- Body image/Self-confidence
- Hunger signals
I will be happy to provide my own experiences if you have anything on your mind that you would like explored more. Just leave your question (or questions) below and I will pick some of them to answer in a follow-up post, Q & A format.
Way to go Eric! And it is beautiful too.
The carrot loaf looks very nice… going to look for that blog… thanks.
I’m wondering what you think of the unspoken “hierarchy” of eating disorders. Just recently, it seems that it is being more openly discussed in the blog world…and I think it is a subject that deserves some attention. It seems that anorexia is considered the “best” eating disorder, the one that symbolizes control and (maybe) glamour. Bulimia seems more shameful because then you feel out of control, and binge eating is the worst.
I have personal experience with this. I went into treatment for anorexia, and through the refeeding process, I started binge eating. I was so ashamed and devastated and disgusted with myself, I couldn’t tell anyone. This prevented me from getting the help I needed, and I developed bulimia for a while. I think that the shame associated with binge eating is a huge obstacle for so many people, and it prevents them from recovering. I wonder if you could comment on how you dealt with your shame and how you managed to recover from binge eating despite that. Also, did anyone treat you differently or react with disgust when you told them? I think that’s a huge fear for some. It was for me.
Anything that colorful (and noy from yellow #9) has to taste good!
Hope you feel better really soon.
I read through a few comments and dont want to sound repetitive, I would like to lose 10lbs and it has been a life long struggle. I know to some it’s not a lot but to me it is. I have done it before but as always I gain it back. I start everyday saying this is the day that I will eat right for the rest of my life and then either a) my hubby brings home bad foods b) my kids dont finish their meal and I do it for them c) there is a family gathering with a lot of sinful stuff or d) there is something yummy lurking in my kitchen or pantry and I wont stop till it is done! How do you stop this behavior? where do you get the strength to say I will just eat this and that’s it?
What a great hubby! That stew looks amazing!
What did you substitute for binge eating?
I forget why exactly you binged, but I personally used to do it to procrastinate doing hard projects, distract myself from pressing issues/questions, when I was feeling lonely/bored and wanted to escape my circumstances. So my question for you is (if your experience was similar to mine)…how did you learn to manage these stressors without using food?
I’m doing much better myself these days, but I still have my moments once in awhile. Nevertheless, I’ve always been interested in this aspect of your journey.
Thanks! :)
Eric is a sweetie for making you the stew! It looks awesome.
I’d be interesting in hearing about how you maintain/lose weight once recovered? I’ve been eating normally again for 2 years and my weight has stabilized. But I’ve been slacking off a little too much and not exercising hard enough – and would feel so much better if I lost a few pounds. Do you ever deal with this? Any suggestions would be great :)
I struggle with super strict eating followed by binge eating…..any ideas on first steps to take to stop this cycle….I have gone 7 months with no binge then binge for 5 months….the weight loss and weight gain is CRAZY!!!!!!
Hi Angela,
First of all, I loved your ‘lessons on self love’ post – it really touched my heart. I looked through some of these comments, and I am struggling with the same issue as Amy H…
“I’m currently in therapy/recovering from anorexia (again). My current struggles are with binge eating. If I don’t find I have full control over calorie counting (ie I try to take a day of measuring/counting everything) I go into a “binge”. I know it’s because my body has been so deprived. Anyways, any tips, advice on how to control binges and not count calories all the time?”
I would also love to learn more about the transition from counting calories to eating intuitively. It’s something thats been foreign concept to me for a very long time.
Thanks for your help, Ang. Get well soon!
First off I just wanted to say that your blog is so amazing, and i find myself always checking it out to see what goodies you’re making, and to read all of the inspirational posts. So thank you for OSH!
I would like to know more about what helped you with binge eating, how you perfected your intuitive eating/hunger signals, and also tips on how you let yourself indulge without overindulging, and when i mean overindulging i mean wanting to eat not 1 cookie but 12 lol I could deffinatly use a hand or seveal in these departments! I’m a huge foodie. I love eating food, smelling it, talking about it, making it, all of the above. I abosultly love healthy food and all it has to offer. And i absolutly love non-nutritional value foods and what they have to offer as well. There just some times with these foods on both sides healthy and non healthy where i feel like i have no concept of portion control and just ignore my hungers signals, because i want to eat and need to eat beacause its some sort of marathon or something….and i’m going to get a prize at the end. Realizing that what i’ve won is no prize at all just guilt, self-pity, bloating and discomfort and a lot more where that came from. I eat very healthy 90% of the time i would say, and pride myself in the knowledge i have when it comes to healthy food, but i just eat too much of it. It’s a constant struggle, and just when you think you’ve mastered it, you realize you really haven’t.
So any tips or suggestions that have helped you would be fantastic!!!
thanks so much!!
Angela,
I must say you are such a great role model having changed your ways so drastically for the better! I strive to follow your recommendations regularly. You are one of my idols when it comes to health and fitness, and of course self-love.
My question is how did you “turn off” the calorie counting in your mind? I do much better now with healthy eating, and exercise has always been my strong point, but I count every calorie I consume and punish myself in the gym for all excess! It’s a vicious cycle I am desperate to break. Any advice?
I would like to hear more about when you really started recovering from your disordered eating and learning to be happy. What did that feel like, and how did you grab on to it and keep it?
Oh wow, that looks so delicious! I love that there’s barley and buckwheat groats in it because I just bought a bunch of both. I made your tomato barley risotto last night. It was amazing!
Questions in any of those topic areas would be great. I think it’d be great to know more about getting in touch with your hunger signals. I found it took me years to get in touch with these again, and it’s still a struggle sometimes to differentiate between things that feel like hunger and actual hunger. Did you find that you needed to repair your metabolism at all after years of disordered eating in order to get in touch with your hunger again? Or was it more mental than physical?
I would love to hear more about how you stopped calorie counting. It’s been something I have struggled with completely eliminating. Even though I no longer journal calories and am at a much healthier place, I totally still count them in my head and find myself restricting when I reach a “too high” number.
Lovely stew :)
How did you decide what your happy weight was going to be and what is your motivation to maintain it? In my own experiences, I’ve found that my healthy endeavors seem to be cyclic- they last for about two weeks or so, and then life gets busy or some other stress just throws me off.
What an awesome idea – I like the idea of a Q & A format.
For me, I look at body image and self-confidence as something that I must do a few times a day, similar to brushing my teeth. I use positive self-talk, however, was wondering if you have any other techniques that were effective. There is a show on the new OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) called, ‘How To Look Good Naked, Canada’, that is about changing our perceptions about the way our bodies look. They said that 85% of women do not like the way their body looks. How sad is that? Why are we, as women so hard on ourselves. Would we treat our friends or think negative things about our friends, like we can do to ourselves?
I hope that you are feeling better Angela.
Hi Angela! Hope you are feeling better SOON! I love the passion you put into your food and this blog, thanks for all the great ideas and recipes and beautiful photos!
I would like a general introduction to intuitive/mindful eating… I feel like I’ve heard these terms vaguely mentioned quite a bit but I’m not sure exactly what they mean. Also I would be interested in learning some tricks/tips/techniques to getting started with eating more intuitively. Lastly, some tips for recognizing hunger signs, and not giving in to boredom/stress eating.
Thanks!
the difference between going on a vegan diet and living a vegan lifestyle
Wow, that soup has EVERYTHING in it! :D
Get better soon!
Whitney
I would LOVE to hear about how you have enough self-control while you are baking to not overeat on your yummy treats! I love to bake, but I have a problem with mindlessly and compulsively eating six cookies at a time, not to mention dough or batter as well! How do you enjoy one treat, and be done?