
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.
My question is like the others :) I have been “cured” from bulimia and binge eating many times, sometimes for several months, even years (2 years max) BUT it always seems to find a way back into my life (with a vengeance!). What is the secret to finally STOPPING the vicious cycle of emotional/disordered eating? How do you know when you are “cured” or fully recovered from the problem? Do the desires to emotionally eat ever go away? Do you still have temptations to over eat or abuse food or your body?
I really want to learn to love my body for what it can do for me when i am taking care of it. In the past i have have starved it and now i an trying to control my binges. I want to do like you did and become involved in a sport, like running. I am hoping this will give me a hobby to take my mind off of food and help me love my body so i will keep it healthy. I have always hated running because i cant run for long periods of time! I really want to enjoy running though! Any advice for a new runner?”
Just a couple of things. First that strew looks delicious! What a special husband to make it for you. Also, I made the carrot bread only I used a jumbo cupcake pan and they turned out fantastic! I’ve been on an all natural mostly plant based diet for a while now, but I am really looking into incorporating more vegan and raw recipes into my daily meals. This was a great start. My last comment is actually a question. The juices, sauces, spreads, and nut butters yu make are so tempting. I’d love to make them myself, but I’m slowly building my appliance collection. Which do you use the most, your juicer (which do you own) or blender? You have a vitamix right? Do you consider one a better investment over the other? Thanks and feel better!
Hey and congrats on your new resident flu-bug…
I had it back in February with sky-high fever and an added infection in the airways that took all my energy out of me and left me feeling a bit like a dish-rag…
My question is about body-image and healthy weight…
i am in the normal range, wightwise with a BMI of 22. I exercise (mainly stomach-muscles/core) practically every night but i’m not geting rid of my “gut-overhang”. My boyfriend say i look good and if i look in the mirror front-on i can see i have a waist, but if i turn to the side i feel i look a bit like the michelin-man.
How do i get past the body-issues enough to appreciate my body for what it is?
At this point i am obsessing about that bit of loos skin/flab/blubber and can’t get past it.
I take evening primrose, magnesium and green tea supplements to staunch my sweet-tooth but i don’t want to make sugar my enemy, rather reduce it to a saturday-night kinda thing…
Also: What is your oppinion on low-carb diets? I see you use a significant amount of various sugars and syrups in your cooking and assume you are not an atkins-convert, but how do you approach the various “popular” dietary advice?
In Norway our government have recently issued guidelines for healthy diet based on traditional oppinions (meat, potatoes, veg…) and have met HUGE resistance from the Low-carb-community.
there is also a swedish man who lost a massive amount of weight by eatin a diet of 100% fat and meat, no veg at all. his diet is called the Skaldeman and bases itself on ketolytic metabolism. (in my oppiniion a scary way to destroy your body!)
Go Eric! what a thoughtful husband to make a loving and healing meal for you when your unwell. I dont have any questions as i have been browsing through older posts, but i do want to say thankyou! I have been following your blog for a year and i am finally in a good place where i eat mostly vegan and clean foods, exercise for me and my wellbeing and dont worry about if i occasionally make a bad food choice or have a sweet treat. Im glad i came across your blog because i can happily say that it has opened up my eyes and for the first time in a very long time, i love my body. You inspire so many people, thanks for inspiring me. Hope you get better soon.
Hello! I really enjoy reading your blog and it has helped much in convincing my omnivorous boyfriend that eating vegan can be delicious. Consuming chilli or anything spicy when you’re sick really does help to clear the sinus for some reason.. Hope you get well soon :)
That’s really sweet, making a healing-stew.
I do have to say that even when you’re sick, you still make gorgeous photos!
Hi Angela,
I hope your feeling a little better today! By the way tell Eric great job on making dinner and taking care of you. I’ve been feeling under the weather myself, soar throat and now runny nose, it’s not fun. Anyway question for you:
How did you stop calorie counting? I am obsessed with it. Every recipe I create I count the calories, it’s a long wearing process but I can’t stop. I won’t make certain things because there over on calories, like a cookie over 100 calories, forget it, not worth it to me. I need to stop the calorie counting and move on, but I don’t think I can?
Also, I lost allot of weight, and I have been at maintenance for about 4 months or so. How do you maintain your weight? Did you find it scary at first? Do you step on the scale all the time? I would love to be free of all this obsession but the thought of stopping is scary!
Again, I hope you feel better soon!!!
Jennifer
That is the most colorful stew I have ever seen! Looks delicious!! What a sweet husband you have.
I hope you are feeling better!!!
i hope you recovered from the full of love stew! :)
Hi! I’m sure you hear this a lot, but your blog has made me feel beautiful again. Your experiences and recipes has really helped me battle my body issues (pesky bugger).
One question I have may revolve around binge eating. My Boyfriend lives in Toronto, and he comes to visit me most weekends. When he comes, it always feels like a celebration, and I’m so happy to see him, that all my healthful eating habits go out the weekend and we just enjoy the weekend. I’m having a difficult time balancing this.
Do you have any suggestions? When I’m with him I feel like I turn my satiety center off.
Thanks for being so open with us.
Angela,
I would love to know what bodily signals/cues you had that lead you to a vegan diet?
Thanks and I hope you feel much better soon, that soup looks amazing! :) You’re so right that all healing stew start with lots and lots of garlic! :)
As a vegan, do you count your calories? Do you worry about maintaining your weight?
How do you know when you are hungry? Do you eat by the clock, when your stomach growls, or what feeling do you have when you are hungry?
I would love to hear your opinion on how to help a loved one who binges. About two months ago my mom discovered about two bags full of empty containers, wrappers etc. underneath my sister’s bed. She confronted her, and she acknowledged she needed help. She then went to a dietician who put her on a sugar free diet and saw a pscyhologist once or twice. I went to my parents a few weeks ago and found more empty containers and things under her bed. She does not want to talk about it to anyone and has stopped seeing the dietician and psychologist. I battled anorexia, and exercise bulimia for years, so it’s really hard to see her go through this and not want help.
If you could offer any words of advice that would be amazing!
That soup looks amazing! I’m sure it’ll heal you up right-quick!
I’d love to hear more about intuitive eating. I’m desperately trying to let go of obsessive calorie counting. At this point, I feel that even if I stopped measuring food, I know the approximate serving sizes / calorie counts on most foods so well that I would do all the calculations in my head unintentionally. I know my “target” calorie count is way too low for my height/age/activity level, but I’m terrified that if I stop counting, I’ll gain weight. How did you release yourself form the compulsion and fear?
How long did it take your metabolism to recover after disordered eating? I have been recovered from a few years of restrictive eating for about 2 years, but I still feel like my metabolism is permanently ruined. Does it ever even out, or is there permanent damage done?
intuitive and mindful eating, weight maintenance, and hunger signals is what I am most interested in. Just overcoming 15 years of bulimia. Don’t binge eat any more but haven’t been able to reconnect with the concept of hunger, that is I don’t know when I am hungry or when I am anxious and think it’s hunger. Also, I am now able to manage my portions quite well but I stop eating because I see it’s the end of the portion, not because I feel satisfied, many times I end my portion and still feel hungry- or whatever that feeling is. I would also like to be able to keep my weight more naturally instead of constantly having to think of calories or portions. I loved the post and I also love this soup!
This looks incredible. I love that it’s made of like, everything. Perfect!
Just wanted to drop you a note and let you know that I included you in my list of Top 10 Soup Recipes this morning- here’s the link!
http://thefrugalflambe.wordpress.com/2011/05/02/top-10-soups/
Hello, I ALSO have an eating disorder. I am a cancer patient and I go days with out eating. Then I will take a certain medication and all of a sudden I will crave fatty foods or carbs. I’m interesting in learning some quick vegan recipes that I can whip up and have available when I need them. I would like to maximize health benefits when I feel like eating.
Thank you, this website has inspired me as well, and I too feel “the glow” coming on! ;)