Soup and Salad of Wine and Onion Bisque & Spring Mix Salad with Worcestershire-Parsley Dressing

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Soup and Salad is a common summer lunch menu. Try something new serve soup and salad for as a winter lunch or brunch. Here is a bisque and salad combination that make a good choice for a winter soup and salad.

Wine and Onion Bisque

5 Cups Vegetable Stock

2 Cups Dry White Wine

1 Tbs Dill weed

1 tsp Dried Savory

2 Carrots, peeled and chopped

4 Cups Onions, pealed and chopped

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

In a large stock pot bring all ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 hours.

Strain the vegetables and place them in a food processor or blender. Blend the vegetables until pureed. Return the broth to the stock pot. Add the pureed vegetables back into the broth and stir well. Salt and pepper to taste.
Salad

Spring Mix Salad with Worcestershire-Parsley Dressing

Dressing

¼ Cup Mayonnaise

3 Tbs White Vinegar

1 Green Onion, chopped

1 Clove Garlic, minced

1 tsp Sugar

½ tsp Salt

1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

½ tsp Hot Sauce

½ Cup Vegetable Oil

1 Cup Fresh Parsley, finely chopped

Blend all the ingredients in a blender or whisk vigorously for two minutes. When well blended chill for 1 hour.

Greens

Choose a spring salad mix, or tender fresh greens of your liking. I enjoy a simple spring mix.

Juice Diet Helps to Detox Your Body

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Those on a detoxification program can benefit from extra vitamins, minerals, enzymes and other nutrients. All of that can be obtained from freshly prepared juice. Juicing diets have been popular for ages. But, why to drink a juice when you can eat a fruit? When you eat the fruits or vegetables, most of the vitamins and minerals get destroyed while passing through the body. A juice from any fruit or vegetable has the same amount of nutrients as the fruit or vegetable. But, juice is digested faster than the food. This is how you get more nutrients while eating less!

Juicing is a consumption of two to four glasses of freshly prepared juice throughout the day while on the juice diet. The emphasis is on "freshly prepared". Juices do not store well as they lose their nutritional value relatively quickly. Juicing does not mean you should avoid drinking water. On the contrary, continue drinking 2 liters of water daily helps juicing diet work better.

How to make juices? It is advisable to use organic produce. The skin of most vegetables and fruits including lemons can be left on. However, oranges, grapefruits, kiwis, papayas, beets, and carrots should be peeled. Apple seeds should be removed, while grape seeds may be left in. In a juicer use sweet and sour fruits separately. This way, the body can absorb their juices easier. Try to mix apple, melon and carrot without the greens. This combination is tasty and easy to digest. If you have never done vegetable only juicing before, try to use combination of celery, fennel and cucumbers. It is easily tolerated by those just starting out with vegetable juicing. If find the taste too strange, try to mix them with either carrot or apple juice.

When you decide to end juicing, do not just start eating some food. Help your body to get accustomed to your regular diet. The first meal after juicing should be a salad, a juice and an herbal tea. Then you can eat a salad with a warm soup or some steamed vegetables with the juice and an herbal tea. In the next days do not stop eating salads and drinking juices. Do not substitute juice for vegetables after the diet is completed. Eat your vegetable salads and little by little begin adding some organic brown rice, backed potato, or boiled fish. Continue drinking 2 liters of water daily.

Juicing is a great addition to any kind of cleansing. But, it is especially beneficial when doing liver detox and blood cleansing. Most beneficial for the liver are beets and artichokes. Beets help to reduce harmful fats in the liver and are great antioxidants. Artichokes encourage secretion of bile and protect cells of the liver. Juices made from leafy green vegetables contain chlorophyll that can detoxify and cleanse the blood. Fruit juices are great source of vitamins and minerals that help to fight bacteria and viruses in both the liver and the blood.

Create a List of Healthy Snacks When Dieting

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Creating a list of healthy snacks is useful when you are dieting. Once you've developed your list, go to the grocery store and buy these easy to make foods. Stocking your pantry with tasty low calorie snacks is an important success ingredient for dieting. The reason is that you'll be a lot less likely to dine out or order in for pizza if the supplies you need to make a quick and healthy meal or snack are right at hand.

For instance, low fat microwave popcorn. Only 25 calories a serving, this can "tide you over" until the next meal. Also serves as a crunchy, salty snack when that urge hits. While fruits and vegetables of all sorts top the list of healthy snacks, here is a list of the kinds of foods you'll always want to have on hand:

o Frozen vegetables
o Pre Washed Greens
o Canned tomatoes
o Canned beans
o Whole grain wrap supplies
o Pre cooked grilled chicken breasts
o Pre cooked brown rice

As you can see, you could easily create several different meals or snacks with this combination of foods. Wrap the chicken breasts and greens for a healthy sandwich. Put a pot of canned tomatoes, canned beans, and frozen vegetables along with a couple of cups of water for a great vegetarian vegetable soup. Or, warm up the grilled chicken breasts and brown rice accompanied with a salad of fresh greens and you've got a complete meal.

I personally am lazy when it comes to snacks. It's really easy to open a bag of chips or box of cookies. I like fruit, but find that some of my favorite produce is hard to eat. For instance, I won't go to the trouble of eating an apple whole or even cutting it up. But when I buy prewashed, cut apple slices, I happily substitute them for prepackaged snacks.

Creating a list of healthy snacks is a great way to jumpstart your diet.