The Ripened Heart

homeopathic healing

I Made You Winter Squash Soup – Hope You Like Ginger!

If you’re like me, you unintentionally hoard squash in wintertime. I was making a meal plan for the week and realized I had like 4 different types of squash lying around. Why? Who knows. I’m a sucker for squash I guess. But what to do with all this squash? Perhaps make a spicy gingery soup 😉

Ingredients

  • 2 medium winter squash (I used black futsu and delicata), peeled and diced
  • 1 large onion
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 3 carrots, roughly chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • 4 cups bone broth / veggie broth
  • 3 tbs grated ginger
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
  • 2 tbs miso paste
  • 1 tbs rice vinegar
  • 1 cup organic cream (sub full fat coconut milk if dairy free)

Directions

  1. Chop and peel veggies
  2. Sauté onion, garlic, and ginger over medium heat until onions are translucent
  3. Add celery, carrot, and squash and sauté for another 5 minutes
  4. Add red pepper flakes and sea salt and stir to coat veg – 2 minutes
  5. Add broth and bring to a boil. Once boiling, simmer for 25 minutes or until squash is soft
  6. Let cool, then transfer in batches to a blender. Blend on high until smooth.
  7. Add soup back to pot – add miso paste, vinegar, and cream.
  8. Gently simmer for 5 minutes to meld flavors together, ensuring miso paste is fully incorporated
  9. Taste and adjust spices as needed – pepper flakes for heat, vinegar for acid, and miso for depth
  10. Serve! I topped mine with pickled watermelon radish and cracked pepper

Springtime Mizuna Salad with Roasted Rhubarb

Springtime in Oregon is magical. The trees fill with cherry blossoms giving the air a mildly floral scent. The sun peaks out from behind the clouds just a little more often than in winter. Em and I start our little makeshift garden on our sun deck. But my favorite thing of all is the return of weekly farmer’s markets brimming with fresh produce. It always comes at the perfect time, when the thought of eating another tray of roasted squash or bowl of chili begins to turn the stomach. All I want at this time of the year is young, tender greens, lightly cooked veggies, and fragrant herbs paired with grass-fed meats and cheeses. And maybe a little sourdough bread 😉

This brings me to one of my favorite salad creations in recent memory, which was born out of the need to use up random produce that didn’t quite make it into my meals that week. While the rhubarb and beet is necessary to capture the flavors I was going for in this recipe, feel free to use any greens or veggies you like in this salad!

Ingredients
  • 1 stalk rhubarb
  • 1 bunch fresh mizuna
  • 1 small beet, grated
  • 3 stalks celery, finely chopped
  • grated parmesan, optional
  • good quality olive oil and balsamic
  • flaked salt to top
To Make
  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and top and baking sheet with parchment paper
  2. Chop rhubarb and roast in the preheated oven for 5 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes while you chop and prepare the rest of the salad
  3. Chop the rest of the ingredients and place everything in a large salad bowl
  4. Divide salad into individual serving bowls and drizzle with good quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar to taste. Top with a bit of grated parmesan and flaked salt if desired. Serve immediately.

Instant Pot Lentil Soup

It’s true, I’m a little bit in love with my instant pot. Ever since I got it a couple months ago, I’ve used it for everything from broth, to beans, to meat, to soup. When Em and I needed a quick lunch between meetings, I knew this was a time for the instant pot. This soup was created all with ingredients I had on hand and came together in 30 minutes. Also feel free to sub in your veggies or spices of choice. Just be sure to adjust the amount of liquid as needed, it should just cover the ingredients.

ingredients
  • 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, diced
  • 2 small yellow potatoes, chopped
  • 3 carrots, thinly sliced
  • 3 celery stalks, thinly sliced
  • 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
  • 1 bunch kale, chopped
  • 1 tsp herbamare (or sea salt)
  • 1/2 tsp ground pepper
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • heavy dash red pepper flakes
  • 1 cup uncooked green or brown lentils, rinsed
  • 1/2 a lemon
  • parsley and yogurt to serve (optional)
to make
  • Turn your Instant Pot to the saute function and add oil of choice. Saute onion, garlic, carrots, and celery for about 5 minutes. Then add potato and let cook for another few minutes, stirring frequently to prevent garlic from burning.
  • Add salt, pepper, cumin, red pepper flakes, and turmeric and stir to coat veggies, adding more oil if needed. Cook for another two minutes.
  • Add broth, kale, and lentils to the pot. Put lid on Instant Pot and make sure you seal the vent.
  • Set the Instant Pot to Pressure (high) for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, carefully release pressure valve using a damp towel.
  • Once pressure is released, open the pot and squeeze the juice of half a lemon into the soup. Stir and adjust seasonings as needed.
  • Serve with chopped parsley and a dollop of yogurt.

 

 

 

My Moon Time Essentials

Okay, lets just get right into it. I used to have the WORST cramps ever on the first day of my period. Not only that, but my periods were super heavy and just all around uncomfortable. Now, I definitely don’t have the “perfect” pain-free period now, but it’s so much better than it used to be. I owe it to these tools I’m about to share with you below along with being on a nutritional balancing program to address mineral deficiencies and imbalances (your body requires a ton of minerals to have a healthy period, or any period at all!) I call it my moon time because our periods are naturally synced with the 28-day waxing and waning of the moon. It shows just how connected to nature we are on all levels. Now onto the tips!

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Coconut Horchata Smoothie

Sometimes you just need a really nourishing smoothie, even when it’s just pushing 50 degrees. I created this room-temperature smoothie with warming spices to fill the body with healthy fats, anti-inflammatory proteins, and bile thinning coconut meat. That’s right! Coconut meat is a liver decongestant. How cool is that?

Collagen is going to stand in as the anti-inflammatory protein here. These are so important to get into the diet if you consume a lot of animal protein that can cause inflammation if not balanced out by anti-inflammatory protein sources. Anti-inflammatory proteins include things like raw dairy, eggs, collagen, gelatin, bone broth, and fish. These proteins will also keep your liver nourished and happy and will help to balance metabolism. Now onto the recipe!

You’ll need
  • 1 whole coconut
  • 1/2 a frozen banana
  • 1 tsp mesquite powder
  • heavy dose of cinnamon
  • 2 scoops collagen peptides
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Process
  1. Get someone strong to open up your coconut (or maybe you’re strong! go for it!) Funnel the coconut water into your blender.
  2. Scrape out coconut meat, being sure to not get too much wood pulp and chuck that into your blender.
  3. Throw in remaining ingredients and blend on medium/high for 2 minutes or until silky smooth.
  4. Sip + enjoy!

Build Me Up Vegetable Soup

I don’t know about you, but as soon as the temperature drops below 50 degrees all I want is soups, stews, and nourishing broths. In all honesty, while I love summer produce, I’m ALL about warming winter meals. This mineral rich vegetable soup has become my new go-to when I’m feeling stressed, run-down, or when I feel like I’m in need of some extra nourishment. This makes enough to sip on for a few days. Enjoy!

Ingredients
  • 5 cups chicken broth (preferably homemade)
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 Japanese sweet potato, peeled & chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 3 celery stalks, finely diced
  • 8 oz shiitake mushrooms
  • 1 baby bok choy, chopped
  • 1 inch ginger, grated
  • 1 inch turmeric, grated
  • 1 tsp sea salt (I like herbamare, adds extra flavor)
  • 2 tsp all-purpose seasoning
  • 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped
  • 1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
  • Squeeze of lemon (optional)
To Make
  1. Add 2 tbsp of oil of choice (I like butter, avocado oil, or duck fat) to a large soup pot. Add onion and saute over medium heat until translucent, about 7 minutes.
  2. Next add garlic, ginger, and turmeric for a few minutes before adding sweet potato, celery, carrots, and mushrooms to the pot. Continue to saute for another 5 minutes.
  3. Now add seasonings and quickly stir to coat veggies so they don’t burn to the bottom of the pot. Deglaze pot with a little broth if necessary.
  4. Add broth and chopped parsley and cilantro and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover and reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes.
  5. During the last 5 minutes, add in bok choy and a squeeze or two of lemon.
  6. Adjust seasonings as needed and serve warm. I like topping the soup with gomasio, additional cilantro, and a touch of hot sauce for heat.
  7. If you want to add protein to this soup, gelatin, leftover shredded chicken, and white beans would make great additions.

Late Spring Bounty Salad

My favorite part about late Spring is that it opens the floodgates to long awaited Farmer’s Market produce that rivals any big box store. Fresh, colorful, juicy, and sometimes straight up ugly produce lines the markets and I just want to buy ALL of it. For me, the uglier the produce the better! Usually the uglier produce has a more pronounced flavor to it which is why it attracts critters in the first place.

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