Asian Carrot and Mushroom Noodle Soup

This soup will heal whatever happens to be ailing you. I should know. I've been trying to battle some form of cold for the last 2 weeks. Ugh! Make it go away. All I want to eat is soup and this one takes the cake.

It's a light and healthy meal that takes chicken noodle soup to a whole new level.

It starts by sautéing fresh ginger, garlic, green onions and red pepper flakes in olive oil (you could take this recipe another step further by using coconut oil instead). Just the scent of this cooking on the stove top is enough to be medicinal. It will clear your head...It will also make your mouth water. You can use as little or as much red pepper flakes as you like. I like my spice so I add somewhere between 1/4 to a 1/2 tsp. If you don't like spice then keep it tame with an 1/8 tsp.

Cilantro is stirred in right at the end to give the soup a burst of fresh light flavour that really brightens things up.

Last but not least, I used whole wheat egg noodles, which is what you see in the photos, but you can use any type of noodle you like. For a gluten free option substitute rice noodles or rice vermicelli. Be sure to add them with the snow peas at the end watch them carefully to avoid noodle mush. Vermicelli noodles will cook through in just a few minutes.

This soup also boasts a whopping 103% of you daily intake of vitamin A and 40% for vitamin C.

Time to feed my cold.

Asian Carrot and Mushroom Noodle Soup Gluten free option | Serves 4

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Ingredients:

• 1 tsp olive oil (or coconut oil)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 tbsp minced fresh ginger root
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1/8-1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (depending how hot you like it)
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup thinly sliced carrots
• 2 cups each no-sodium added chicken broth and water
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp each of low-sodium soy sauce (or tamari if GF) and sesame oil
• 2 oz whole wheat egg noodles (or rice noodles if GF)
• 6 oz /1 large boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into small chunks
• 1 cup snow peas, trimmed and halved
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. In a large stock pot, heat oil over medium heat; cook garlic, ginger, onions and red pepper flakes, stirring, for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add mushrooms and carrots; cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes or until moisture from the mushrooms evaporates and deglazes the bottom of the pan.
3. Add chicken broth, water, lemon juice, soy sauce and sesame oil; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
4. Stir in noodles and chicken and bring back to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add snow peas and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

*Tip* 

• If using rice noodles, add them in when you add the snow peas and monitor the noodles closely for doneness. They should only take a few minutes to cook.

Nutrition Information 

Serving Size: about 1 cup Calories: 206 Fat: 7g Saturated Fat: 1.7g Cholesterol: 45mg Sodium: 245mg Carbohydrates: 16.8g Sugar: 3.5g Fiber: 3.2g Protein: 18g Vitamin A: 103% Vitamin C: 40%

Whole Foods Detox Salad

Whenever I take a trip to Whole Paycheck, I mean Whole Foods, which doesn't happen as often as I might like, lunch is almost always planned at the hot and cold salad bar. There's just so much to choose from and you want it all! Every kind of veggie and greens you can think of, hot soup, I still have yet to try out the stir-fry station, and the bakery goodies are so tempting. But one of my favourite things to get is the Detox Salad. I've really wanted to re-create this one for a while now. I love how they list the ingredients on the label. The ingredient list is quite simple. There's broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, sunflower seeds, currants, parsley, lemon juice, raisins, kelp granules, salt, and pepper.

No wonder it's called a detox salad. Talk about your raw cruciferous vegetables! The broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots are the main body ingredients to the salad. They contain tons of vital nutrients that will help your body's natural detoxification system along the way and give it a little boost.

I love having this salad for lunch because it's one of those fast make ahead lunches that will have you set for the whole week. 

It's super healthy and tastes great!

Once you start to add the sunflower seeds and dried fruits the salad really starts to come together. The sunflower seeds add some extra satisfying crunch and the currents and raisins give it some much needed natural sweetness to contrast the raw veggies.

The parsley and lemon juice add a nice fresh taste, but little did you know they also play a part in the detoxifying process. I didn't bother to add the kelp granules, but I did add pumpkin seeds.  

Of course you could most definitely add whatever fresh herbs you prefer. I imagine mint and diced pinapple would be quite good in this together.  

Detox Salad gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian (makes 8-10 cups)

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Ingredients: 

• 2 heads of broccoli (stalks removed, and cut into florets)
• 2 1/2 cups of roughly cut cauliflower florets
• 3 large carrots, roughly chopped
• 3/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 cup dried currants
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/8-1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Directions: 

1. Place the broccoli florets into a food processor and pulse until chopped very fine. Empty out into a large bowl.
2. Do the same with the cauliflower florets. Depending on the size of your food processor you may have to work in batches. 
3. Next add the carrots and pulse until finely chopped and add to the bowl along with the broccoli and cauliflower. Give it a good stir to mix everything together.
4. Stir in the parsley, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, raisins and currants. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper.

To store: keep refrigerated in a tightly sealed container. I like to keep it in a big sealed glass container because I find that the glass keeps the salad fresher than plastic.