By Svetlana Konnikova                                                                           

The holiday season is in full swing. Don’t forget how many appetizers, pieces of stuffed turkey and  pumpkin pie slices you gobbled while celebrating one of the America’s most favorite holidays, Thanksgiving Day. Those who gained some pounds and still feel heavier, don’t hate yourself and don’t feel guilty about it.  Some desperate people irrationaly rushed fasting right after the Thanksgiving Day. What’s the point? Now bigger holidays are approaching. What’s good about putting yourself on severe diet, be hungry and angry, if you should anticipate with pleasure the most beautiful and joyous holidays of the year? And even if this year was not easy for many people and brought lots of disappointments and surprises, it had some good sides, too.

                                             

Soon you’ll sit again at the biggest holiday table full with delicious foods and drinks and you’ll celebrate Chanukkah, Christmas, the last days of 2008, New 2009 Year and New Hope.  As ancient people said in Latin, Dum Spiro, Spero! Until I breathe, I hope! Hope for the better and enjoy your holidays, but prepare yourself and your body for this merry, merry time.

Create your Relief Time now. It is not a diet. Diets are for fools who voluntarilly torture themselves by starving their bodies and souls to the point of no return. Relief Time is  a normal, good life time. Only two  weeks remain before Christmas and Chanukkah. Start your rejuvenation now by eating small portions of light and healthy foods 4-5 times a day.  Don’t excuse yourself that you don’t have time. Make it! By eating small portions 4-5 times a day you’ll not feel hungry. On contrary, you’ll feel energetic because slowly, step by step you’ll load your body with healthy, natural stuff and unload it from excess of fatty foods and unhealthy drinks with high percent of sugar you consumed during a last feast and a whole year before.  

Joyous winter holidays are already knocking at your door. Chanukkah songs and Christmas bells sound everywhere.  In spite of gloom and doom financial news, people are preparing for this holiday season, as usual. Big festivities are planned, according to the media news. Very soon you will sit down again at the holiday dinner table and will enjoy last, 2008 feast which comes as the holiday norm rather than the exception. Relax, you deserve it. Celebrate your happy time after a difficult year of hard work, emotional stresses and financial worries! Do you want to to have fun and eat well during  holidays? Start taking good care of your body now.

Tips to Make Relief Time Working for You:

  • Start to unload your body from toxins, fatty deposits and bring it to normal.
  • Establish your schedule of eating 4-5 times a day.
  • Eat green, natural, organic foods  
  • ExercIse 15-30-45 minutes a day.
  • Move your body and walk every day
  • Dance with your loved ones or friends, if you cannot find the stars to dance with.
  • Meditate and relax
  • Laugh a lot
  • Be sincere and tell the truth
  • Don’t lend money to friends, if you don’t want to loose them
  • Follow up your plans and dreams
  • Read interesting books
  • Don’t watch news that will “de-relax” you
  • Make time for yourself even if you think you don’t have it

Here is a Simple Menu for Your Relief Time:

Early Morning Start Your Day: 

Drink one glass of warm spring water with a piece of lemon and one teaspoon organic honey. Then take a morning walk (15-20-30 minutes).

  • Morning Breakfast Time: One Day: Make fresh fruit or vegetable juice. If you don’t make it, eat hot oatmeal, add one banana or blueberries. Don’t add milk, just add hot spring water to it. Second Day: farmer’s cheese mixed with one-two teaspoons raw black currants rubbed with organic honey or organic brown sugar. One cup hot green or Earl Grey tea with jasmine; hibiscus or rose hips

If you read in your childhood Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, you remember what was said, “Beautiful soup! Who cares for fish, Game, or any other dish? Who would not give all else for two pennyworth only of beautiful soup?”

In my family we didn’t eat a lot of meat or chicken. We loved to eat green, natural, easy-to-digest soupes or salads. My grandma, our family chef, created hundreds of healthy meals using fruits and vegetables growing in our garden. Our favorite meal for lunch or dinner was a hot, vegetable soup with fresh baked rye bread. Here are some of her recipes that you can make and eat a bowl of hot, delicious soup at lunch or dinner:

  • Butternut and Walnuts Soup

Prepare 2 tablespoons cold pressed olive oil, 2 tablespoons Irish or Danish unsalted butter, 1 chopped onion, 1 medium size pelled, seeded and chopped butternut squash, 1 teaspoon Hungarian paprika, 2 cups spring water, 1/2 cup organic whole milk, 1 cup chopped walnuts, 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, 1 tablespoon chopped dill, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Heat the olive oil and melt butter in a large saucepan. Use medium heat. Add the onion and saute for 4-5 minutes or until transparent. Then add the chopped butternut, Hungarian paprika. Stir and cook for 5 minutes. Pour in 2 cups spring water and the milk. Stir and bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes. Add the walnuts and mix it carefully. Taste and add sea salt and/or black pepper. Your soup is ready to eat. Serves 4.

Be creative. You can also transfer the soup to a food processor or a blender and blend the mixture until thick and smooth. If you prefer to eat this soup hot, reheat it in the same saucepan, add fresh dill and stir. Taste it and add sea salt and black pepper, then serve with organic corn chips, a piece of fresh rye bread or a piece of goat cheese. Don’t add black pepper if you are going to serve the soup to your children.

  • Zuchini Soup with Oatmeal for 5-6.  Don’t think that oatmeal is an old-fashioned food. If it is natural without any flavors or sugar added, or cut-steel, it’s a classic of healthy, whole foods.

Mince one onion or two shallots. Chop five small zucchinis and three carrots. Cut small parsley and dill. Prepare 1/2 cup original oatmeal. 5 cups spring water, 1 cup tomato juice. Sea Salt and Hungarian paprika. Pour two tablespoons cold pressed olive oil in a saucepan. Add one minced onion or two minced shallots. Saute for three minutes until golden. Add chopped zucchini, carrots and parsley and saute for 4-5 minutes. Then add the oatmeal, mix it with veggies and cook, stirring occasionally for 3 minutes. Add spring water and tomato juicem and continue stirring. Add salt and paprika to taste. Then cover with a lid and cook over low heat for 10-15 minutes or until zucchini are tender.  When your soup is ready, add fresh organic dill. Voila! You just made fresh, healthy and thick soup. 

To make your life easier and save your time to prepare your homemade delicious soups, make yourself your basic, vegetable broth. Don’t buy it in a supermarket. The vegetable broth made by commercial enterprises  and displayed in fancy cartons in our supermarkets, have an “endless” shelflife. This product is simply useless and unhealthful. What can be better than homemade broth? It gives the best flavor and taste. Make a broth every three days with any fresh, organic vegetables you have, then freeze or refrigerate it until you needed. Don’t keep it in your refigerator for more than three days, it gets spoiled. Make an effort, plan your time and make this great basic for your different weekly, fresh soups. It is not so difficult as it seems to be. Here is a simple recipe for

  • Vegetable Broth                             

Prepare: 1 tablespoon cold pressed olive oil, 2 tablespoons Irish or Danish unsalted butter, 1 large, chopped onion or 3 chopped shallots, 3-4 crushed garlic cloves, 3 chopped carrots, 2 chopped celery stalks, 3 chopped leeks (only white part); 1 sliced green apple, a bunch of chopped Italian parsley, 1 small parsley root, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill, 1-2 sprigs thyme, and 1-2 dried bay leaves, 1 gallon spring water.

Melt the butter and olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion or shallots and saute for 2-3 minutes, then add the garlic and other remaining ingredients. Stir constantly and cook until the mixture is tender and trasparent. It should not be browned. Add one gallon spring water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1/2 hour. Then let it cool. Strain the broth through a sieve and pour the liquid only into the pan. Boil it until reduced by half. Makes about 4 cups. You can use this basic vegetable broth immediately as needed or let it cool and keep the rest in refrigerator for up to 3 days. Then make a fresh one, and so on.

“Baby, It’s Cold Outside…” So, make this tasteful soup (recipe below), eat it hot and sit by the blazing fire reading the book and feeling good and healthy.

  • Fancy Winter Colors Soup with your homemade vegetable broth and Green Dill Delight.

Prepare 2 tablespoons organic, cold pressed olive oil, 2 medium size chopped onions, 2 chopped garlic cloves, 3 chopped celery stalks, 1 cut small parsley root, 4-5 chopped carrots, 3-4 diced tomatoes, 2 cut on cubes medium size red potatoes, a bunch of chopped Italian parsley, 1 cup tomato juice, 1/2 tablespoon organic, raw cane sugar to taste; Green Dill Delight: 2 tablespoons chopped dill, freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 tablespoon organic olive oil.

Pour the oil in a large saucepan and heat it. Then add the onions, garlic, celery, carrots  and cook for 3-5 minutes until tender. Add parsley root, tomatoes, Italian parsley and cook for 3 minutes. Pour in a sausepan one and a half quarts homemade vegetable broth, one cup tomato juice,  and 1/2 tablespoon raw sugar. Add potatoes, salt and pepper to taste and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Use a bamboo spoon and blend the soup in the saucepan. Pour hot soup into bowls, add Green Dill Delight and serve 4 .

  • Green Dill Delight

 Put the 2 tablespoons shopped dill in a bowl, and the lemon juice and olive oil. Whip it until smooth, then add one tablespoon to each bowl of the hot Fancy Winter Soup. Green Dill Delight transforms rather old-fashioned soup into a delicious, flavorful, healthy, natural and stylish meal! Fresh dill, a really amazing herb with a very unique and pleasant aroma is very popular in many dishes of ethnic European cuisines and it was for centuries.

In the cold of the winter, you can turn this soup into a thick meal if you’ll transfer it into a blender and blend until smooth. Compliment your soup with organic blue corn chips or whole wheat and flaxseed crackers. But this hot soup is a delight every time if you eat it with a fresh, warm rye or 5 Grains Whole Wheat Italian bread with  a piece of goat or good, 100% real, mature European gourmet cheeses. Don’t try to save money and buy cheaper, not so tasteful, so-called cheese products with only 51% of cheese made by Kraft Foods.  In my next post I’ll explain the difference between natural cheese and a cheese product. 

Great choices for healthy lunch or dinner make also different salads. They can be light or heavy, but always natural. It depends of an availability of your finances or products in a store nearby, but try to make your salads with organic ingredients.

  • Fresh Goat Cheese, Apple Tomatoes, Basil and Parsley, Red, Orange, Yellow Bell Peppers (small)

                                                                   

This is one of my favorite meals. Preparation: 10-15 minutes. Look, I just made one, and it is fresh, natural and delicious. You can eat it without bread or make a sandwich with fresh rye or country bread. Why will you not try it yourself? It takes only eight pieces of fresh goat cheese, 2 big sliced apple tomatoes and 1 tablespoon roughly chopped basil and 4 parsley sprigs.

  • Tricolor Vegetable Kebabs 

It is easy to make, too. In 15 minutes you have a healthy meal.

Prepare 1 large green bell pepper, 1 large red bell pepper, 1yellow bell pepper, 1 cucumber, 1 small zucchini, 18 cherry tomatoes, a bunch Italian parsley, baby spinach, pineapple, 6-8 oz Swiss or Gouda cheese, 9 wooden kebab skewers and an oval serving dish. 

Cut the green, red and yellow bell peppers, cucumber, zuccini and cheese into 18 pieces. Thread the vegetables and cheese onto 9 wooden kebab skewers. Start with one cherry tomato and place vegetables by the colors and textures, end with another cherry tomato. Fill all skewers until your supply lasts.

Arrange baby spinach and chopped Italian parsley onto a serving dish and put the Tricolor Kebabs on top. Place around pineapple cubes and sprinkle with pomegranate juice for kids. They love the look and taste of these colorful creations. Serves 5-6. You can experiment with other vegetables or fruits, such as califlower florets, red radishes, carrots, mushrooms, mango, orange and apples. For adults you can sprinkle with homemade vinaigrette dressing which is spicier than pomegranate juice and  doesn’t have any preservatives for freshness, as you can see in supermarkets. Better make our family’s recipe,  

  • “La Maison” Vinaigrette Dressing

Prepare 6 tablespoons organic, cold pressed olive oil, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons spring water, 3 cloves chopped garlic, 1 teaspoon mustard powder, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill,  1 teaspoon organic, raw cane sugar, salt and freshly ground black pepper or paprika. Place all ingredients into a glass jar. Close with a screw-top lid. Then shake vigorously. “La Maison” Vinaigrette Dressing is ready to use. Sprinkle Tricolor Kebabs as needed for adults. Keep the rest refrigerated and use for vegetable Kebabs or other salads as needed.

You can experiment by making salads like Green Beans or Lentils with Mushrooms,  Grilled Four Color Peppers, Potpouri with potatoes, black olives, cooked eggs and tomatoes; Hot Chicken and Eggplant; Veal and Layered Vegetables;  Wild Alaskan Salmon and Avocado; Red Radishes, Eggs and Dill, and Pasta with rich combinations of vegetables,  nuts, exotic and citrus fruits.

It is prefereble to finish every meal with

  • one glass pomegranate or grapefruit juice to add vitamins 
  • a glass of St. Pelegrino mineral water with lime or lemon squeezed to dehydrate 
  • a cup of herbal hot tea to ease digestion

Wonder what is healthy for snacking?  Make it at 3 or 4 PM and choose one of the following:

  • A bunch of organic baby carrots
  • Dried apricots or mixture of dried fruits and berries
  • 1/2 grapefruit
  • one naval orange
  • three clementines
  • two kiwis
  • one cup raspberries
  • one cup blueberries
  • one cup strawberries, 
  • one green apple  
  • several rings yellow, green, orange, red bell peppers 
  • one piece of dark chocolate (65-80% cocoa)

Dinner at 5-6-7 PM The same as you eat at lunch or Add to your variety of choices: 

  • Poached Wild Alaskan Pink Salmon and  Watercress Salad with Pear or Pineapple
  • Wholewheat Salad with Walnuts and Grilled Veal Steak  
  • Potpouri of Beans Salad or Lentils de Puy (small French lentils) Salad
  • Angel Hair Pasta with Soft Cheese, Celery Root, Parsley and Butter
  • Veal Goulash ( Stew) and Rainbow Grilled Pepper Salad
  • Hot Grilled Goat Cheese Salad  
  • Lime Orange Roughy Fish Salad or
  • Roasted Tofu Steaks with Tomatoes
  • Tofu Kebabs with Cucumber-Kefir Sauce

Modest Tidbits at 9 PM. One of the six: 

  • a cup of organic plain kefir 
  • one glass chamomile tea with a piece of lemon 
  • a glass of organic warm milk with a teaspoon organic, raw honey
  • a bowl of blueberries
  • a small bunch of grapes
  • one juicy pear

If you’ll make you Relief Time now, you’ll be able to sit down at your holiday feast table and eat everything you want without feeling guilty.  Create your New Year Healthy Resolutions, make your plan for a healthy lifestyle and just do it! Everything good you’ll put into your life, yourself and your family, will come back tenfold. Is it not a great motivation?!

5 Photos: Goat Cheese Salad, Oranges, Green Apples, Red & Green Bell Peppers, Yellow Bell Peppers by Svetlana Konnikova.  Copyright 2008

Family Recipes Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.