Winter time is nourishing soup time. I like to grab what I have for local vegetables and whip up a large (and I do mean large) pot of soup. I usually make between one and a half to two and a half gallons at a time. Soup is a gift of nourishing medicine, it is hard to make small amounts, and it is meant to be shared.

Winter time veggies, in my home, look like this:

• Lots of root veggies
• Squash
• Tomatoes canned or frozen
• Onions & garlic, but those are root veggies as well but also segway into the herb and spice category before then moving into the natural healing medicine category as well.

Have I ever mentioned that Food IS Our Medicine?

Nature IS Our Medicine.

Food IS Nature (well unless it is factory made, refined stuff)

We ARE Nature.

I was teaching a workshop this month and I mentioned that we have been brain trained out of seeing these above shared ideas that were once common understanding. We have been brain trained to believe that we do not know our bodies best, that real medicine is made from chemicals in a corporate lab, and that the true white coat syndrome of the medical complex is that the practitioners of the medical complex know our bodies best.

I invite you to embark on a whole food lifestyle and learn your body best. Practitioners are team members, to use their information with wisdom and discernment, not the boss of your health.  

But I am getting off on a tangent. Eat real, whole, nature provided food and guess what?!? The body heals! Your gut issues will slowly repair themselves. This leads to better digestion, absorption, and assimilation of nourishment into the cells. Better nourished cells mean that the whole organism that is you, physically, begins to repair itself. This is a natural process. You will not get this healing action from chemical medicine.

Back to the soup. That is why I am here. To share the amazing and nourishing miracle of borscht soup. First, I will share my recipe. Then I will deconstruct it with little tid-bits of information about the root veggies and ingredients.

As you can see from the pile of recently acquired local and organic veggies, I have:

• Onions and leeks and garlic
• Carrots
• Parsnips
• Rutabaga
• Celeriac
• Cabbage: purple and loose-leaf purple Chinese cabbage
• Winter radish, AKA Daikon
• Beets, oh the glorious Beets!
• Butternut squash but that comes into the process about 2-3 days after I make the soup. Follow along, we will get there!
• I would also use turnips, potatoes, and sweet potatoes AND sometimes I do!

My Recipe:

Keep in mind I do not cook in the “exact measurement” mindset. Nor do I use actual recipes. I grew up with a Mom that added a little of this and a little of that until it looked and tasted “right.” This method has always worked for me. If you prefer a very specific recipe… there are many great borscht recipes in cookbooks and on the internet.

1. In the bottom of my very large soup stock pot, I melt butter. Lots of butter.
2. Chop and cook onions and leeks until gently cooked. No need to fry them to death or caramelize them.
3. I add some pressed garlic here, in the butter process, but I also add pressed garlic at the end. The “end” is when I am finished making the soup and the stove heat is turned off. Sometimes I wait and press the fresh garlic right into the individual soup bowls. This places the garlic medicine, as raw nourishing medicine, in at the last minute.
4. While the onions and leeks are cooking up, I am chopping all of the root veggies into bite sized pieces. I add each variety of veggie to the pot as I get them chopped and then stir them into the onions and butter.
5. After all the veggies are added (minus tomatoes and squash, remember the squash is in 2-3 days), I add in approximately 2 quarts of chicken bone broth (this depends on the amount I am making and the final soup consistency I want). I save my chicken bones and make my own bone broth. If I am out of homemade broth, I keep organic chicken bone broth on hand.
6. Now add the tomatoes. Again, depending on the size of the pot of soup, I may add 1-2 quarts of canned tomatoes OR a half gallon bag of frozen tomatoes.
7. Cover the pot and bring the whole thing to a gentle boil. Pay attention, don’t walk away and allow a rolling boil to take over the pot. Be gentle with your food. It IS your medicine. Cooking veggies, or any food, to death is loss of nourishment.
8. If your tomatoes are frozen, obviously it will take a little longer to get to a simmer and you will have to break up the frozen tomatoes. I never seem to remember to thaw my tomatoes ahead of time.
9. As the pot is ramping up this liquid heat, I get out my dried herbs: rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, and parsley. I add a huge tablespoon or two, of each herb, into a bowl. When I have them all together, I remove the soup pot cover and dump the herbs into the pot. Stir herbs into the soup. Add bay leaves too if it so pleases you. Three to five leaves depending on the pot size and the leaf sizes.
10. When the pot starts to gentle simmer, I shut the heat off and let it sit and stew and brew until it is time to eat.
11. I never reheat the whole pot. I take what is needed for a meal and reheat, gently, in a smaller pot. Again, pay attention. Don’t be walking away and leaving your soup to boil like a crazy, volcanic, hot mess. Treat the medicine you are going to be putting into your body with love, respect, and honor for all the nourishment that is within the medicine.
12. Add salt and pepper as desired. I recommend unrefined salts, not the sodium chloride – refined table salt stuff.
13. I will also add a big gob of the organic sour cream located right in the coolers at the Co-op. If I don’t have sour cream, plain full fat yogurt works well, No yogurt? I have been known to put in a big gob of butter.
14. I may add crumbled feta cheese instead of the above fatty additions. I prefer the French variety feta, from Sheep’s milk, in the bulk tins of the deli cooler. Yes, right there at the Co-op.

I scoop up soup and put into quart canning jars to share with friends and family. All of the jars must come back to me OR one doesn’t get anymore soup. It is as simple as that. 😉

Back to that Butternut squash:

After enjoying the soup for two or three meals, I steam the squash halves, in a pot of water, on my stove top. Then I scoop out the cooked squash flesh, add it to my blender, and add in some of the soup stock (just stock, no veggies). Blend the squash into the stock and add back to the big pot. This changes up the flavor, adds yummy squash sweetness, and adds more nourishing powerhouse medicine for a few more meals!

Deconstructing the Food Medicine:

I am keeping this simple and a few pointers for each lovely food item in the soup. I could go into greater details but sometimes simple is better and trusting our food as the medicine it is.

Root veggies are earthy, warming, and grounding nourishment for the cold and windy winter months.

Garlic, Onion, Leeks: circulation, heart health, parasite removal, gut microbial balancing, immune boosting.

Carrots: full spectrum carotenes, nourishes healthy cells to prevent cancer and, here’s a fun one… well nourished cancer cell kill themselves off: apoptosis! And for constipation, aphrodisiac, tone kidneys

Parsnips: one of the most nourishing roots in the carrot family, internal cleanser removes toxins, supports balancing hypoglycemia issues, natural gentle diuretic.

Rutabaga & Turnips: keeps cholesterol balanced (cholesterol is not a bad thing but that is another natural story for some other time), relieves constipation, immune booster for colds and flu

Celeriac:  heal and prevent kidney stones, mild diuretic, stimulates appetite, aids digestion, lymphatic support

Cabbage: reduces inflammation, treats ulcers, relieves constipation (there’s a pattern here: real food prevents and relieves constipation), purifies blood, supports detoxing

Winter radish, AKA Daikon: diuretic, decongestant, digestive, inhibits cancer cell formation & growth, anti-microbial, immune stimulant

Beets: blood tonic, anemia, heart, circulation, constipation (we are back to the poop or don’t poop, constipation conversation), menstrual promoter

Butternut squash: constipation and diarrhea (this is a real poop champion!), reduces inflammation, prostate health, cancer prevention, use the seeds to eliminate parasites

Potatoes: reduce inflammation (except potentially with some forms of arthritis), neutralize acidity, lower blood pressure, heal ulcers,

Sweet Potatoes: lubricate dry conditions (think menopause & the senior years of all humans, pets too!), nourish the digestive tract and glandular system (seriously people, all whole foods do this!)

Anyhow… I will stop now and leave you to ponder beets, making borscht, nourishing the body with whole foods, and eliminating all refined-processed foods. Your body cells will sing and dance in pure delight!

Books for research on the healing power of food, Nature’s Medicine: Or just trust in Nature and her whole food nourishment gifts…

• the new whole foods encyclopedia (yes, no capitals is the way it is titled)
• Heinerman’s Encyclopedia of Fruits, Vegetables, And Herbs
• Whole Food Facts, The Complete Reference Guide
• Whole Foods Companion
• From Asparagus to Zucchini, A Guide to Cooking Farm Fresh Seasonal Produce (there probably IS a borscht recipe in here. I read cookbooks like novels and then rarely look at them again.)