By: Leanne Ely
It’s time once again for Tricks, Tips and a Recipe. Today you’ll learn a trick, a tip and you’ll get a great recipe to try it out with. Neat, huh?
Today’s focus is on: CELERY
I’ve done my time with celery. Those “diets” that make you eat a lot of celery because the calorie count is so low? Yeah, you did it too, admit it!
And while I don’t eat celery that way anymore (it kind of makes me cranky!), celery is a fabulous veggie. Celery is one of the 3 magical ingredients used in soups with carrots and onions. The carrot is for sweet, the onion for savory and celery is for salt. And since I try to eat soup a lot, especially when the weather cools down, celery is always a resident in my crisper.
Besides being a key soup ingredient, celery is also plenty healthy. It acts as a natural diuretic, it calms your blood pressure, and it helps your immune system too.
Now, it’s time for your Trick!
When you buy celery, only buy organic. Celery is on the Dirty Dozen list because it’s so heavily sprayed. And since most people don’t consume a whole bunch of celery at a time, here’s a bonus trick for you to avoid waste! Cut the end off the celery, wrap the celery in aluminum foil and store it in your crisper drawer. It will last for almost a month this way!
Your Tip:
Remember I told you to cut the bottom off your celery? Don’t throw it out! Save it and place it in a glass of water on a sunny window sill. It will regrow new bright green leaves!
And your Recipe:
Chicken Kale Soup
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS:
4 cups low sodium chicken broth, or use homemade
3 teaspoons coco-aminos
1 tablespoon grass fed butter
2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cubed
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
2 medium stalks celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 overflowing cups chopped kale
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
INSTRUCTIONS:
Place all ingredients in a large slow cooker; stir well to blend thoroughly. Cover and cook for 8 to 10 hours, stirring every 2 hours.
0 Responses
Oh, the celery I’ve thrown out over the years. Thanks for the tip 🙂
I cut off the bottom and put the stalks in a jar of filtered water…keeps it fresh for a long time too, though not a month. It will also refresh droopy celery.
What about the harmful side effects of aluminum ? Like Alzheimer’s ?
I was worried about that as well and thought to wrap in parchment paper, then aluminum foil, but really want to stay away from aluminum if possible.
I was also wondering about the negative effects of aluminum on food for so long. I use it temporarily to cover things, etc. but it does not have long term contact with my food. Anybody know about the aluminum risk?
You can wrap the celery in plastic, then with aluminum. It works.
Does this soup freeze well?