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Lazy soup: Some days you just need to make food fa

Lazy soup: Some days you just need to make food fast!
The other morning was one of those times, so I took advantage of my tools to make a no-pot version of my winter staple. I call it faux pho, but it’s really just miso soup with extra veggies.The trick was to toss all the ingredients — cold — into the Vitamix, set it on the hot soup program, and walk away.I’m not a huge fan of kitchen gadgets generally. They’re often aspirational: inspiring in the moment, but rarely used in practice, just taking up kitchen and mental space.But the best ones — the ones you really use — can make a big difference.Tools like a Vitamix don’t entirely automate the process. You still have to load it, run it, and clean it. But at least let you walk away, and let it tend itself.Here’s what I did:Ingredients:
🍲Bone broth 🦴
🍲 1 large spoonful of miso
🍲 2 scoops collagen powder
🍲 1 good size clove of garlic 🧄
🍲 a couple slices of fresh ginger
🍲 most of a bunch of spinachAdd all to the Vitamix, out it on the soup setting and walk away. Decant into container of choice and drizzle on a little bit of toasted sesame oil. Bright green, and super yum.The good news/bad news of this approach is that it’s not conducive to noodles. 🤷🏻‍♀️Note: not all Vitamix models have the hot soup pre-programmed, but that’s okay. Just run the blender at its highest setting for 6 minutes. The friction of a long, powerful blend will turn it steamy! (Also, this is a great moment to consider buying a Vitamix if you want to avail yourself of sales.)Lazy soup opens up lots of options for creativity. My one piece of advice: keep your batches small, since sometimes experiments are palatable but not something you want to eat for days. 🤪Do you have a favorite lazy soup? I would love to hear about it!#LazySoup #EatYourVeggies #QuickFood #HealthyEating #Vitamix

It’s OK to be sad on days when you’re “suppo

It’s OK to be sad on days when you’re “supposed” to be happy.You don’t even need a reason.Remember, one person’s holiday may be another’s day of mourning – and often is.Holidays are about commemorating events. Some are intended to be happy, some are intended to be sad. There’s plenty of grief in the world, and feeling it is a valid method of commemoration. It can even be affirmatively healthy.#ThursdayInCascadia #WhenInDoubtGoToTheWoods #WalkingWithOrna #NatureFacts #CNSReset #NatureCures #VitaminN #RadGirlsLife

I got out yesterday to this spot for the first tim

I got out yesterday to this spot for the first time in ages. It had been closed for several years after the 2017 fires in the Gorge.during those fires – accidentally sat by a couple of kids playing with fireworks during the hot, dry summer – people in Portland felt an acute sense of loss. Not only did we have thick smoke, we even had ash falling down like snow. People thought the beautiful woods were destroyed, gone forever.Of course, nature mostly doesn’t work like that.The forests of Cascadia evolved with fire. And wind blazes do come through, even senseless ones as in 2017, not everything burns. The flames do you kill trees in a patchwork over the landscape, but even in the hottest places many of the old trees survive. The heat releases seeds buried in the duff that have been biting their time, waiting for the heat, the space and the light to grow.Here, a bunch of years after the fire, you can see charred trees, and some whitening skeletons amid the green especially up on the ridge. But there were plenty of big old cedars to sit under, and the landscape was lit up with deciduous leaves turning yellow and red.I feel somewhat obligated to turn this into an analogy for human health and am not quite sure how. Something about the resilience we can cultivate with sleep, eating well, moving our bodies, etc., maybe?On the other hand, not everything has to be about us. It’s enough to know that life finds a way, and there is beauty in all parts of its cycle.PS: Learn more about fire and forests from my friends at @fuseefire.See more photos of this hike in my stories and over at @gardenmedicine.

Who says salad has to be green?When we talk abou

Who says salad has to be green?When we talk about nutrition, it’s easy to get stuck on concepts like balancing proteins, fat and carbohydrates.But… 🥱Of course that stuff is important. But even more important is to remember that food is more than fuel: It’s culture, it’s connection, it’s flavor and it’s even beauty and fun.The colorful compounds plants make are a key component of their chemical self defense systems. When you see veggies in bright greens, purples, oranges, reds and yellows and understand and that these are extra — and offer health benefits for humans, too.Those colorful plant compounds are a whole different layer of food as medicine. They are not the macronutrients — again, protein, fat and carbohydrates — but their own category entirely, known as pjytonutrients. (Phyto = plants.)Getting those phytonutrients on board is one of the main reasons all health professionals emphasize eating your veggies.Step one is to incorporate more 🥗🥦🍅🧅🥕🌶🧄 into your meal routine.Step two is to make a point of diversifying them, both in variety and in color.This can be fun! How many different colors can you add to your plate? How beautiful can you make your food?Even when making meals is not the most fun thing, colorful veggies give us an opportunity to play and add a little dose of joy.And, of course, joy is medicine.

Vote as if the future of voting itself is at stake

Vote as if the future of voting itself is at stake. (It is.) And bring your friends.#GetOutTheVote2022 #Vote2022 #GOTV

It’s raining! Let’s go for a walk!#GardenMed

It’s raining! Let’s go for a walk!#GardenMedicine #PlantGeek #WalkingWithOrna #Melatonin #CircadianRhythm

And I took advantage of a small break in the wildf

And I took advantage of a small break in the wildfire smoke to get a quick nature fix.After miles of walking, this was my break spot.It was a good CNS reset with a healthy dose of Vitamin N.Were you able to get some nature time this weekend?

Saw these gorgeous wild rose hips on my hike the o

Saw these gorgeous wild rose hips on my hike the other day.They’re not quite ready to harvest yet — they’ll be better after a frost. It was just exciting to see them thriving.Rose hips are a great source of vitamin C and other antioxidant compounds. Plus, they taste great!#WildCascadia #WildFoodLove #WildMedicine #HerbalistsHaveFriendsWhereverWeGo #WildRoseHips #WalkingWithOrna

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