Turkey Soup

On a rainy/snowy/rainy day like today, soup for dinner is a must!  Want to see what today looked like?

Turkey soup is very popular in our family and while I am positive that pretty much every family has a perfectly good recipe for turkey soup, this one is worthy of trying.

It just so happens that it is one of the many versions of soup that Dr. Tae Yun Kim has created.  It is easy to prepare, outstandingly delicious and happens to pair perfectly with her brand new gluten-free bread recipe.  The fresh herbs really make this superb!

Don’t worry – not these girls!  Those are quite safe.  Those are wild turkeys roaming the area.  They get to live on Dr. Tae Yun Kim‘s property freely and nobody bothers them.

To make the soup, here is what you need

Ingredients:

2 whole turkey wings

about 1/8 c raw minced garlic, or more if you can handle it 😉

Himalayan salt to taste

black pepper to taste

1/2 medium yellow onion, cut into small strips

2 stalks celery, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces

1 medium size carrot, cut into bite siz slices

1 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 small zucchini, thinly sliced

3 stalks broccolini, cut into bite size pieces

4-5 stalks of asparagus, cut into pieces

2-3 sprigs of fresh Thyme

1 large sprig of fresh Rosemary

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1/2 cup chopped green onions

Before you get started with the actual soup, you’ll need to pre-boil the turkey, as Dr. Tae Yun Kim recommends, to get rid of as many impurities as possible.  To do this, cover the turkey wings with water, add 3Tbs Kosher salt and some crushed garlic and let come to a boil – boil until the foam stops bubbling up.  This probably will take about 10 – 15 minutes.  Drain, rinse, rinse your pot well and fill with about a quart of water.Cut the turkey wings into sections, and add to pot, season with salt and pepper.

Let it come to a boil, and cook for about 15 -20 minutes; then add the onions, herbs, carrots and celery, let boil for 5 minutes, and add rest of vegetables, adding the parsley and green onions just before serving.  You can serve this with any kinds of (gluten-free) noodles and/or bread.  It is most delicious with this particular bread! The blend of herbs and mushrooms and all the other flavors really makes this soup special.  Go ahead and give it a try!

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Celebrate Every Day!

With Christmas, New Year, Birthdays, Lunar New Year and Valentines, there have been lots of celebrations!  I love how Dr. Tae Yun Kim is passionate about celebrations:

“Celebrate every living breath as if it was your last breath,” she says.  I like that!

So in the spirit of celebrating every moment, I was excited to try out a suggestion that Dr. Tae Yun Kim had mentioned a while ago.  “Why not make the traditional Jim Bang healthier, by making the dough gluten-free and making the filling less sugary and add healthy nutrients.

I did one version of these buns last year, and they were good.  But they still needed to improve in the “health department.”

Steaming buns – don’t you peek!  Wait 15 minutes!

So this time, (actual recipe will be coming, promise!) I based the dough on almond flour, chestnut flour, amaranth flour, certified oat flour, sorghum flour and chia seed flour.  I know this sounds complicated, but when you need to live gluten-free AND are a diabetic, and want to live healthy, you start to do your research and learn from other bloggers, too.

To make the dough pliable and hold together, I added psyllium husks and xantham gum (I will have to measure things out next time, this time was purely experimental) and it was actually a nice workable dough.

For the filling, you start by cooking the tiny red adzuki beans until soft, which is approximately an hour or so.  Keep some of the cooking liquid, and mash the beans, not too finely and not too moist.  Add organic pure cacao powder (definitely not Hershey’s cocoa mix), a little bit of honey or maple syrup, and cinnamon to taste.

Now take a bit of the dough, put some gluten-free flour on your hand and gently flatten the dough, so you can put some of the filling and wrap it all up into a nice bun.

As usual, Dr. Kim was right – these buns were divine!  Be brave and try to re-create right away, or wait for the recipe – the choice is yours!  (I would recommend you try anyway!  They are THAT good!)

 

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Unexpected and delicious surprises

Time for something other than soup or stew, am I right?  Or at least something to go with that stew or soup?  With Valentine’s so close (and a very healthy and breathtakingly good recipe coming soon) our thoughts turn to the sweeter things in life.

Talking about Valentine, I just love this quote from Dr. Tae Yun Kim, and it continues to inspire me.  It’s not only beautiful and poetic, but also very fundamental and true.

“You are who I dreamed of….

And so you came to be.

And you shall be with me beyond time.

I will never leave you,

and 

my love will follow you

as you follow my light,

just as the tail of the bird follows the wing.”

(The First Element, page 121)

So I got to thinking, with all the soups and stews I have been making – so popular in our family with this crazy rainy and snowy weather – what can I make that boosts our regular dinners into something special.  Should still be healthy, yet a real treat.

I already know that cornbread is very popular here, and cornbread muffins as well.  This recipe that Shirley came up with years ago is a well-tested and well-enjoyed taste experience.  You can get the recipe for that here.  I also know that often I get the ‘complaint’ or should we say, suggestion that the muffins are “empty” and couldn’t I put something in them.  Hmmmmm……Dr. Tae Yun Kim also is my ultimate not only Martial Arts teacher but also gives incredible encouragement to try different and new things.

How about some berry filling?

I happened to have some blueberry cheesecake filling stashed – good thing nobody found it – and I used that.  It’s a very simple filling – just get blueberries, fresh or frozen ( and any other berries work great here as well, and I imagine pretty much any fruit filling) boil them with a little rose wine, or water if you don’t like wine, add as much sugar as you need but don’t make it too sweet – and thicken with a little corn or sweet rice starch that you have dissolved first in some water – this will prevent hard little pebbles in the sauce.  Let the fruit sauce cool.

When you are ready, fill muffin cups, or bread pan, or both as I did 🙂 with a thin layer of cornbread mixture, then add a generous layer of fruit filling, and top with another thin layer of cornbread batter.  Bake as directed in Shirley’s recipe and enjoy, and bask in the compliments you are sure to receive!

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No such thing as leftovers

Dr. Tae Yun Kim has been very strong about treating food right and to not abuse it – this means not letting it sit in the refrigerator until it goes bad.  It means you only cook as much as you and those eating with you can eat.  It’s ok to have enough for next day’s lunch, but no out and out leftovers.  It means keeping the kitchen very clean too!

Dr. Kim also wants us to develop and use our creativity.  Sometimes that’s not as easy as it seems.  I mean, what do you do with too much yeast dough?  There is only so much bread I want to make and freeze, because if I make it, I will eat it, right?

First I want to acknowledge the source of my gluten-free yeast doughs.  Shirley of gluten-free Easily has these fantastic roundups, and one of my very favorite ones are her bread roundups.  Click here for one of them.

Since I usually make at least a double batch, sometimes I need another creative use for what might be too much.

All the veggies and herbs came from Dr. Kim’s garden

Pizza is of course always a good choice and I cannot tell you how often I have used “Pizza dough” that started out as something entirely different.

I have also made peach or apple cinnamon buns and they are wonderful even made out of bread dough!

Lastly, if you don’t mind carefully rolling out whatever dough you have, go ahead and improvise an apple strudel, where the filling is peeled and chopped apples, with a generous dose of chopped walnuts, 1/2 cup sugar and a lot of cinnamon, also a couple of tablespoons of starch for every couple of cups of apples.  Let rise for 45 minutes to an hour and bake at 350 for about the same time – check frequently!

Not the most beautiful, but certainly one of the best ones!

And there you have it!  Of course, bread sticks, bread sticks with cheese….and a lot more can be made as well!  Have fun, get creative and know there is no such thing as a failure!

 

 

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Special hot dogs in a wrap

I seriously can’t wait until Dr. Tae Yun Kim‘s cook book comes out!  It’s not going to be just a cook book, but will go into detail about all the health benefits of recipes and food preparation methods.

When the weather is cold and rainy, and you want hot and satisfying food, yet you don’t really feel like having another bowls of soup or stew for a while – well, then this will certainly make you happy.  These are great with dinner, as snacks, when you watch TV, or have any gathering – you can make them as small pieces for snacks, or leave the hot dogs hole and serve for dinner, with a nice big salad.

Dr. Tae Yun Kim came up with this tasty and crispy and absolutely delicious version of hot dogs in a blanket.

She started out with yeast dough, gluten-free, consisting of 1/2 almond flour and half gluten free mixed flour, that already had xantham gum in it.  She also added sea buckthorn flour, about 1/4 cup of it to a total of 4 cups of the other flours.

Dr. Tae Yun Kim is using a lot of sea buckthorn powder – check out its benefits below! It’s worth the effort of ordering it and using it in breads, cereals, tea, dessert, and others.

After you let the yeast dough rise (and this particular one stays well contained overnight in the fridge and rises beautifully the next morning) roll it out very thin and place your ingredients on top, like this:

The little red round things are Madrone berries, also very healthy for you.  These particular ones used in the picture had been infused in alcohol for several months and were scrumptious.  You press the berries into the dough after you rolled it out.

Then you use your (gluten-free) hot dogs, dab a little mustard in the middle, insert a slice of kosher dill pickle, and sprinkle with shredded cheese of your choice – Dr. Tae Yun Kim likes mozzarella and cheddar, but smoked gouda or other meltable cheeses are great too.

Let rise for 20 minutes and bake for 25-30 minutes and enjoy!

 

Health Benefits Of Sea Buckthorn

Sea buckthorn has multiple uses due to its protein building amino acids, vitamins B1, B2, K, C, A, E, and folic acid, over 60 antioxidants, at least 20 minerals, and healthy fatty acids. The fruit is full of carotenoids, xanthophylls, phenolics, and flavonoids, too. It’s an absolute power house of nutrients!

The leaves, berries and roots can all be used in different forms. It is a complete food that can support the body in all the following ways:

• Treats gastrointestinal disorders including ulcers
• Reverses gout
• Eliminates skin rashes
• Cures infections
• Improves sight, lessens eye soreness
• Promotes colon health
• Contributes to proper brain and nervous system functioning
• Reduces inflammatory response in the body
• Improves mental clarity
• Treats asthmatic symptoms
• Reduces skin markings associated with measles or mumps
• Reduces illness associated with cancer
• Lowers cholesterol
• Boosts lymphatic circulation and immunity
• Reduces hunger (due to Omega 7s)
• Improves the look of skin and hair (also due to Omega 7, 3, 6, and 9s)
• Neutralizes free radicals in the body
• Slows the aging process
• Supports internal organs
• Boost health of the mucous membranes lining the digestive and respiratory tracts
• Supports urogenital system
• Reduces the condition of a fatty liver
• Helps to increase cellular vitality

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Bread baking creativity

Lately, Dr. Tae Yun Kim has not only been emphasizing health and healthy foods, but also to use creativity in cooking and creating new dishes with healthy ingredients.

Dr. Tae Yun Kim has been busy in the kitchen, coming up with some incredible (and incredibly delicious) new dishes that will delight body, mind, and spirit! Here are some pictures, but alas, for the recipes, you’ll have to wait until the cookbook comes out.

Meanwhile, here is something for you to try out, if you like.

For St. Patrick’s day, I wanted to do something other than the usual cabbage and corned beef.  Not that there is anything wrong with it, but there had to be something more exciting than that.

Allow me to digress here a bit.  So often I think of something to cook, bake, saute, broil, etc and then think, nah, that’s just a bit too far out and I let the thought go.

However, Dr. Tae Yun Kim says this in her book, “Seven Steps to Inner Power:”

‘Mistakes are essential to your progress.  How did we humans get the idea that to be perfect we couldn’t make mistakes?  Never making a mistake does not make us perfect.  Never repeating a mistake – after we learn from it – is as perfect as we need to be.”

So, armed with new confidence, I went to do what I had in mind.

See?

I had read a lot about cauliflower pizza dough.  So I thought why not make cauliflower bread?  But I didn’t have any cauliflower, only cabbage.  They are in the same family, right?  Why not cabbage?

Since I had already tried Megan’s awesome bread (recipe here) and knew it is absolutely divine, and I had received comments that it was the best bread they ever had (not even knowing it was gluten-free!) I was going to start with that basic recipe.  By the way, credit where credit is due – originally I was tipped off to this recipe by Shirley of Gluten free easily on one of her awesome roundups here.

I started out with the original recipe, except I only used 1/2 cup of water to proof the yeast (it worked just fine).  I sautéed half a small head of green cabbage, with onions, garlic and salt, and pureed it in the blender with a little bit of water.  I tried to end up with one cup of liquid but it was a little more.

I followed the remainder of the recipe but ended up adding a little more of each flour to make it the consistency in the recipe.  I added a handful of chopped up kalamata olives and a smattering of grated cheese.

And after it was done baking, I received the biggest complement I have received for any bread I ever made.

This is not wet or underbaked – I just am not an expert at taking food picture yet 🙂

Dr. Tae Yun Kim herself said it was THE best bread she ever had.

What more could I have asked for?

PS: After the meal, not a crumb remained, so I can’t tell you how long it would last……

 

 

 

 

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Quick, very healthy and gluten free lunch sandwich

It’s Memorial Day weekend, and we practically live outdoors now, especially since the temperatures are wonderful, around 65 degrees!  Perfect!

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim has invited us to all kinds of great outdoor activities, including a BBQ.  But until then, hungry warriors are storming Jung Suwon, and something has got to be done about that!

It can’t take too much time to make food either, so here is a very healthy and very fast sandwich idea to keep Jung Suwon warriors going!  This can be made with regular bread, or, like I do, with your favorite gluten free bread.

Asparagus sandwich:

Pre-heat oven to 400 F.

Wash, and thinly slice lengthwise a handful of asparagus spears (about 6 or so spears per 2 sandwiches).  Sautee in one tablespoon of oil, with freshly crushed garlic, and add a tablespoon of chopped cashew nuts.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Saute until the asparagus is crip/tender.

While you saute the asparagus, toast 2 slices (per serving) of your favorite (gluten free) bread, and spread thinly with mustard.  Put on a layer of thinly slices avocadoes.  Heap the asparagus mixture on top of the avocado slices, and top with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.  Broil for a few minutes until cheese is melty.

If you have really ravenous Jung Suwon warriors knocking at your door (or anyone else for that matter), you could also add a basted egg on top.  Either way, it’s delicious!

Happy Memorial Day to all, and please take a minute or two and think of all our service members and the great sacrifices they make to make the world a better place to live in!

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Making bread a la Jung SuWon, or, Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim style bread

A while ago I promised you that I would write more about bread, give recipes and so forth.  Since I like to keep my promises, here is a “how to” video for you.

In this short video (please do watch with sound on and use the high quality setting on Youtube if available) you’ll see the Jung SuWon way of making bread, using a not so ancient recipe by Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim.

 

 

Now you see why I enjoy making bread so much?

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Gotta have desserts! Yeahh for desserts – the Jung SuWon way

Delicious, healthy Banana Bread

Last time we talked about pizza.  Well, I am from Austria (that’s my excuse anyhow) and I was born with a very sweet tooth.  It didn’t help matters that everyone in my family was an avid cook and even more avid baker.  To top it all off, my mother – in order to run a restaurant – took up classes and ended up a pastry chef! 

Nowadays, as I add years to my life (whoever gets old anymore!) I have to watch what I eat.  I love sweets, but I realize that health is more important, and keeping at a healthy weight most certainly is, too.  I also have a very close friend who has diabetes, and so I am always trying to adapt a tried and true recipe so she can have it as well.

Again I have to think about one of Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim’s trademark sayings, “Don’t treat your body like a trash can!  You put the best gas in your car, you have to put the best food into your body!”

Actually, she has given me some of the best advice ever on the topic of healthy weight management.  Everything in moderation and balance….something we learn a lot about in our Martial Arts classes at Jung SuWon as well. 

So, to satisfy all the sweet teeth out there, yet don’t provide empty and/or damaging calories, here is a recipe I came up with for what I think has got to be the best banana bread ever. Hey, it’s my blog, so I can claim it’s the best!  Because to me, it is! 

Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour, total.  I use 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup raw wheat germ, 1/2 cup crushed flax seed, 1/2 cup Amaranth flour, and the rest white flour, mixed with a little bran.  You can leave out the Amaranth flour and use just more white flour instead, or if you want it less healthy, use less whole wheat flour – just as long as you end up with 4 cups total and not too much flax seeds since they have an overwhelming taste
• cinnamon, cloves, vanilla – if you so desire.  You could also add some lemon peel and a few squirts of lemon juice
• 2 tsp baking soda, or baking powder, I have used either one successfully
• 1 cup very soft butter (no substitutes here unless you get some very high quality margarine)
• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar, or raw sugar
• 4 eggs, beaten  (if you want a lighter version of the bread, seperate the eggs and add the beaten whites at the end together with the flour, but this is certainly not necessary)
• 4 1/2 cups mashed up bananas
• 1 1/2 cups walnut pieces

• How to put it all together:
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a loaf pan, or bundt pan. 
• mix all the different flours and dry ingredients together
• cream butter with sugar and egg (or just the egg yolks if you want to add the beaten egg whites later)
• Add mashed bananas
• add flour, a little at a time, and don’t overmix at this point.  More like, gently fold into it, don’t beat it any more.
• Put into pan(s) and bake, about an hour, depending on what size and shape of pan you use.  Don’t overbake!  You can also make little cupcakes or muffins from this, and your kids will love you for the lunch snack! 

Now, sit back, relax and reward yourself with your home made treat.  It’s good for you, and you are going to work it off in your next Jung SuWon class anyhow! 

 

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The miracles of bread

All right, so I wasn’t going to write about bread.  I mean, come on, there are already so many things written about bread and even more recipes than anyone can ever read! 

But I couldn’t resist.  After I pulled out the last couple of home made loaves of whole wheat bread from the oven…..the aroma, the soft crumb, the butter melting into it, and then the first bite….oh, excuse me, where was I now…..

Bread of course.  It’s gotten a really bad reputation and people think it’s evil.  My my those carbs are gonna kill you.  If that’s the case, then why did Jesus break bread with the disciples.  Notice he didn’t break a salad, or some soup.  No, it was bread! 

We also say, “bread of life” – ever heard of the veggies of life?  Anyhow, pardon the digression.  Just couldn’t resist.

Well, the carbs in bread won’t kill you.  In fact, if you make your bread right, it’s a health blessing for all those that manage to get a piece.  See, I make breads different for different people.  For example, a good friend of mine has diabetes, so I make whole wheat bread, with added bran, some flax seeds, and cooked oatmeal.  Sometimes I add some nuts, or olives, for variety.  To give the yeast a jump start, I add some honey to the starter dough.

For another friend who is on a high protein diet, but loves bread, I proof the yeast in either milk or soy  milk, and add blended cottage cheese or tofu, or chunks of cheese to the dough. 

You get the idea.  Bread is not the enemy.  It is the staff of life.  And, if you make it yourself (and why bother eating bread if it comes from a store!) it is what you want it to be.

One more thing:  don’t worry about all these measurements, and fuss about the yeast.  I have yet to make a batch of bread that didn’t get gobbled up the minute it came out of the oven.  Oh, and those breadmaker gadgets….all right so some people like them – I am not among those.  I mean, why bother?  If I want homemade bread, I don’t want some machine to make it.  I might as well buy the bread in the store. 

So, now that you know how I feel about bread – you are pobably wondering – ok, so she has a bread fetish – but what does THAT have to do with Jung SuWon?  What does bread have to do with Martial Arts?  Or, with Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim? 

More than you might think. 

On a physical level, you develop a lot of strength in your hand and arm muscles in the kneading process.  And believe me, if you have ever made a large amount of whole wheat, or sour dough, or rye bread, you know what I am talking about.  You’ll end up looking like Arnold after a few batches.  Well, maybe not quite….

Most doughs also benefit from being punched a bit, so go ahead and practice some punches.  Your dough will be grateful! 

Then on the Ki energy level, think about putting all your good thoughts into the bread, visualize how people will just love it, think how you are going to make them happy, and keep them healthy….

And!  Ever learned how to do CPR?  Well, practice the heart compression on your bread dough…..

So, there you have it!  And next time I’ll put down some basic recipes…..pull out your aprons!

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