Knitting, homesteading, sprouting, kombucha, kefir, cooking, oh my!

At long last: The last month highlights – in pictures!
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And my ode to soup:
One of this winter’s many gifts to me was discovering just how much I love soups and stews. And here’s why:

• For one thing, I can usually make a delicious, hearty soup with a few random, cheap produce items and a bean or legume, some spices and water and wa la.
• But it’s more than how cheap, nutritional, and filling it is. I love how Portland is cooler in the winter than Florida was all my life (an understatement?) because I never before felt this drive to eat something warm and nutritious like soup after a long day. How you can actually feel soup warm your bones and satisfy your tummy is such an amazing comfort.
• In a picture above, there is a stew I made earlier this week that was surprisingly more delicious than we anticipated, (I can’t share the recipe because its copyrighted). What I was really *tickled* about was how much like beef stew it was- (I really love a good beef stew!). This one used spices like ginger, curry, cinnamon, all spice, and cumin, and the main ingredients I used (some called for, some just had on hand) were sprouted french lentils and red russian kale, along with potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery.
  I think the main reason I needed this soup was because of my anemia. Lentils, kale and potatoes (with skin on) are a great source of iron. A friend was just telling me how she craved liver early on in her pregnancy and only later discovered it as the highest source for many of the vitamins needed during that time. Our bodies truly do know how to feed themselves, if we’ll only listen!
• I’ve gone directly to soup recipes for months now, for all the reasons mentioned above and more. (For more reasons: I love one-pot dishes and soup is just that – easy prep and clean up. I also love to effortlessly double recipes and give half to Hubby for his lunches all week, which soup lends itself so well to.) While I seriously can’t wait for warmer weather (mainly for the greenery and gorgeous spring flowers!), I also see why I don’t mind winter at all. It’s my hibernating-soup lovin’-shorter days-warm blankets time!