Mexi Corn Soup

Here's another McDougall soup I tried for the first time this week. This one comes from the book The McDougall Program for A Healthy Heart. It's currently out of print, but you can find it both new and used from various book vendors, and you can get the PDF version of it from the McDougall web site, regular price $10 but using the code download20 get it for 20% off. It's well worth the money even at regular price. Dr. McDougall discuses how the basic McDougall program works for those with heart disease, and many of my favorite Mary McDougall recipes are from this book. This book contains the eating plan Dr. Esselstyn based his program on.

On to the recipe:

Mexican Corn Soup
SERVINGS: 6
PREPARATION TIME: 10 MINUTES
COOKING TIME: 25 MINUTES
1/3 cup water
4 cups Vegetable Broth
3 cups frozen shredded potatoes (no fat added)
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 green bell pepper, chopped 1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 1/2 cups mild salsa
1 clove garlic, minced 1/4  teaspoon dried oregano
Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish (optional)

Place the water in a large soup pot with the .green pepper, green onions,
and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the remaining
ingredients, except the cilantro, and cook over medium low heat for 20
minutes. Garnish with chopped cilantro before serving, if desired.

I did substitute a bit, like dried Zatarain's Chopped Green Onions (by McCormack) and dried green pepper flakes from Burma Spice instead of fresh. Because of this, I added an extra half cup of water to the pot. I also skipped the optional cilantro garnish.

At first, my husband was disappointed when he sat down and looked in the bowl. He thought I said I was making the same old Mexi Soup that I've been making for years, and was looking forward to having that tomato based soup. He was also disappointed there was no cornbread with it, like I serve with the Mexi Soup. 

He quit pouting as soon as he had that first spoonful.

What I show in the photo is about half a Corningware serving bowl because I wanted to hurry up and get the picture before he sat down to eat. Each bowl holds about 4 cups comfortably. I filled each bowl to twice what's shown. He ate 2 full bowls to my one and he wanted more, he said it was so good. Not that he could fit any more into his tummy, it just tasted so good he wanted more. He waddled away from the table quite satisfied with his now full belly, declaring this one is another keeper.

Chalk up another win for Mary McDougall!

Hearty White Bean Soup

Let's see, when last commented on (In the Comments to this post), I had just gone back on the inhaled steroids, was then given a round of antibiotics, was ordered to use the nasal inhaler the doc  was prescribing, and told to force fluids to clear up that newest round of asthma and bronchitis. He kept the asthma med at the same dose strength but really wanted to put me back on the one twice as strong that he reduced back in 2017 AND put me on oral steroids, but once I plead my case to go easy on the steroids because of my cataracts he: 1) argued that inhaled steroids don't have anything to do with cataract development (I told him to just Google it or use any of the medical web sites he and the student docs have access to and he'll find I'm not making it up) and 2) caved in and didn't prescribe them when the student showed him some on-line article proving my assertion, but I now have to go back to him in early October so he can see how I'm doing. Since it's been over a month now since all this crap started and I picked up the Advair inhaler again and I still have bouts of coughing and laryngitis, I'm afraid he may win this war, afterall. I absolutely hate oral steroids! They make me feel weird, plus they really give me the screaming munchies! One round in the past led to 50 pound weight increase. :(

In the meantime, I've been making a lot of soup meals because they're not only easy to make but easy to get down this occasionally sore throat of mine. The antibiotics weren't for anything in my chest but he said my throat was as red as the shirt I was wearing that day. Well, duh! If he were coughing 20 out of 24 hours a day, his throat would be red and sore, too! I never did have a fever or pulmonary wheezing, just the cough, cough, cough. At least most of that is behind me and aside from some soreness in my neck muscles, the throat is fine (I hope).

Anyway (I DO get off on tangents!), many of the soups I've made have been the old tried and true Mary McDougall ones, like Festive Dal Soup, Mexi Soup, Bean and Corn Soup (a.k.a. Your Kids Will Love This Soup, Quick Black Bean Soup, Split Pea Soup (both with green split peas and white potatoes and yellow split peas and sweet potatoes - tonight's dinner, BTW). Other soups have been Jill McKeever's Soy Curls Noodle Soup, and even the Bob's Red Mill Veggie Soup Mix. Many of my lunches were one of the soups or chilis from the Harmony House Sample Kit (Yes, even the one or 2 with TVP. Don't tell Dr. McDougall!) if I had no soup leftovers.

I had assumed soup weather was going to be here by now, but temps are still in the low 80's most days. I already have menus made out for the next few weeks with mostly soup meals planned. I'm so glad neither my husband or myself mind hot soups on warm days. Some days it's those same old tried-and-true recipes, but every now and then I have planned a new-to-me soup. The one I made last night, Hearty White Bean Soup, goes back to the fairly new book The McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook.

NEW??? OMG!! That book is from 1999 - it's 20 years old already!! I also react this way when people on TV say someone lives in an "old" house that was "built almost 30-50 years ago." In our city, a 50 year old house is referred to as one of the *new* houses in town! The house I'm currently living in goes back to the 1920's, the 6-family house I was born in from the 1880's.

Anyway, here's the recipe:

Hearty White Bean Soup

servings: 8

prep time: 15 minutes

cooking time: 30 minutes

1/2 cup water

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, sliced

1 stalk celery, sliced

1 1/2 cups shredded cabbage

1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic

1 15-ounce cans white beans, drained and rinsed

4 cups vegetable broth

2 cups frozen hash brown potatoes

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon soy sauce

several twists freshly ground black pepper

Place the water in a large pot and add the onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and cabbage. Cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients; bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. 

Remove bay leaf before serving.

So, what kind of comments do I have? I used frozen diced onion, half a pound; for a change I used fresh carrots that I chopped up a few days ago with the Vidalia Chop Wizard; I used dehydrated celery flakes instead of fresh; half a bag of Dole cole slaw mix for the cabbage; and as usual, skipped the bay leaf.

Delicious! And yes, hearty. My husband said it was so filling he didn't need any bread to sop up the liquid. He also requested it again soon. Lucky for him I still have half a bag of cole slaw mix in the refrigerator, so his wish will be my command later this week.

Brand New Vegan's Brand New Resource Library

Long time McDougaller Chuck Underwood, a.k.a. Brand New Vegan, has had his website going for a few years now. Loads of information and recipes, including sections on MWLP and Mary's Mini. I recently became aware he also has a Facebook community besides his personal and professional page.

Today he wrote about about what would happen if Facebook disappears, and mentioned he now has a password protected resource library on his website. It's free, and as long as you belong to his mailing list you'll get the password and access to it. Sorry I can't link to the message itself - you have to belong to his FB community to see it.

There's nothing earth-shattering there yet - the info is still available in other parts of his web site - but it's sure to grow into a one-stop-shopping place for good info on WFPB eating the McDougall way.