Food Rules

Good chilly evening to you!  Over the weekend, I picked up the newest copy of Michael Pollan's Food Rules: An Eater's Manual.  Now, I love Michael Pollan.  If you've seen Food, Inc., you probably know who this guy is.  He also wrote The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defence of Food, both of which I highly recommend reading if you are interested in where your food comes from.  I'm about 3/4 of the way through Food Rules and it has really gotten me thinking about how I have been slipping on eating healthfully.  Food Rules gives you easy rules of thumb for healthy eating under three categories:  "What should I eat?," "What kind of foods should I eat?," and "How much should I eat?"  Most of this stuff we probably already know, but having it in short, memorable phrases makes it easier to remember in my daily life.

I have been focusing way too much on how many calories I am eating and not enough on the quality of foods I am consuming.  While I am still eating plenty of fruits and veggies and have been cutting back on chicken and turkey, I am (was?) still eating more than my fair share of candy (Reeses are my weakness), chips, etc. 

So, I am working on cutting back on the unnatural "foodlike substances," as Pollan calls these types of foods, and replacing the "foodlike substances" with whole and natural foods.  This is really not that hard, I just need to be more diligent.  In fact, instead of being hard, it is very tasty.  My new favorite snack is olives with tomatoes and cheese (see below)!  Tonight, I also made a "taco" and rice plate (I really need to come up with better names here....).

My "Mediterranean Fix" Snack

Perfect bite!

I'm slightly obsessed with my local pizza place's Mediterranean Gluten Free pizza.  It is so good but I really can't eat like that very often.  I had their Greek salad last night, which is what inspired this snack today.  This is just mini-heirloom tomatoes cut in half, kalamata olives, and fresh mozzarella.  So good and satisfied my salty tooth today.  Plus, a handful of tomatoes + 1 oz mozzarella + 7ish Kalamata olives = 95 calories.  Score!

"Taco" and Rice Plate

As a way to eat less meat on the times when I actually want to eat something meat-like, I add in tons of veggies to fill out a dish.  So, in the pot, I had a small zucchini, 1/2 an onion, a small carrot, 1 can of drained and rinsed black beans, and 3 servings of extra-lean ground turkey.  Once all of this cooked and was softened, I seasoned the mixture with salt, garlic powder, smoked paprika, chipotle chili powder, chili powder, cumin, and cilantro.  Such a good mixture - better than packaged taco seasoning!  I split this into 4 portions.  I also made 2 servings of brown rice to go with the turkey and veggie mixture.  I tend to only eat a 1/2 serving of rice with dishes like these.  Topping this with salsa and sour cream really jazzed it up.  The best part?  Lunch leftovers for three days!

Stay warm (and healthy!) tonight!

Checking In

Hey folks!  Sorry it has been so long since my last post.  Things have been good yet crazy busy.  The good news is that I have lots to report so if you've been wondering how my healthy crusade is going, this post is for you!

For the most part, everything has been going well.  I have, however, been slipping on eating from time to time.  Too many sweet and crunchy things.  In times like this, I feel like it's important to check in with myself and see what up.  When I look at all that's going on, eating wise, I think I have just been too busy to make good choices.  I don't think of this as a cop out as I have been trying so very hard.  Stress, however, tends to result in bad choices for myself.  Also, I have been too busy over the past 2 months to spend weekend time cooking.  I am still working on strategies to combat these issues.  However:

Stress + no time = bad news!

Exercise, however, has been going well.  I have been skipping the gym in favor of walking outside for the past month and a half.  I am planning to walk the 5-mile Turkey Trot run on Thanksgiving.  I wanted to run this but every time I run regularly, I end up with sore knees and left hip for weeks and it just isn't worth it.  You can walk the 5-mile Turkey Trot but you have to finish it in 90 minutes.  So, I've been working to figure out if I can do it.  I have spent the last 1.5 months working myself up to 5-mile walks that I can do on a work day (as in, I don't exercise and spend the rest of the day sleeping and tired). 

Now that I've worked my way up to 5 miles, I am also working on speed.  The Turkey Trot requires a pace of 18 minutes per mile.  I didn't want to sign up without being sure I could do this and started timing 1 or 2 5-mile walks per week for a few weeks now.  Here are the times/speeds of my timed 5-mile walks (note that the majority of my walks are untimed as I tend to get a little obsessive about it):

Oct 1st (based on 6 miles):  90 minutes, 4 mph

Oct 4th:  74 minutes, 20 seconds; 4.04 mph

Oct 8th:  72 minutes, 30 seconds; 4.14 mph

Oct 10th:  75 minutes, 40 seconds; 3.97 mph

Oct 16th:  68 minutes, 30 seconds; 4.38 mph

Oct 17th:  70 minutes; 0 seconds; 4.29 mph

I'm pretty happy with this, especially since I am seeing improvement.  I had some sort of flu or other issue that has been causing me to be up all night with widespread muscle aches.  I don't know what's going on with that, but I'm happy that I am still progressing.  I took a number of days off last week when the achiness was particularly bad, thinking that I was perhaps stressing my body too much, but it did not help.  The mystery of this continues...

So, since I am checking in with myself and not entirely happy with what I see, I think it's important to look at how far I've come (plus I've had 7 people ask me to do this in the last week).  ;)  I seriously committed and started working towards my goal of being healthy around April-May 2010 but I'm going to list my stats from my most unhealthy point, which I think was around Dec-Jan 2009-2010.  First, a couple of photos.

October, 2009.  My mom and I at the Memory Walk.
2XL shirt here!  :(



October, 2011.  My mom and I at the Memory Walk.
L shirt here (and in desperate need of a haircut)!  :) 
Take a look at my mom - she is doing amazing
on her own journey!



















Okay, so a couple stats for those who have been asking:

Total pounds lost:  66 lbs (as of yesterday)
Inches lost around waist (the only one I can remember):  8.5"
Dress size:  down ~4 sizes
Clothing size:  down ~ 3-4 sizes (depending on brand)
BMI change:  down 11 points*
Walking mph change:  went from 3.3 mph to 4.4 mph when working out

I think those are all of my major changes and, wow, seeing those things written down and the photos side by side gives me quite a bit of motivation to get back on track with my nutrition.  I should have done this sooner!  The craziness in my life is starting to calm down (hopefully) and I plan to get back into meal planning and cooking every night or at least making sure I have enough healthy leftovers for the entire week if the week is going to be busy.

*For those of you who really hate the BMI scale, I understand the reasons.  However, this is what all doctors I have been to use.  Also, it gives you a good understanding of how far away from a normal weight you are.  Seeing such a huge change is so motivating, even if you don't like the scale.

Autumn CSA

Back in May, I started thinking about joining a CSA (community supported agriculture).  I've wanted to do this for a couple of years but I never stay in one city all summer so I hadn't done it yet.  This year, I found a CSA that offered Autumn only share, which is perfect because it starts today and runs through the end of October.  Originally, I was going to sign up for a small box every other week but it was kind of pricey.  So, I conned a friend into going into buying a full share with me, so we will each get a small box every other week but will save ~$11/week.  Cool!

Today, I finished work a little early and walked downtown to the shop where I was to pick up my box.  Now, first of all, it is mean that they make me go to my favorite health food market to pick up my box!  I never make it out of there without baked lentil chips and lemon garlic hummus.  Today was no exception!

Second, I went down into the basement of the store and was shocked by how many people in my tiny town are part of this CSA!  Very proud of my fellow residents.  Thirdly, I really did not realize that I would have that much to haul home.  That was one long walk!

If you are a veggie lover, opening your CSA box feels a little like your birthday.  Yes, I got an e-mail this week telling me what I can expect in my box, but until you open the box, it isn't all that exciting.  I was super excited to see the selection and traded in a cucumber and a large kohlrabi for an extra head of broccoli and a tomato.  Totally worth it!  So, here's what I got this week for a SMALL box:

2 small heads of garlic

2 giant leeks

huge pack of green onions

6 small to medium carrots

4 heads of broccoli

head of Boston lettuce

3 red bell peppers

pack of yellow cherry tomatoes

5 regular tomatoes

small kohlrabi

Wow.  I have a lot of eating to do!  Some things should keep for a little longer and I'll leave those to eat later next week while I polish off the more perishable items.  I will say that I was unprepared to store these veggies.  I'm not quite sure what I was thinking!  My cat was kind of wondering what was up and hung out on the bar stool watching me unpack the veggies (and falling asleep apparently).

If you haven't joined a CSA or have never heard of CSA's before, please check them out next spring!  My CSA in particular provides all organic produce.  And, it's locally grown (as in 9.5 miles away).  This is so great for our environment and our bodies!  I'm super excited!

Veggies for Breakfast

The last thing I want to eat for breakfast is veggies!  However, I have been overloading on fruit and need to replace some of the fruit I eat with something.  I usually can't stomach meat in the morning and am getting tired of oatmeal and eggs, so that leaves veggies!  I have been told by a number of health nuts that eating veggies for breakfast is great for your body, so what do I have to lose right?  Except...veggies first thing in the morning?  No thanks.  Now, I doubt I'll ever be able to handle steamed broccoli or sauteed kale in the morning like the health nuts assure me that I will.  However, I can attempt to work veggies in creatively. 

Yesterday I posted the juice concoction of carrot and apple juice mixed together.  This is delicious and a good way to get extra vitamin A in the morning.  I have a juicer but it's at my parent's house so I haven't been juicing my own carrots, instead I buy a bottle of carrot juice at the store.

I also have been eating a lot of pumpkin yogurt in the morning, though I think pumpkin is technically a fruit. 

I have also been making a lot of "green monster" smoothies.  These are also sometimes referred to as green machine smoothies (but are not the same thing as Naked Juice's Green Machine).  There are some great recipes out there, try these sites:
http://greenmonstermovement.com/?page_id=39
http://annies-eats.net/2011/05/02/green-monster-smoothies/
http://thechiclife.com/2011/07/green-monster-smoothies-101-basic-recipe.html

In the morning, as I am always running late, I like to keep it simple.  So, a simple green smoothie is perfect.  So, here's what you do.  Fill a blender with 1/2-3/4 full of kale, spinach, or a combo of both.  This is a lot of greens here!  More than most recipes call for but it works, trust me!  I add a 1/2 cup of soy milk, a 1/2 cup of my dad's homemade apple cider (apple juice would probably be fine), a handful of blueberries, and a 1/2 of a banana.

Give it a whirl!  Sometimes (like this morning) I won't have enough liquid to properly puree the mixture, so I just add in some water to get it going.  I think it depends on how much liquid is in your other ingredients.  When your mixture is completely smooth, pour away and drink!

Yes, it looks gross, I know!  The blueberries and greens combo gives it a weird color.  It is so good though!  And a great way to add some veggies into your morning routine.

Fresh Start

Fall is in the air, as evidenced by where my cat has been hanging out for the past few days:

There are a lot of great things about my job as a college lecturer, but I would say my absolute favorite thing is that I get a fresh start every few months.  Have a bad semester?  No problem, there's a new one coming!  Never fails.

The fall semester is just beginning this week and I am hoping to kick a few problems that I've had in the past.  I also had a bit of a health scare (well, it was scary to me!) this past week.  Everything is going to be okay but I have to keep a close eye on my health.  So, I have a number of goals for this fall semester.  It's always best to write this stuff down as it feels more official and it adds motivation when other people know about it.  Here we go!

1.  Make more GOOD food!  I've gotten into the habit of cooking very healthy food and processed foods are really losing their appeal for me.  This is a good thing, but it also means spending a lot more time shopping and cooking.  A few recent concoctions:

Touch crooked - sorry!   Combo of carrot juice and dad's apple cider.



Quinoa, tomatoes, white beans, and steamed kale.


Currently, since I JUST went shopping, my fridge looks like this:

In my defense of the crazy bottom shelf, I cannot put anything in the back 6-8" of my fridge or it will freeze and I will have wasted money on spinach and whatever else is back there!

My fridge is packed!  This means I had better get cooking!  I also am starting an autumn CSA this fall and the roster of veggies I will be getting for the week looks great!  I need to keep up with this.  Since Wisconsin will soon be entering what I call Root Veggie Season, I am taking advantage of getting varied produce at decent prices while I still can!  I am also becoming a huge fan of green smoothies.  Check out recipes here:  http://greenmonstermovement.com/.  I know they look gross, but you cannot taste the spinach or kale and they are so healthy and delicious!

2.  Keep up with my workouts.  I joined the gym at work a couple of weeks ago and have scheduled my workouts into my day, which means walking home at the end of the day, taking a quick nap, having a quick snack, and walking back to the gym.  I plan to workout at the gym at least 4 work week days a week and at least one weekend day for a total of 5-6 days a week.  This will depend, of course, on what else is going on in my life but seems fairly doable.  My workout shoes and weights at my house need to see the light of day more often than they have recently!

I also plan to keep a set of workout clothes in my office so that if works runs late, I can just go hit the gym instead of using the excuse that I can't go because I don't have my workout stuff.  I already keep a set of shoes and my pass there since I hate carrying them to and from campus.



3.  Read more often!  It is not unheard of for me to start a book at the beginning of the fall semester and not finish until May because I am so busy and too tired at night to read longer than 5 minutes.  I have this stack of books that I am going to get through before June!

4.  Computer is off by 7:30pm, TV is off by 9pm.  And, I say this, but it's 9:45pm and I'm blogging with the TV on for noise.  I will be working on this though!  I need to get away from these activities a little bit.  I, for some reason, feel the need to check my work e-mail before going to bed.  While this is somewhat a casualty of the job and I know my students appreciate it, I need to respect my personal time a bit more.  This leads to #5.

5.  Work during work time and play during play time.  I seriously have a problem setting work boundaries and, as a result, have worked 7 days a week every semester for the past 2 years.  Now that I'm entering my third year of this job, I am much, much more comfortable with what I teach, how my schedule runs, what I need to do for prep, and how often I need to contact my students.  No more work e-mail on Sundays!  No working Saturdays or Sundays unless it's midterms/finals, extreme circumstances, or working with the Circle K club on campus (my new service activity for the year!).

6.  Make more time for hobbies!  Since cool/cold/frigid/tundra-like weather is coming, I need to pick up my crocheting again.  I started this afghan a long time ago with my grandmother and is the first serious crocheting item that I have stuck with worked on occasionally for the last 10 years. 

6.  Get ready for work the night before!  This means packing workout clothes if I am not coming home after work, pack my lunch and 2 snacks in my new giant thermal bag (below), ironing my clothes if I'm not going to be outside romping with my students, and packing up my work bag.  I hate doing this stuff but it's necessary to do it the night before because it takes up so much time in the morning.

7.  Finally (but probably not finally because I'm sure I'll find more stuff that I can improve on), reduce caffeine intake asap!  I love coffee.  Love, love, love.  I also love tea.  A great deal of my precious counter space looks like this on a good day (and much more messy/cluttered on a bad day):

This does not account for the shelves in my pantry that are filled with coffee and tea.  I have a problem!  I've managed to wean myself down to one cup of coffee a day.  I plan to start replacing coffee with tea at least three days a week.  I'll work my way down from there.  I don't know that I'll ever be able to enter my classroom to teach without coffee in my system but I can try!

So, there you have it!  The 7 things that I need to work on this year!  It's going to be a battle but I think anything I can do to make a healthier choice is worthwhile. 

Healing Through Food - Part II (The Later Years)

Last summer, all hell broke loose.  My hair starting falling out by the handful, my blood pressure was so low that nurses would joke that I was just about to head into a coma (real funny), and my digestive issues ruled my life.  I felt as though my mental capacity had gone down the toilet.  Students would ask a question and for the life of me, I could not come up with an answer even on the simplest of subjects.  I would look at a word and just stare at it thinking that I knew that word but it looked so wrongly spelled and I couldn't figure out what spelling was correct (and we are talking words like "water" - very simple for most people).  My fingers and toes would tingle constantly and I was always light headed.  My balance was off, my skin was breaking out, I would retain water and then spend all day in the bathroom resulting in weight losses and gains on the order of 10 pounds a DAY...you name it, it was going wrong!

When I finally got to the doctor, they tested me for everything under the sun and everything came back normal.  I had an ultrasound of my gall bladder and internal organs and everything looked good.  My doc gave me a bunch of different prescriptions and called it IBS.  The problem was that all those meds made everything worse!  It was not IBS or heart burn or anything else they could come up with.  At this point, you can bet that I was starting to feel a little crazy.  I mean, if every test always comes back normal, it must be in my head.

Except for one thing.   I was blood-tested for Celiac Disease and the tests came back showing that my body was producing antibodies but I didn't meet the requirements to say that I had Celiac.  From what I've read, blood tests for Celiac are notoriously inaccurate and you really need to have a biopsy of your small intestine to be positive.  If you have Celiac, the biopsy will show damage to your villi. 

My doctor told me I was fine, I could eat gluten without harming my body and to go make an appointment with a GI doc.  The soonest I could get in to see a GI was 2-3 months away and the guy was an 1.5 hour drive away.  All these tests took the majority of June and July and I was told this about a week before I was leaving to teach a 3-week field course out west.  This field course meant pit toilets, long hikes, sleeping in tents, and pretty much living in a van.  I couldn't imagine going on that trip the way I was feeling.

I made the decision that since I was producing some antibodies, something was going on.  I mean, your body isn't just suddenly going to start producing antibodies for no reason.  Think of it this way: if you aren't infected with chicken pox, you won't produce antibodies to fight it.  Since the GI doc appointment was so far away, I decided to try the only treatment for Celiac:  going gluten free.  I figure it would be no harm done if I didn't have Celiac and if I did, then maybe I'd make it through the field course in one piece.

Within a couple of days after going gluten free, I was already feeling better!  I wasn't feeling perfect and many of the symptoms persisted but it was the first thing that had ever helped.  I have stuck with the gluten-free lifestyle for nearly 11 months now and here is how my life has changed:

• Blood pressure is back to the normal range
• Digestive issues have resolved for the most part, I no longer worry about teaching a 2+ hour class or doing such things like long hikes because of the worry that I would have to run out to the bathroom 1/2 way through
• The tingling in my hands and feet is mostly gone
• My hair is growing back and is much healthier and thicker
• I can build muscle with ease  :)
• I no longer take 2+ naps a day
• I'm not as irritable with my students
• My brain fog is starting to lift.  I noticed a huge difference in how I was able to respond to my students this past year.  I still have issues with slow thinking and not able to think of the right words here and there though.
• I don't retain water unless I go overboard on salt or I don't drink enough water
• I don't get sick after I eat!
• I don't catch all of the latest colds
• I had one sinus infection in the past year, compared to four during the 8 months before I stopped eating gluten
• My food allergies and lactose intolerance have lessened in severity.  I eat eggs nearly every morning now and I never get sick.
• The amount of headaches I get have gone down significantly

All this stuff has changed in 11 months...from one simple(?) dietary change.  I still get sick if I eat gluten or if I eat contaminated foods too many times in a row and the effects can last anywhere from a few days to a month.  I never got a confirmation biopsy or saw the GI doc - there were some issues with doctor changes, etc.  At this point, since my body has had time to heal, a biopsy would likely show up as normal-ish and I would have to go back to eating gluten for a while before I could have the biopsy done.  No thanks!  I do NOT want to go back to that!  I feel like the proof is in the pudding at this point. 

Maybe I have Celiac.  Maybe I have non-Celiac gluten sensitivity.  I don't really care what you really call it.  Because I had antibodies and because I obviously had vitamin deficiencies and neurological problems that resolved on a gluten free diet, I know there is something major going on.  

I realize that you are likely thinking, "Wow.  Longest.  Post.  Ever." and that's fine.  I haven't shared the whole story with many people beyond a few select in my life and now I have.  Now you know how I got here.  It wasn't a shot in the dark saying, "hmmm...gluten free is the latest diet trend, let's try it!"  It was me being proactive about my health and figuring things out when all my doctors told me for years that I was absolutely fine and looked at me like I was making everything up.

I really do think that we all need to stand up and take charge of our own health.  There are some absolutely wonderfully fabulous doctors out there, but they are human.  They can make mistakes.  Test results are never 100% accurate and how results are read aren't always accurate.  We know how our bodies feel, we know what's normal and what isn't.  There are too many doctors that just want to tell you how you feel and that everything is in your head.  The problem is that...sometimes it isn't.

The photo below was taken last August in the Tetons, three weeks after going gluten free.  I had just hiked a considerable distance straight up just to see the view.  I never would have been able to do this had I not taken control of my own health.  I was feeling so much healthier and stronger!

Healing Through Food - Part I (The Early Years)

Throughout the past year, the way I have thought about food has changed dramatically.  I have been looking at what food will actually do for me and, consequently, what food will do to me.  I've had a long history with food.  When I was 13ish, I came home from figure skating practice and when my mom opened a garage door, there was a skinned deer hanging from the garage ceiling.  My dad had gone hunting and brought that guy home.  I became a vegetarian very soon after that.  I have always been a "save the environment" type girl and this really fit with me.  My parents were very supportive and did their best to make sure I got the protein and nutrients I needed.  My dad has always been awesome at making two batches of supper - one with meat, one without.

That was really the first time I ever really thought about what I ate.  And it pretty much ended there - no meat.  I knew what types of food I needed to eat to be healthy but in junior high and high school, I didn't really care. 

Here's the deal though.  I have been sick on and off for as long as I remember.  From ages 15 (?) - 28, I would go months upon months where I would get sick every time I ate, then get a month off, and it would come back.  I have had recurrent sinus infections my entire life.  I had massive, debilitating migraines in high school.  I was always more tired than everyone else I knew.  I was achy, irritable, and always coming down with the latest cold or flu that was going around (I think I caught every single one!).  Above all, I had major digestive issues.  I gave up even trying to go to dance lessons in the latter part of high school because I had to miss class so much.  Same went for skating.

Early in my 20's, I noticed that dairy products were starting making me sick, so I stopped eating dairy for quite a while.  At some point, I developed an allergy to almonds and I would get sick from eating eggs.

Around the same time, I started noticing that I wasn't able to get enough protein to support myself.  I couldn't build muscles to save my life (something that had never been a problem for me) and my constant tiredness only got worse.  To remedy this, I started eating chicken, turkey, and fish and sadly had to ditch the vegetarian lifestyle (I still eat this way but refuse to touch pork and beef products).  This seemed to help for a little while but my hair was still thinning and I was still getting sick to my stomach every time I ate.

I broke bones easily.  I even broke my arm while out doing field work in Oregon and didn't know it until 6 months later when I had an x-ray to see why that arm was bothering me.  There was obvious remodelling of that break and a couple others that I didn't know about from when I was younger.  I have also broken both legs and several ribs in my life.

About five or six years ago, all these symptoms ramped up a notch, I felt horrible all the time!  I feel like I missed out on so much during this time because I was either sleeping, working, going to school, and/or sick.  When I'd go to the doctor, they always said I had IBS and sent me on my way. 

Soup!

It's soup season!  Okay, every season for me is soup season.  I love soup, especially homemade soup!  What's so great about soup you ask?  Let me detail the amazingness of this versatile meal for you:

1. It can be hot or cold
2. It can be heavy or light
3. It can be rich or bland
4. It can be made to fit any and every season
5. You can throw just about anything into a pot (including 6-day old leftovers and whatever else is stuck in the back of the fridge), add stock, and it's suddenly soup
6. It can be made quickly
7. It's a one-pot meal (this in itself should sell the idea of soup to you)
8. Anyone, even those with food allergies like myself, can eat a huge variety of soup
9. You don't have to measure anything
10. You don't have to chop anything too perfectly
11. You can add any spices to make it tasty yet healthy
12. Lots of fabulous leftovers

A few years back, my mom and I took a trip up to Door County and ate at The Summer Kitchen.  I scoffed a little at this restaurant going in but then I saw the soup bar.  I was instantly sold!  You sit down and say, "I'll have iced tea and the soup bar" and the waiter will bring you four to six sturdy little teacups.  You take these and get as many different types of soup that you want at the soup bar.  The best part is that they will keep giving you more and more cups and they don't judge you for your soup consumption.  My mom is all about their chicken and dumpling soup.  I, on the other hand, typically stick to the creamy mushroom and tomato dill.  Both are rich and decadent and I could sit there all day refilling those little cups.

Unfortunately, I can't eat like that everyday.  To top it off, I had to cut gluten out of my diet last summer.  So what was this soup lover to do other than develop my own recipes? 

Now, to be a little less than modest, I make a mean minestrone, a splendid split pea, a superb chicken and potato, a tremendous turkey sausage and kale, a perfect pumpkin and black bean.  For a lot of years, I ate strictly vegetarian and I still don't love cooking with meat so the perfect solution for me is a veggie soup.  Plus, how much healthier can you get than a vegetable soup?  I am still working on the mushroom soup but have perfected the tomato dill.  It's less rich than the soup at The Summer Kitchen but probably much healthier and I know I can eat it without getting sick. 

I specifically save this soup for summer because it makes me think of being in Door County with my mom.  I made my first batch this past weekend and have been living off of it for days.  The leftovers taste just as good as when it was first made.  I like to make this with my dad's canned tomatoes but when I'm out of those, I'll use canned from the store.  I highly recommend spending the extra dollar and buying the San Marzano tomatoes, they are so much sweeter and really add to the soup.  I hope to post photos in the near future when my camera is working again.  So, I conclude my wordiness with the recipe below.  I hope you enjoy!


Tomato Dill Soup
Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 tsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped
1 28 oz. can of whole, peeled tomatoes -or- crushed tomatoes
3 cups chicken -or- vegetable stock
2 Tbsp. fresh dill -or- 1 tbsp dried dill
Salt and pepper to taste

Add oil, onion, carrots, celery, and garlic into a medium sized pot and cook on medium-low heat for 6-8 minutes or until the onions are translucent.  Add the stock, tomatoes, dill, and salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes.  Use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth.  A regular blender can be used to puree but make sure to allow the soup to cool first so that it doesn't end up on your ceiling instead of in your stomach.  Enjoy!