Soup is a wonderous thing!

You’ve probably gathered that I’m feeling better lately.  What is the secret?  Well, obviously medications, a good diet, and a normal and regular schedule.  Most nights I sleep ok, but not always.  So I try to take a nap at lunch or right after work, and I definitely sleep as much as I can on the weekends.  And now that I know what to look for with symptoms of problems, I take steps to take care of them right away.  I’ve decided, though, that there must be one secret I haven’t previously identified.  It’s ONIONS!  I’m sure of it.

I eat onions in almost every meal.  I put them in my chicken salad, my chili, my soup, my pasta, my casseroles, my meat entrees.  I’ve been told I have a “too liberal” hand with the onions sometimes.  How can that be?  One of my favorite foods is a good bowl of French onion soup!  Must work on de-salting that.  I go through at least an onion a week.  And onion rings (breaded—never battered)?  A definite treat now and again, since I need to avoid the fat for several reasons.  If I lived close to a Fuddrucker's Burgers, I'd be eating huge rings of them on a burger, and even munching one or two raw.  Their onions are that good!

What exactly do the onions do?  Research has shown, along with centuries of observation, that onions can aid in everything from helping to get rid of the common cold and mucus, to treatment of asthma, cardiac conditions, low bone density (nature’s Fosamax!), help regulate blood sugar, provide a source of healthy bifidobacteria in the colon, reduce the risk of tumor growth in the colon and stomach, and to reduce the risk of certain forms of cancer.  Although to gain the most benefits, you would need to eat about half a raw onion every day.  But consumption of even some onion will provide some benefit.  For more complete information, see Health Benefits of Onions.  I also use a lot of minced garlic and add leeks frequently.  Same family, same benefits.

Tonight I’m chopping up the veggies for a batch of beef barley vegetable soup.  I made some about a month ago, and had a bowl from the freezer for lunch yesterday.  I immediately wanted more!  It’s warm, filling, yummy, and hearty.  And it’s darn cold here!  It is supposed to be 18 degrees F in the morning.  Brrrrrrrr!  It’s cocoa wheats for breakfast.

FYI:  The soup turned out great, and was oh so tasty and warming after walking home in the wind and cold.  But before you feel too sorry for me about walking to and from work—it takes me about 58 seconds to make the walk.  I live across a parking lot and alley from my office!