Pasta and Beans, the traditional meatless peasant soup, has become a worldwide gourmet favorite. Just as there are many regions and towns in Italy, there are a tremendous number of local variations of this recipe ---all good---! Is there anything more warming mid-winter like a bowl of this hearty zoupa? I would love to see some of the readers contribute their childhood/recent vegan version of pasta e fagioli in our comment section below.
In fact, I reached out to several of my extended Italian 'family' friends with whom I've had some of my best food as medicine food as love meals with over the years, to get their recipes. What I created for my first February Healing soup subscribers is a combination of several versions I've enjoyed.
I agree with reknown Italian chef/blogger, Lola Baldwin, of Rome, that cooking with dried beans richly rewards us with superior flavor and texture. Did you know that cooked tomatoes, packed with lycopene, contributes to glowing skin along with other protective and healing properties. Lycopene is a carotinoid found in many red fruits, including papayas, red carrots and watermelons, but not strawberries or cherries. Carotinoids are natural pigments that act as antioxidants for the body. Antioxidants serve to lessen the effects of free radicals, blamed by some in the scientific community for damage to cells.
Unlike other fruits and vegetables, the cooking of tomatoes increases the concentration of bioavailable lycopene. Lycopene in tomato paste is four times more bioavailable than in fresh tomatoes. Cooking and crushing tomatoes served in oil-rich dishes greatly increases assimilation from the digestive tract into the bloodstream. Oil is said to help absorption as lycopene is fat-soluble.
Numerous studies have shown that eating foods high in lycopene is beneficial in warding off heart disease and several types of cancer such as lung, prostate, cervical, digestive tract and breast. Continuing studies are looking at the affect of lycopene on such conditions as macular degenerative disease and serum lipid oxidation.
Ingredients:Tomato Puree, Broth, ditalini pasta, great northern beans, carrots, onion, celery, parsley, Italian spices, garlic, olive oil, cracked sea salt -lemon pepper, brown rice sweet wine - mirin, bay leaf, kombu (kelp - minimizes gasiness of the beans). Since I had extra sauce and ran out of the great northern, I made a second batch combining chickpeas and kidney beans. By request I can substitute brown rice shells for the durum wheat traditional pasta.
Jain Universal Mantra of Protection and Healing: Navkar Mantra, and for healing: Shivum Astu and for forgiveness: Kamiya Kamaviya
Threshold Choir: Do Not Seek Perfection in a Changing World instead perfect your love.
If not love.
And last but foremost: Here we go Zoupa hear we go!!!
Buon Apetito! L'Chaim! In Joy!
Many Species...One Planet...One Future
~I See You ~ Namaste ~
Yours in Wellness, Gratitude, Vitality and the Rhythm of Nature,
Suzen Sharda Segall
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© Suzen Sharda Segall 2010, CelebratingtheInnerHealer.com
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Suzen Sharda Segall, Wellness Personal Trainer/Consultant, designer and facilitator of BodyArts Therapeutics, has provided an integrated approach to health and wellness for a wide variety of populations, internationally,for over thirty-five years
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