Marshall's and Soup

ב"ה

I love being thinner. Granted, it takes a LOT of hard work (mostly in the cooking area), but I love going shopping for clothing now. Of course, I would like it a lot more if I had more money to spend, but I digress.....

So I went to a local strip mall because I needed a new sandwich machine (the one I got as a gift has "given up the ghost" after daily use for the past few months -- I discovered "Food for Life" sprouted corn tortillas and I've been making sandwiches using two tortillas -- one on the bottom and one on the top -- and Dr. Prager veggie burgers -- I like Tex-Mex and Bombay flavors -- I add any or all of the following: my own vinaigrette [balsamic vinegar, spicy brown mustard and stevia to taste]; frozen shiitake mushrooms; shredded carrots; vegan cheddar cheese; kale*; a slice of tofurky "lunch meat style" vegan "meat" and I top with the second tortilla and cook in the sandwich machine for 20 minutes -- yum!) -- there's a Target there and that's where the original machine came from -- and on my way over to the Target, I got "waylaid" by the Marshall's (I've been wanting to check it out since I got to size 12 and now that I'm even wearing some size 10s and even the occasional 8 -- OMG, in High School I wore a 14-16! -- so this was the day....)

So I found myself at the "clearance" rack (I've always said if I were even at a singles event and a guy would come over to me and ask me my "sign", I'd answer "clearance -- 70% off"), pulling all sorts of things off to try on. I ended up with 10 items (coincidentally the max they allow in the "fitting room") of various sizes ranging from 8 to 12. Most of the tops were too short (they did fit but were impractical), the two pairs of size 10 jeans fit, but the legs were made for someone about 6 inches taller than Julia Child (who was 6 feet tall), so, despite the fact that I loved them and they were $3 and $5, I decided that hemming jeans wasn't on my schedule (and since they were flare legged, cuffs were out of the question). I ended up with an Anne Klein size 10 black skirt (I'm DESPERATE for skirts, particularly black skirts -- ladies, do you agree that you can never have too many black skirts???) that cost $5 (no tax in our state).

I got out of the "fitting room" and started telling the woman there (a bit on the chubby side) that I needed new clothes because I had lost some weight and now was wearing a size I didn't even fit into in High School (please don't ask how many years ago that was -- suffice to say it was a long time ago). So she asked me how I did it. I told her about regulating my adrenals (and with it, my blood sugar) with nutrient supplements and then I told her that soups are good -- particularly if you make your own without salt (or with only a bit of salt). I told her my "quickie" soup recipe.....

I take 1/8 cup each (two tablespoons or a coffee measure) of three different kinds of lentils (black, green/brown and red), sometimes also split peas, add water and spices (I like spicy brown mustard, turmeric, cumin, coriander, garam masala, etc.) cook for a while, then add two bags mixed vegetables (different styles are nice -- I just did one today with plain carrots, corn and string beans and another called "California mix" with cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, etc.) and sometimes I add a package of either frozen chopped spinach or frozen butternut squash. It makes a great soup and it's a minimum of work (no chopping veggies, no soaking beans)....

Try it yourself with different kinds of mixed veggies or quick cooking legumes and your own spice mix. And got easy on the salt.

* I buy fresh (organic) kale and I rinse each leaf in a mixture of vinegar and cold water, then rinse in running water, then I shred the kale in the food processor, put the shredded kale in snack baggies (zip bags) and put them in the freezer so I can add kale to soup, sauteed veggies, and my sandwiches.

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