THAI PUMPKIN COCONUT SOUP VEGAN, GLUTEN & LACTOSE FREE

Originally posted within the mikiverse, August 11, 2010.
By Darlene Schmidt,

In Thailand, pumpkin and coconut milk are commonly paired up to make a variety of soups, curries, and even sweet dishes. Here they are combined with a lightly curried soup that makes for a wonderful vegetarian/vegan entree - similar to those served at Thai or Vietnamese restaurants throughout North America. The addition of lemongrass makes it particularly healthy - great for chasing away cold & flu bugs. This soup is wonderful on its own, or serve it like they do in Thailand: with plain steamed rice or noodles on the side. Enjoy!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 cups good-tasting faux chicken or vegetable stock (SERVES 2 as a main entree, 4-6 as an appetizer)
• 1/3 to 1/2 can thick coconut milk (preferably not 'lite')
• 4 Tbsp. minced fresh lemongrass (see below), OR frozen-prepared (available at Asian stores)
• 3 kaffir lime leaves, left whole (available fresh or frozen at Asian stores)
• 3 cups pumpkin or squash, peeled and cut into bite-size chunks
• 2 cups yam, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1-2 cups soft tofu, sliced into cubes (or substitute chickpeas)
• 1 shallot, minced, OR 1/4 cup minced purple onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 thumb-size piece galangal or ginger, grated or sliced thinly into matchsticks
• 1-2 fresh red chilies, sliced, OR 1-2 tsp. Thai chili sauce, OR 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. dried crushed chili
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. regular chili powder
• 3/4 tsp. ground coriander
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 4 Tbsp. soy sauce (use wheat-free for gluten-free diets)
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. fresh-squeezed lime juice
• 1-2 generous handfuls baby spinach, washed
• 1/2 cup fresh basil + 1/2 cup fresh coriander for toppings

Preparation:

For more on how to buy and cook with lemongrass, see: All About Lemongrass: Buying, Preparing, and Cooking with Lemongrass.

For a non-vegetarian version of this soup, see: Thai Pumpkin Coconut Soup Recipe.

1. Place stock in a pot over high heat. If making your stock from cubes or powder, be sure to make it strong-tasting - this will give you the best soup! Now add the lemongrass (include the leftover stalk pieces if using fresh lemongrass), plus the kaffir lime leaves, shallot, garlic, galangal or ginger, and chili. Bring to a boil.
2. Add the pumpkin (or squash) and yam. Reduce heat slightly and gently boil for 6-7 minutes.
3. While the soup is cooking, add the spices/flavorings, stirring with each addition: turmeric, chili powder, ground coriander, ground cumin, soy sauce, brown sugar, and lime juice.
4. When pumpkin and yam are soft enough to eat, reduce heat to low. Now stir in the coconut milk (start with 1/3 can and increase to 1/2 can if you want it creamier or less spicy).
5. Stir well and taste-test the soup for salt and spice, adding more soy sauce or a little salt if not salty or flavorful enough (this will depend on the taste of your original stock). Add more lime juice if it happens to be too salty or sweet. If it's too sour for your liking, add a little more sugar; also adjust the spice level by adding more chili or chili sauce. If too spicy, add more coconut milk.
6. Just before serving, add the soft tofu and spinach and gently stir it into the soup (the spinach will wilt instantly and the soft tofu will heat up in seconds). Portion out into bowls and top with the fresh basil and coriander. Note that this soup can be served as is, or with rice or noodles. In Thailand, it is served with rice on the side, each person adding their own directly to the soup. Enjoy!

Other Vegetables: Other veggies that can be added to this soup include: carrots, chopped red or green bell pepper, broccoli, mushrooms, and bok choy.

SECRET GM WHEAT EXPERIMENTS BEGIN IN AUSTRALIA

Wednesday, June 08, 2011 by: Neev M. Arnell
(NaturalNews) Australia's first trial of genetically modified wheat and barley is under way near Narrabri, New South Wales in the south-eastern area of the country. The goal of the GM wheat is said to be more nutritious bread (http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/gm-wheat-...).

How exactly the genes were altered to create this alleged more nutritious bread remains a secret. All that is known is that 14 different strains of wheat and barley will be grown. Some strains will allow researchers to look at enriching the crops with extra nutrients, and others will look at using nitrogen in the soil more efficiently, which could mean higher productivity with less fertilizer.

The CSIRO, which is running the three-year experiment, said the gene combinations in the trial are secret because they are subject to commercial-in-confidence agreements that protect the interests of the government research agencies involved and a U.S. company, Arcadia Biosciences.

Environmental groups and organic farmers oppose the GM trial, arguing that it is quite possible, and even likely, for the GM wheat and barley to mix with natural strains and 'contaminate' some of Australia's wheat crop with the genetic modification.

Environmental group Greenpeace opposes the trial, furthermore, because the safety of the modified crops for human and animal consumption has not been tested in any scientific trials.

The CSIRO says it will follow the safety requirements of the license issued by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator.

"The risk assessment concluded that this proposed limited and controlled release ... poses negligible risks to the health and safety of people or the environment as a result of gene technology," the gene technology regulator said.

Certain safety measures will also be taken, according to Dr. Matthew Morell, a researcher with the CSIRO's Future Food division.

"[The GM crops] will be separated from other crops by 200 meters, and wheat pollen travels about one meter, so it is highly unlike any will be found beyond that,' Morell said. 'Because these are patented technologies, there is still a need for restricting the details in terms of protecting commercial information."

Greenpeace is not buying it, saying that GM trail crops can easily break containment through human error, as past cases show. In one instance, seeds from a GM canola crop in NSW appear to have spilled from trucks driving down roads near an experimental farm, spreading the seeds and potentially contaminating organic farms.

"The Australian government's decision to go ahead with GM wheat field trials," said Greenpeace spokeswoman Laura Kelly, "amounts to a covert decision taken on behalf of Australia's wheat farmers, consumers and export markets that Australian wheat will be GM."

Sources for this story include:
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/gm-wheat-...

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.co/032699_GM_wheat_Australia.html#ixzz1PJtFgxVn

GM WHEAT TRIAL BEGINS AMID SECRECY

Ben Cubby May 28, 2011

AUSTRALIA'S first trial of genetically modified wheat and barley has begun near Narrabri in NSW, with the ultimate goal of producing more nutritious bread.

But details of how exactly the genes were altered remain secret. The CSIRO, which is running the three-year experiment, said the various gene combinations in the trial were subject to commercial-in-confidence agreements to protect the interests of various government research agencies and a US company, Arcadia Biosciences.

The trial has been criticised by environment groups and some organic farmers, who say there is no known way to stop the altered wheat and barley from mixing with natural strains and ''contaminating'' a swathe of Australia's wheat crop.

The CSIRO says it will follow the safety requirements set down in a licence issued by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator. ''They will be separated from other crops by 200 metres, and wheat pollen travels about one metre, so it is highly unlike any will be found beyond that,'' said Matthew Morell, a researcher with the CSIRO's Future Food division. ''Because these are patented technologies, there is still a need for restricting the details in terms of protecting commercial information.''

Fourteen separate strains of wheat and barley will be grown. Some will test the viability of enriching the crops with extra nutrients, and others will focus on using nitrogen from the soil more efficiently, which would in theory lead to higher productivity without requiring more fertiliser.

''We have done testing in greenhouses on these crops before but we also need to see how they react in the field, with the presence of other plants,'' Dr Morell said. ''At the end of the process we should have two or three years of data, and we can make an assessment about it.''

The licence says the risk of the genetically modified crops escaping their containment is very low. ''The risk assessment concluded that this proposed limited and controlled release … poses negligible risks to the health and safety of people or the environment as a result of gene technology,'' the gene technology regulator said.

However, the environment group Greenpeace opposes the trial, on the basis that there have been no laboratory trials on the safety of the modified crops for human or animal consumption.

It says genetically modified trial crops have usually broken their containment lines as a result of human error. In the case of a modified canola crop in southern NSW, seeds appear to have spilled from trucks driving down roads near an experimental farm. This spread the canola and potentially exposed government agencies to legal action from farmers who market their products as organic.

A Greenpeace spokeswoman, Laura Kelly, said: ''The Australian government's decision to go ahead with GM wheat field trials amounts to a covert decision taken on behalf of Australia's wheat farmers, consumers and export markets that Australian wheat will be GM.''

An organic farming group, The Biological Farmers of Australia, said the trial should not proceed without safety tests first.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/gm-wheat-trial-begins-amid-secrecy-20110527-1f8hl.html

WHAT YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT DAIRY

What you never knew about dairy from Animals Australia on Vimeo.

Baking soda can clean your teeth, clear your complexion and act as a natural antacid

Sunday, February 18, 2007 by: Kelly Joyce Neff
(NaturalNews) Many components of the modern western diet – meats, fish, dairy products, most grains, sugars, alcohol and caffeinated drinks (in fact, almost everything except vegetables, millet, most fruits and, as we have just seen, apple cider vinegar) – contribute to one's body becoming too acidic. This in turn can open the door to a variety of problems, some of them (including arthritic complaints) potentially serious if this acidic condition persists for many years.

This is because your body will attempt to compensate by retaining alkaline salts in the bloodstream to offset the increase of tissue acidity. Since your body can only tolerate a small imbalance in blood pH (the acid-alkali balance), it will rob alkaline components from other places – including your body's precious alkaline reserves – in an effort to restore proper pH equilibrium. This can result in heartburn, digestive distress, stomach upset, fatigue and a multitude of other symptoms. Simple, inexpensive kitchen baking soda can fix this.

Very useful in keeping the body healthily alkalized is half to one teaspoon a day of baking soda in water. Don't take it with or within an hour of meals, though, as the stomach needs to retain its acidity in order to perform its digestive functions effectively. A great deal of tap water (or even store-bought spring water) is surprisingly acidic; filtration will remove toxins but will not affect the pH balance of the water. (Baking soda can be used to reduce the corrosion of acidic drinking water in municipal water supplies, therefore reducing the toxicity of the lead and copper, which are dissolved from the pipes.) You can purchase a pH testing kit for home use very cheaply, and if the water you usually drink is acidic (i.e. with a pH of less than 7.0) you could remedy this cheaply and easily by adding a pinch of baking soda to all the water you consume.

Baking soda is also effective for polishing teeth (without scratching the tooth surface) and fighting bad breath (sprinkle a little on the toothbrush bristles). It can even be tried for exfoliating skin when acne is a problem (add a little to a facial cleanser in place of using a commercial facial scrub).

When baking soda is added to bath water, sunburn sufferers often experience a notable reduction in pain. Place a cup (8 ounces) of baking soda under the running bath tap so it dissolves completely, and soak in a lukewarm tub for about half an hour. Such a bath will soothe the pain – and you won't have to endure the stinging sensation of a shower. Adding baking soda to a hot bath at any time also helps wash acid wastes out of the body.

In addition, baking soda can be used in cool (but not cold) bath water to soothe other skin irritations and alleviate itching from prickly heat, bee stings, insect bites, and other minor skin ailments. A paste (made with just enough water to get the desired sticky consistency) placed on an insect bite or sting and allowed to dry is a time-tested approach for drawing out and neutralizing poisons.

People with skin allergies who tend to react to commercial laundry detergents might find that washing their clothing and bedding in baking soda is less irritating.

Simple baking soda may also weaken the desire for a cigarette as well as reduce the desire for sugar and sweets. It's used in kidney dialysis to reduce the level of acids in the bloodstream, and acts to prevent bacterial growth in food products. For general purposes of alkalinizing the body, quarter to half a teaspoon twice a day in water is usually enough.

The medicinal and self-care uses of baking soda were recognized by the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) more than 150 years ago. For years, baking soda has been recommended because of its antacid effects, mainly to neutralize stomach acids that can cause heartburn, acid indigestion and related discomforts.

As it mixes with the hydrochloric acid in the stomach, baking soda triggers a chemical reaction, and its end products are salt (NaCl, or sodium chloride), carbon dioxide (CO2) and water. The water is harmless, and the carbon dioxide gets released as a gas, producing a familiar burp once the acid is neutralized.

However, commercial antacid products only lessen symptoms of over-acidity by blocking the production of acid and can often produce unwanted side effects. They alter your body's ability to absorb protein and calcium, which can then create the need for a calcium supplements to compensate.

If it were not for the presence of sodium – which makes the tissue in the stomach highly alkaline – the lining would be destroyed by the hydrochloric acid in the stomach. The stomach, intestines, joints and ligaments are in constant need of natural food-source sodium. Naturally occurring sodium is not to be confused with the sodium from common commercial table salt, which is processed with extreme heat using many chemical and bleaching agents.

Potassium neutralizes acid wastes, and in combination with sodium, maintains a healthy acid/alkaline balance. Potassium and sodium are nearly always found together in the body and perform many of the same functions. Second only to breathing and maintaining a heartbeat the most important metabolic function our body performs is to maintain a balanced pH. Baking soda, in small amounts, performs this function.

Kelly Joyce Neff has an interdisciplinary degree in Celtic Studies which includes work in cultural anthropology, history, linguistics, language, and literature. She is a traditional midwife and herbalist, a reiki master, and an active craftsperson. She lives in San Francisco.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/021618_baking_soda_home_remedies.html#ixzz1GgDDj41X

THE FLUORIDE DECEPTION EXPOSES THE TRUTH ABOUT WATER FLUORIDATION AND THE PHOSPHATE MINING INDUSTRY

COKE/PEPSI AS PESTICIDE