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Hearty Vegetable Soup for the Cold Season

If you want to consciously approach yourself these days and don’t want to stand in the kitchen for hours in winter, this recipe is for you. You can make this soup the day before and if you have an overflow you can eat it the next day if you keep it in the fridge.

In autumn and winter – when it’s cold – most Germans and housewives reach for a warming soup, if it’s light then you’ve done something for your figure.

Ingredients for 2 people

– 250g carrots
– 250g potatoes
– 1 onion
– Salt pepper
– 2-4 sausages
– 200 ml cream
– Oil for frying
– 1 liter of vegetable broth

Preparation

  1. First skin the onion and cut into rings or cubes, sweat in oil until translucent.
  2. Clean and dice the potatoes and carrots, and add the carrots to the onions.
  3. When the onions and carrots are sweaty, pour in the vegetable broth and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. Now add the potatoes and stir in the cream.
  5. Finally, the sausages are added, either you put them in completely or cut them into small pieces.

Useful additional knowledge

  • So that you don’t want to cry when peeling the onion, hold the onion under cold water for a moment.
  • If you don’t like cream, you can use either milk or low-fat cream suitable for cooking
  • For the figure-conscious, there are reduced-fat sausages
  • If you don’t like vegetable broth, you can use beef broth
  • You can expand the recipe with Kohlrabi, cauliflower, and other vegetables you like
  • If the soup is not “soupy” enough, you can puree it
  • If you like it hearty, you can add bacon and/or Maggi seasoning
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health

Immune System Boosters: These Are The Must-Have Food Supplements For The Cold Season

Especially in winter, the immune system has to defend itself against many viruses and bacteria. You can support it by taking certain vitamins and nutrients. We explain which ones are important.

Boost your immune system: These supplements can help

Even if many people believe that they eat a balanced diet, deficiency symptoms occur again and again.
The stresses of everyday life can make it difficult to get all the nutrients you need.

In order to still provide the body with the most important nutrients, supplements can be used, i.e. food supplements that can be bought in the form of tablets, drops or powders, for example.

The 5 must-have supplements for the winter

Here we present 5 must-have supplements that everyone should have on their screens, especially in winter.
Please consider: However, supplements cannot replace a healthy and balanced diet.

Vitamin D

As the days get shorter and darker, many people become vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D is mainly absorbed from the sun. Only a few foods contain vitamin D. These include, for example, oily fish or liver. Therefore, vitamin D supplementation is highly recommended.

The German Society for Nutrition (DGE) recommends a dose of 800 IU (= International Unit) per day, which corresponds to 20 micrograms of vitamin D. Studies show that adults should even better consume 1500 to 2000 IU daily.
Studies from 2020 show that dosages of 10,000 IU per day are even recommended for risk patients to prevent influenza and corona infections.

Omega 3

The most important omega-3 fatty acids for the body are ALA, EPA and DHA. EPA and DHA in particular have a health-promoting effect. In our diet, however, there is always an undersupply of omega-3.

A study shows that EPA and DHA help the body fight inflammation. The study authors recommend supplementing with 250 milligrams of EPA and DHA per day.

Cardiovascular diseases are still the number one cause of death in Germany. Omega-3 supplements can lower blood pressure and prevent heart disease. The DGE recommends eating fish once or twice a week – once fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel or herring. For example, 100 grams of herring already provide 3000 milligrams of EPA and DHA.

magnesium

In addition to muscle cramps, a magnesium deficiency can lead to nausea, loss of appetite and exhaustion and even cardiovascular problems.

The reason for this is not only the lack of consumption of magnesium suppliers such as nuts and leafy vegetables, but also regular alcohol consumption.

Above all, it is important that the magnesium is taken in the correct form – for example as magnesium citrate or aspartate, since these compounds have a higher availability for the body than magnesium oxide, which can usually be found in discount stores or in drugstores.

zinc

Probably the best-known function of zinc is to improve the immune system. Zinc acts as a cofactor in enzyme and protein formation and is therefore an important part of the immune system.

According to a 2017 study, zinc deficiency plays a role in 16 percent of lower respiratory tract infections.

Zinc is mainly found in meat, fish, grains, oatmeal and grain germ, with animal zinc being more readily available than vegetable zinc. The DGE recommends a dosage of 15 milligrams per day.

vitamin C

Vitamin C is found in apples, citrus fruits such as lemons or grapefruits, cabbage vegetables, peppers and potatoes, among other things. A lack of vitamin C quickly leads to a weakened immune system, so you should definitely prevent a deficiency.

A study from 2020 shows that supplementing two to eight grams of vitamin C per day has advantages in the treatment of respiratory infections such as COVID-19 and can, for example, slow down critical courses.
The DGE recommends 100 milligrams of vitamin C per day. An apple and a kiwi already provide 150 milligrams. So the saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” isn’t all that wrong.

Conclusion: A balanced diet and supplementary supplements are crucial

In order to stay healthy, it is particularly important to eat a balanced and healthy diet. Nevertheless, in the current time it can only be advantageous to supplement your diet with individual supplements and to support your immune system. So you are well prepared even in times of cold waves.

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health

Asparagus Season Begins: Why Does Urine Smell so Bad After Eating Asparagus?

Asparagus is delicious and, thanks to valuable ingredients, also healthy. But as soon as you eat it, the delicious dish turns into a pungent smell in the toilet. Why is that?

The problem: Urine smells bad after eating asparagus

If only it weren’t for that unpleasant acrid smell when you go to the toilet, shortly after eating asparagus. However, fewer people are affected by this than is commonly thought.

The phenomenon of asparagus urine only occurs with every second person. The reasons can be very different. “Methanethiol, dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulphide compete in asparagus urine for the most unpleasant note,” says an article in the magazine Chemie in our time.
The foul-smelling substance trio is quite familiar to our nose: It also gives human biogases such as flatulence, mouth and athlete’s foot odor unpleasant notes.

Why does urine smell after eating asparagus?

Asparagus, whether white or green, contains asparagusic acid, which is initially odorless. However, if this is broken down, a sulphur-containing compound is formed which is excreted in the urine – with a corresponding odour.

However, this breakdown product only occurs if you have a certain enzyme – and not everyone does that. The genes decide who has this enzyme and who doesn’t. Only about 40 percent of people have such a gene that is able to produce the enzyme.

Still others can’t even smell the smell. The Apotheken Umschau writes that those affected then probably have a mutation in an odor receptor gene. But don’t worry, it’s neither bad nor dangerous.

Asparagus urine resembles skunk secretion

“The smell is harmless and not a sign of illness or poisoning,” reports Stefan Lorkowski, Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry at the University of Jena, to the Apotheken-Umschau. Stuffing when going to the toilet is still unpleasant. No wonder, since the substance is similar to the chemical compounds in the dreaded skunk secretion.

Only 15 minutes after enjoying an asparagus meal, it starts to smell. Nothing can be done about it. However, drinking plenty of water helps flush the breakdown products out of the body quickly.

Incidentally, the problem that the pee gives off a strange smell after eating asparagus is not new: reports of smelly asparagus urine have been around since the middle of the 17th century – a time when sulfur and sulfates were used as fertilizers for the first time.

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Cooking Tips

Season The Spinach: This is How it Tastes Best

You don’t always have to season spinach with nutmeg, salt and pepper. With our spice combinations, you can vary the healthy spinach with herbs and various extras.

Spinach provides many vitamins and provides you with protein, and it also tastes good. It doesn’t matter whether you use the leafy greens fresh or use frozen spinach – we’ll show you how you can season it deliciously. Because with salt, pepper and nutmeg – anyone can do that. With our variations, spinach becomes a culinary highlight…

Seasoning spinach: 7 delicious flavors

You only need to warm up spinach from the freezer before you can season it with delicious spices. But fresh spinach is even better because it contains the most vitamins and nutrients. In addition, the CO2 balance is better with fresh spinach from the region, since refrigeration and long transport routes are no longer necessary. We recommend organic spinach to avoid unnecessary pesticides.

You can season spinach in seven flavors:

Classic: Spinach is most commonly served with sautéed onion and seasoned with grated nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Cream: Creamed spinach is another classic in the kitchen. Add some garlic and (whipped) cream. You can find the whole recipe for creamed spinach in a detailed guide.
Curry: Prepare the spinach with coconut milk and a good curry powder or homemade curry paste, season with a little salt and pepper and you have a delicious curry spinach.
Hearty: Translucent steamed onions, blanched spinach and season with (rosy)hot paprika powder, ground cumin, black pepper, salt and some dried or fresh marjoram. This makes the spinach aromatic and spicy with a slightly sweet note.
Italian: Fry finely chopped garlic in a pan, add the spinach and one or two chopped tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper and freshly squeezed lemon juice and your spinach dish with an Italian touch is ready. If you like, you can also add some gorgonzola, feta or parmesan and toasted sunflower or pine nuts.
Arabic: Fry finely chopped garlic with a little oil, add spinach, coriander and dill, season with pepper and salt. At the very end, add yoghurt or a vegan alternative and the Arabic-style spinach is ready.
Indian: In addition to onions and lots of garlic, the Indian version also includes chopped ginger and a bit of coconut oil in the spinach. The whole thing is then seasoned with coriander powder, garam masala, ground cumin and turmeric. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and if necessary add some Indian cream cheese Panir – et voilà, the spinach dish is ready and will bring variety to the kitchen.

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Cooking Tips

Season The Sauerkraut: This is How it Tastes Best

If sauerkraut is a bit too bland for you with just salt, you can season it and vary it so deliciously. We present you with different variants.

Whether from a jar, a can or homemade: For sauerkraut, the fermented white cabbage is usually only seasoned with salt. The delicious herb can do a lot more – as our spice mixtures show you.

Seasoning sauerkraut – 7 delicious variants

With the right spices, sauerkraut can be surprisingly versatile. The following spice combinations go particularly well with lactic acid-fermented white cabbage:
Classic: Pepper, caraway, juniper berries and bay leaf are the spices of choice in traditional Bavarian cuisine. Optionally, a few whole cloves go well with it.
Fiery: With ginger and chilli powder you create a fiery sauerkraut variant. You can also finely grate fresh ginger and add finely chopped chili peppers.
Exotic: curry powder or curry paste as well as cinnamon and star anise give sauerkraut an Indian touch with a Christmas flair. Again, whole cloves go well with it.
Fruity and sweet: sauerkraut and sweet? Yes, that fits too! Simply cook or heat the sauerkraut with a grated apple. Alternatively, applesauce or apple juice also work. You can still round it off with salt, pepper and a few juniper or bay berries.
Hearty: The sauerkraut is particularly hearty if you add fried onions and caraway seeds and heat the sauerkraut in vegetable broth. Optionally, you can also add some medium-hot mustard.
Creamy: Quite unusual, but definitely worth a try – sauerkraut with almond butter or tahini. Add a few yeast flakes and the whole thing gets a cheesy touch.
Asian: Add a good sip of soy sauce and some sesame oil to the sauerkraut and you’ll give the dish an Asian touch.

As always, all ingredients including the spices should be organic. This is how you do what is best for you and the environment.

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Food

Strawberry Time: When Are Strawberries in Season?

Summer time is strawberry time. That’s what the seasonal calendar says. Imported strawberries can be bought in stores all year round. Here we explain why it makes sense to buy strawberries regionally and seasonally.

When is strawberry time?

The strawberry season is heavily dependent on the weather, so it can shift slightly from year to year. Depending on the region and the weather, strawberries bloom from April to May.

Accordingly, in mild regions, the first strawberries can be harvested from May. The strawberry season ends at the beginning of August at the latest. Strawberry season is from May to July.

Regional strawberries: home advantage over imported fruit

Who doesn’t like it, strawberry season? Delicious strawberry slices and cakes, strawberry jam or just fresh strawberries with cream. No wonder the strawberry is one of the most popular types of fruit. The trade is good for us and offers strawberries all year round. Who hasn’t bitten into a large red strawberry full of expectation in winter and been disappointed by the taste? Fruit that is allowed to ripen in peace and that is harvested seasonally can develop its typical taste more intensely. The proportion of vitamins and nutrients is significantly higher with “species-appropriate” cultivation of fruit and vegetables.

Strawberry imports artificially extend the strawberry season – not without consequences for the environment

Moist, humus-rich loamy soil is the ideal location for strawberries. The main export countries Spain, Italy and North Africa, along with Egypt and Morocco, have to spend a lot to create the natural growth conditions. Artificial fertilizers, chemicals and plastic tunnels are used to grow the fruit for export.

Unlike organic cultivation, the plants are planted very closely together. This makes powdery mildew easier to spread. A study by the Bavarian State Office for Health and Food Safety (LGL) examined the pollution of strawberries from abroad. A wide variety of chemical cocktails are sprayed against mildew infestation. Agents that are not approved for strawberries were also found in the samples.

Strawberries need a lot of water. Therefore, deeper and deeper wells are being drilled, which lower the groundwater level. The result is that the soils dry out and become deserted. In 2012, the WWF published an alarming report on the drying up of the Coto de Doñana nature reserve in Spain.

After harvesting, strawberries can only be kept refrigerated for a few weeks. Unlike bananas, strawberries cannot be picked and ripened when they are green. The imported strawberries have to be transported refrigerated all the way from the growing countries. Cooling and transporting it to our grocery stores consumes a lot of energy. The strawberries that we do not buy from regional cultivation have come a long way and left a considerable carbon footprint. The strawberries, which we buy from local fruit growers in June, are different.

Extend strawberry season with wild strawberries

You can also plant strawberries yourself on the balcony or in a flower pot. Together with flowers they are very decorative. If you want to harvest strawberries yourself well into autumn, you should definitely try wild strawberries. They are smaller and more intense in taste and bear fruit for a long time. This is a natural and sustainable way to extend the strawberry season.

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Food

Pumpkin Time: When Does Pumpkin Season Actually Start?

It’s starting again: Pumpkin season starts as early as August, the fruit is available almost everywhere from September and pumpkin season reaches its peak in October. However, the different varieties have different seasons – and they do not all store equally well…

Like so many other things, the pumpkin is not a German or European fruit: Seafarers brought the seeds of the pumpkin to Europe and it is now native to many gardens here – you can find tips on how to plant a pumpkin in the article. In addition to the increasing popularity of Halloween, the vegetarian-vegan cooking trend in particular is likely to have contributed to the pumpkin boom.

Ornamental pumpkins are used by many as decoration in autumn. Because of the sweet and at the same time nutty taste, it is also valued for rich, filling and yet not high-calorie pumpkin soups and for curry dishes. It is rich in vitamins, potassium, zinc and other nutrients, and the yellow varieties are also rich in carotene. But when is pumpkin actually in season?

When is pumpkin season?

The pumpkin likes it hot and sunny. The pumpkins are planted from the end of April to mid-May; from June it will be too late again. Pumpkins that are then planted will no longer come to fruition.

The pumpkin season starts at the end of July at the earliest, typically at the end of late summer in August.
Pumpkin season peaks in the fall months of September and October and lasts until frost.

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Food

Asparagus Risotto: Simple Recipe for the Asparagus Season

You can prepare asparagus risotto with green and white asparagus. You also need risotto rice, of course. We will show you a simple basic recipe for asparagus risotto.

When the asparagus season begins in April, you can prepare the fresh asparagus from the region in many different ways. If you don’t just want to eat it as a vegetable side dish, you can also use it in an asparagus risotto. You can find an easy recipe for it here.

Make sure to buy the ingredients for your asparagus risotto in organic quality and regionally. We can particularly recommend the organic seals from Demeter, Bioland and Naturland, as they follow stricter criteria than the EU organic guidelines.

Asparagus risotto: ingredients for the recipe

For the asparagus risotto you can use white and green asparagus – whichever you prefer. You can also combine the two varieties, as in our recipe. For two portions of risotto with asparagus you need these ingredients:

250 g white asparagus
250 g green asparagus
2 shallots
150 g risotto rice
3 tbsp butter
100 ml white wine (e.g. organic wine)
500 ml vegetable stock (tip: make your own vegetable stock)
sugar, salt and pepper
the juice of half a lemon
a few walnuts
80 g (vegan) Parmesan

Tip: If you would rather only use one type of asparagus for your asparagus risotto, simply use 500 grams of the preferred variant. You can also use broken pieces of asparagus or leftovers of cooked asparagus from other dishes.

Recipe: Cook asparagus risotto in 7 steps

You should plan about an hour for the cooking of the asparagus risotto:

First you wash and peel the asparagus. Peel white asparagus completely, green asparagus you peel only the lower centimeters. You should cut off the woody ends.
Cut the asparagus into pieces about 3 centimeters long. You should not throw away the remaining skin of the asparagus. Instead, you can make an asparagus soup out of the shell.
Pour about 500 milliliters of water into a saucepan and add some sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil and then add the asparagus pieces. Let the asparagus simmer on low heat for about ten minutes. Then drain well.
Peel and dice the shallots. Heat some butter in a saucepan and sauté until translucent. Add the risotto rice and steam it until translucent. But be careful: he shouldn’t get brown.
Pour the white wine into the saucepan and stir well until it has completely evaporated. Now gradually add some vegetable broth so that the rice is always just covered. This all takes about 20 to 25 minutes. Meanwhile, you should keep stirring well so that nothing burns. At the end, the asparagus risotto should have a creamy consistency and not be too runny. So if you don’t use up all of the vegetable broth, that’s no problem.
When the risotto has reached the desired consistency, add the asparagus pieces, a tablespoon of butter, the juice of half a lemon and about 50 grams of grated (vegan) Parmesan.
Season with salt and pepper and gently stir the asparagus risotto. Divide between two plates and garnish with the remaining Parmesan and walnuts. Tip: You can roast the walnut kernels in the pan for a few minutes beforehand.

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