Butternut Squash & Carrot Soup

Simple,slightly sweet, creamy soup.*
Makes 4 cups

2 Tablespoons oil  (olive, canola)

1 1/2 Tablespoons grated ginger root

1 small onion (chopped)

4 cups butternut squash (chopped)

1 cup carrots (chopped)

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup Almond coconut milk  (or milk  or cream of your choice)

On medium heat, heat oil in a medium pot. Sauté onions and ginger root for a few minutes, add carrots and squash. Sauté for a few more minutes. Add just enough water to almost cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until vegetables are soft. Carefully blend in blender until smooth. Return to pan. Add milk and heat. I drizzled some almond/coconut milk and sprinkled cinnamon over my soup.  Sprinkle some shredded coconut and cinnamon on top, if you have it. That is what I would have done! 

* This recipe is easily tweaked. Play with the spices to see what you like.

Salty Taste, Eyedrops, Vitamins and Vegans

A Lovely Summer Evening

One thing the Internet has changed is that it is more likely when you find the answer to one question, you will stumble on the anwer to other questions that you didn't even ask.

A few weeks ago, my granddaughter, Keely, developed a salty taste in mouth. No matter what she ate, it tasted salty. After a few days, I decided to research it to see if I could find out the reason for this. Good old Google gave me the answer. It turns out there are a myriad of reasons this can happen. The wide range of reasons include diseases, dental problems, dehydration, being vegetarian and using eyedrops.

Fortunately, in Keely's case, it was a pretty safe bet eye drop use was the culprit. She had something in her eye, but refused to let anyone try to get it out. My daughter got her some eye drops in the hopes that it could be washed out. It took a few days, but it worked. After that, she had no need for the eye drops. And, as my search predicted, after a few days, the salty taste disappeared.

Since I have been vegetarian for two years moving over on to vegan at the beginning of this month, the vegan reason that popped up in my "salty taste" search caught my eye. Upon reading further, I discovered that vegans are at risk of developing the salty taste due to a B12 and/or zinc deficiency. As I went down the list of foods that provide B12 and zinc, I was relieved to see that walnuts are among the foods that provide zinc. I love walnuts as well as other nuts and seeds.

The B12 did not look promising at all. The best sources were oysters, fish and other foods that I don't eat. The article recommended B12 fortified foods. I started reading the labels in search of B12. Nothing was very promising until I checked the coconut milk. One glass provides 50% of a person's B12 daily requirement!

So here I come full circle. If Keely had not developed a salty taste in her mouth, I would not have turned to the Internet to find the reason and subsequently discovered I need to be careful about my B12 and zinc intake!

By the way, in case you are wondering, the photo has nothing to do with this story. I took it while enjoying a pretty summer evening and thought I would share it. :-)