Excerpt from The Healthy Kitchen by Andrew Weil, M.D., Rosie Daley, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

1 large Idaho or baking potato, cubed (about 1 cup)
6 cups purified water (or vegetable stock for added flavor—and see Tips)
1 cup chopped fresh green beans or frozen peas
11/2 cups alphabet pasta or prepared barley (see Tips)

Garnish
Fresh cracked pepper (optional)
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup pesto

Soak the beans in a large pot with 6 cups of water and the baking soda overnight. Add the bay leaf to the pot, place over medium-high heat, and boil the beans for 45 minutes until tender (they should pierce easily with a fork). Meanwhile, you can prepare the vegetables.

In a separate large pot, sweat the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic in the olive oil on low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to bring out the natural vegetable juices as a base for the soup. Stir in the Italian seasoning, chili flakes, rosemary, and salt, along with the eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, and any other vegetables you'd like to use, then pour in the water or stock and continue to cook for 20 minutes. Add the cooked beans, green beans or peas, and pasta or cooked barley to the soup and cook on medium heat for another 15 minutes.

Serve in a large soup bowl and sprinkle with fresh cracked pepper (optional) and 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese. Or you could add a small dollop of pesto, if you have some on hand.

Tips from Rosie's Kitchen

This recipe uses a cooking technique known as sweating, which means cooking something over low heat in a little oil in a covered pot or the oven in order to bring out the juices without browning.

You can use the already cooked barley remaining from the Cranberry Barley Tonic (page 38) along with the pasta in this recipe. For additional flavor you can use vegetable stock, if you have it on hand, instead of water. If you really want to add some flair, add 1/4 cup pesto to the soup right before you're ready to serve.

Cooled leftover soup should be stored in small airtight containers or zip-lock bags in the freezer to make it easy to take to work. It will keep for up to 3 weeks.

Makes 24 cups
Serves 6

Stew with Garnish
Per serving:
Calories 571
Fat 21.1 g
Saturated fat 5.3 g
(33.2% of calories from fat)
Protein 24.6 g
Carbohydrate 75.4 g
Cholesterol 11.8 mg
Fiber 17.5 g


Savory Roasted Cornish Hens with Roasted Garlic

Small, free-range chickens can be substituted for the Cornish game hens. Cornish hens are small, hybrid chickens. Free-range chickens are raised with room to move about both indoors and outdoors as opposed to being raised in a cage. They are free of growth hormones and antibiotics, and because of this some people believe they have a richer flavor.

The roasted garlic head tastes wonderful squeezed onto slices of crusty French bread, making a good accompaniment to the poultry. Or you could squeeze the bulbs over Mashed Potatoes and Parsnips (page 231).

4 Cornish hens or 2 free-range chickens
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 teaspoons lemon pepper
Salt
4 cups quartered plum tomatoes, or whole cherry tomatoes (about 2 pints)
8 large shallots
4 large cloves garlic
2 cups chopped fennel (1 small bulb)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lightly packed chopped fresh basil
1 cup red wine
4 bay leaves
4 lemon slices
4 sprigs fresh rosemary

Roasted Garlic
8 whole garlic bulbs
1 teaspoon olive oil
3 tablespoons water

Garnish
8 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 lemon, cut into 8 slices

Rinse the Cornish hens thoroughly, letting the water gush inside each cavity and drain back out. Rub the lemon juice, lemon pepper, and a little salt over the birds and let marinate for 1 hour or overnight. Put the tomatoes, shallots, garlic, fennel, a pinch of salt, basil, and red wine together in a medium bowl and stir until everything is thoroughly mixed.

Excerpted from The Healthy Kitchen by Andrew Weil, M.D., and Rosie Daley Copyright 2002 by Andrew Weil, M.D., and Rosie Daley. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.