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What makes my ribollita a bit different from the rest is that I always toast my torn, stale bread until it is deep golden brown, very nutty, and fragrant. From Everyone is Italian on Sunday.

SERVES 8 TO 10

Also, I add a rind of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to the stock or the soup itself, and (as I do with minestra and minestrone) I puree half the beans to give the broth some weight. The total weight of the dried beans for this soup should be ¾ pound.

1/2 cup dried borlotti beans
1/2 cup dried cannellini beans
1/2 cup dried chickpeas
2 onions: 1 halved, 1 quartered and thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic: 1 smashed, 3 chopped
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
Salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 bulb fennel, trimmed, cored, quartered, and thinly sliced
1 leek (white and light green parts only), halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into half-moons
2 carrots, chopped
2 medium or 3 small ribs celery with leafy tops, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh
thyme leaves
Pepper
3 quarts chicken stock, preferably homemade
1/2 small head green or savoy cabbage, chopped (2 to 3 cups)
1 bunch lacinato kale (also called black, Tuscan, or dinosaur kale) or Swiss chard, stemmed
and chopped
2 cups passata or tomato puree (see tip)
Rind from a small wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Freshly grated nutmeg
6 slices (1 inch thick) peasant-style white bread, cut into coarse cubes or torn
Thinly sliced yellow or white onion, for serving
EVOO, for serving
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for serving

Soak all the beans overnight in a large bowl with enough water to cover. (Or, quick-soak the beans: Place them in a heatproof bowl and cover with boiling water by 3 inches. Let stand for 1 hour.) Rinse the beans and transfer them to a pot. Add fresh water to cover the beans by 3 to 4 inches. Add the halved onion, smashed garlic, bay leaves, and rosemary and bring to a boil. Salt the water, reduce the heat to a low boil, and cook until tender, 35 to 45 minutes.

Discard the rosemary and bay leaves. Measure out and set aside half the beans. With an immersion blender, puree the remaining beans and cooking liquid in the pot (or transfer the beans to a blender and puree in batches).

Meanwhile, in a large soup pot, heat the oil (4 turns of the pan) over medium to medium-high heat. Add the fennel, leek, carrots, celery, sliced onion, chopped garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened, about 10 minutes.

Add the stock, cabbage, kale, passata, reserved beans, bean puree, Parm rind, and some nutmeg. Adjust the seasonings. Bring to a bubble, then reduce to a simmer.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the bread on a baking sheet and toast until deep golden. Add the bread to the soup.

Serve in warmed shallow bowls topped with sliced onion, a generous drizzle of EVOO, and grated Parm.

TIP
Instead of store-bought passata or tomato puree, you could make this with 2 pounds of tomatoes, peeled and diced.

TUSCAN RIBOLLITA
This vegetable and stale bread soup is a Tuscan staple. Ribollita is said to be “done” when a soup spoon can stand straight up in the soup—which can happen because the bread swells in the rich broth, making
the soup (already thick with stewed vegetables) support the spoon. My favorite ribollita, other than the soup I prepare with the bounty of our garden, is the ribollita at Taverna del Grappolo Blu, a small
restaurant in Montalcino, Italy.

When you prepare ribollita, you must serve it according to tradition. The soup is always garnished with shaved or thinly sliced onion and dressed with a drizzle of good-quality EVOO. The next day, this soup can be so thick that you can fry patties of it like mounds of hash browns. John likes his topped with basted or over-easy eggs.

Photo by Frances Janisch

The post Everyone Is Italian on Sunday Recipe: Ribollita appeared first on Tips on Life and Love.

Between the upcoming election, crazy weather, and raging flu season, you may be feeling like your whole life is out of balance. Have you considered alternative medicine as a means to center your life? Perhaps the words Reiki, chakra, and tincture excite you, even though you’re not sure exactly what they mean.

These books will guide you on potential new paths of healing. Learn the methods that different groups and cultures have used for centuries to ease pain and suffering. Go all-in or take it with a grain of salt—the choice is yours.

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How to Heal Yourself When No One Else Can: A Total Self-Healing Approach for Mind, Body, and Spirit

by Amy B. Scher

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Using energy therapy and emotional healing techniques, How to Heal Yourself When No One Else Can shows you how to achieve complete and permanent healing by loving, accepting, and being yourself no matter what. Energy therapist Amy Scher presents an easy-to-understand, three-part approach to removing blockages, changing your relationship with stress, and coming into alignment with who you truly are.

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Medical Medium: Secrets Behind Chronic and Mystery Illness and How to Finally Heal

by Anthony William

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Anthony William, the one and only Medical Medium, has helped tens of thousands of people heal from ailments that have been misdiagnosed or ineffectively treated or that doctors can’t resolve. He’s done this by listening to a divine voice that literally speaks into his ear, telling him what lies at the root of people’s pain or illness and what they need to do to restore their health. His methods achieve spectacular results, even for those who have spent years and many thousands of dollars on all forms of medicine before turning to him. Now, in this revolutionary book, he opens the door to all he has learned in over 25 years of bringing people’s lives back: a massive amount of healing information, much of which science won’t discover for decades, and most of which has never appeared anywhere before.

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Ayurveda: Asian Secrets of Wellness, Beauty and Balance

by Kim Inglis

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Discover India’s age-old beauty secrets through the ancient wellness regimen known as Ayurveda.Healing therapies are clearly explained and illustrated with lovely photographs that bring to life the benefits of this 5,000-year-old Asian medical tradition. Treatments and practices from India’s other healing systems—Unani, Siddha and Tibetan traditional medicine—are also included in the book. With sections devoted to various meditation and yoga practices as well as natural beauty treatments for hair, face and body, Ayurveda: Asian Secrets of Wellness, Beauty and Balance is an enlightening introduction to holistic health systems with ultimate spiritual goals. Discover Indian beauty secrets and information on healing with metals, minerals, crystals and gemstones as well as mendhi (henna) and chakra alignment. Includes a helpful listing of ayurvedic hospitals, homestays and treatment centers.

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Complete Book of Traditional Reiki: Practical Methods for Personal and Planetary Healing

by Amy Z. Rowland

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A comprehensive guide to the hands-on healing techniques taught to practitioners in a traditional Reiki I class • Discusses Reiki’s origin and purpose, the attunement process, and the many physical and emotional states for which Reiki can provide healing support • Includes step-by-step photographs of the basic hand positions Reiki practitioners direct universal energy into the physical body through hands-on and energy-field healing to support the client in recovering health and reclaiming well-being. An easy-to-learn form of energy medicine, Reiki is becoming commonplace in such conventional settings as hospitals, hospices, and psychotherapy practices because it relaxes, relieves stress, reduces and eliminates pain, accelerates healing, and helps support the gentle restoration of the body’s natural balance. It is a unique healing art in that it can be learned by anyone, with no special knowledge of anatomy needed. The Complete Book of Traditional Reiki takes the reader step by step through a traditional Reiki level I class. It discusses Reiki’s origins and purpose, describes the attunement process by which a student is imbued with the power to channel life-force energy, and gives complete instructions for the basic and advanced healing hand positions. The first book to serve as a teaching manual, an extensive reference work for students, and compelling reading for those considering taking a Reiki class, this updated edition includes new information on the history of Reiki and the Reiki principles and features never-before-published photographs and a translation of the Usi Memorial in Japan, a tribute to the founder of Usui Reiki.

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Stone Medicine: A Chinese Medical Guide to Healing with Gems and Minerals

by Leslie J. Franks

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A comprehensive manual for using crystals, gems, and stones to address physical, emotional, and spiritual health conditions• Includes an extensive Materia Medica detailing the healing and spiritual properties of 200 crystals and stones based on Classical Chinese Medicine• Explores the role played by the color of each stone, its Yin and Yang qualities, crystalline structure, chemical composition, and topical and internal applications• Explains how to make stone and crystal elixirs, wear stones as healing jewelry, use them in massage and energy work, and cleanse and recharge them• Based on the oral teachings of Dr. Jeffrey C. Yuen, a Taoist priest from the ancient lineage of the Jade Purity School (88th generation) mastersIn addition to herbalism and acupuncture, Chinese Medicine has a rich tradition of using stones as medicine, passed from generation to generation for thousands of years. In this comprehensive guide and extensive Materia Medica, Leslie J. Franks presents the Stone Medicine teachings of Dr. Jeffrey C. Yuen, an 88th generation Taoist priest from the ancient lineage of the Jade Purity School, which dates to the Han dynasty, 206 BCE.Detailing the therapeutic properties of 200 gems, stones, minerals, and crystals, Franks begins with an extensive look at 15 different forms of quartz, followed by chapters on transformative stones, protective stones, nourishing stones, source energy stones, and alchemical stones. She explains the physical, emotional, and spiritual conditions each stone can treat and how their color, form, hardness, and energetic qualities affect us according to Chinese Medicine. She discusses how to make stone and crystal elixirs for internal and topical use, how to charge quartz with the healing properties of other stones, how to cleanse and recharge a stone after use, and how to combine stones to create healing formulas for individual conditions. She explains different techniques of wearing stones as healing jewelry and how to use them in massage and energy work. She examines the chemistry and sacred geometry of crystal structure, revealing how the minerals contained in the stones affect our physiology by supporting our Jing (Essence); by nourishing Qi (energy), blood, and fluids; and by clearing Wind, Cold, Damp, and Heat conditions that can lead to disease. Including a thorough primer on Traditional Chinese Medicine and backed by modern scientific research, this book explains how stones access our deepest layers, vibrating ever so slowly, to initiate deep lasting change.

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Craniosacral Chi Kung

by Mantak Chia and Joyce Thom

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Craniosacral therapy and Chi Kung practices to harmonize emotions, release chronic tensions, and optimize the flow of energy • Provides illustrated instructions for movement exercises, breathwork, self-massage, and emotional intelligence meditations to free the flow of energy in the body • Reveals clear parallels between the craniosacral rhythm and the flow of chi • Explains how to release energetic blockages and emotional and physiological knots, activate the energetic pumps of the 3 tan tiens, and tap in to the Cosmic Flow Exploring the connections between Western craniosacral therapy and Chi Kung, Taoist master Mantak Chia and craniosacral instructor Joyce Thom detail movement exercises, breathwork practices, self-massage techniques, and focused meditations from Taoist and other wisdom traditions to release and harmonize the flow of energy in the body and optimize our potential for physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. The authors link the craniosacral rhythm–the gentle flow of cerebrospinal fluid from the head (cranium) to the tailbone (sacrum)–and the flow of chi throughout the body, circulated by the pumps of the three tan tiens. They explain how these subtle energetic flows indicate the harmony or disharmony of the whole person and are greatly affected by physical traumas, chronic tensions, and unresolved emotions. For example, the psoas muscle, known in Taoism as the muscle of the Soul, connects the spine to the legs and is the first muscle to contract when anger or fear triggers our fight-or-flight response. Often a storehouse of subconscious stressors, this muscle’s sensitivity is connected to many common ailments like back pain. Providing step-by-step illustrated exercise instructions, the authors explain how to identify and unwind energetic blockages and emotional and physiological knots. They explore emotional intelligence exercises for tuning in to our hearts so we can listen to our bodies’ messages and learn to relieve related emotional burdens. They also reveal how to activate the cranial, respiratory/cardiac, and sacral pumps of the three tan tiens to optimize the body’s energetic flow and explain how, when our energy is flowing freely, we can enter the Cosmic Flow–a state of calm well-being and extraordinary creativity where we find ourselves truly at one with the universe.

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Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide: 33 Healing Herbs to Know, Grow, and Use

by Rosemary Gladstar

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Anyone can make their own herbal remedies for common ailments, such as aloe lotion for poison ivy, dandelion-burdock tincture for sluggish digestion, and lavender-lemon balm tea for stress relief. Gladstar profiles 33 of the most common and versatile healing plants and then shows you exactly how to grow, harvest, prepare, and use them. Stock your home medicine chest with safe, all-natural, low-cost herbal preparations, and enjoy better health!

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Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection

by John E. Sarno

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Dr. John E. Sarno is a medical pioneer whose program has helped thousands of thousands of people overcome their back conditions–without or drugs or dangerous surgery. Now, using his grounbreaking research into TMS (Tension Mytostis Syndrome), Dr. Sarno goes one step further: after identifyig stress and other psychological factors in back pain, he demonstrates how many of his patiens have gone on to heal themselves without exercise or other physical therapy.

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Essential Oils for Beginners: The Guide to Get Started with Essential Oils and Aromatherapy

by Althea Press

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Essential oils are a natural and safe way to improve your health, cure ailments, and soothe your body and mind. These versatile oils come from natural sources, and have been used for centuries for medicinal and cosmetic purposes.

Essential Oils for Beginners is the comprehensive guide to harnessing the power of these ancient remedies. Recent scientific research has proven that essential oils can truly prevent and heal disease, and they are far more affordable and safer than modern medical treatments.

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Anatomy of the Spirit: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing

by Caroline Myss

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Anatomy of the Spirit is the boldest presentation to date of energy medicine by one of its premier practitioners, internationally acclaimed medical intuitive Caroline Myss, one of the “hottest new voices in the alternative health/spirituality scene” (Publishers Weekly). Based on fifteen years of research into energy medicine, Dr. Myss’s work shows how every illness corresponds to a pattern of emotional and psychological stresses, beliefs, and attitudes that have influenced corresponding areas of the human body.

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Wheels of Life: A User’s Guide to the Chakra System (Llewellyn’s New Age Series)

by Anodea Judith

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As portals between the physical and spiritual planes, the chakras offer unparalleled opportunities for growth, healing, and transformation. Anodea Judith’s classic introduction to the chakra system, which has sold over 200,000 copies, has been completely updated and expanded. It includes revised chapters on relationships, evolution, and healing, and a new section on raising children with healthy chakras.

The post 11 Great Guides to Alternative Healing appeared first on Tips on Life and Love.

This quick, healthy fish recipe has an added bonus: No cleanup. From SPIRALIZE Now!

Serves 2
Prepare in 10 minutes
Cook in 12–15 minutes

1 inch piece fresh root ginger, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 carrot, peeled, ends trimmed and halved crosswise
1 zucchini, ends trimmed and halved crosswise
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
2 skinless salmon fillets, about 7 oz. each
2 teaspoons sesame seeds, toasted steamed rice, to serve

In a small bowl, mix together the ginger, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil to make a sauce.

Using a spiralizer fitted with a 1/8 inch spaghetti blade, spiralize the carrot and zucchini.

Place 9 inch squares of baking paper on a large baking sheet. Divide the spiralized vegetables and the spring onions between the 2 sheets of baking paper and then place a salmon fillet on top of each pile of vegetables. Spoon over the sauce and then sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Fold over the paper to seal the parcel.

Place the parcels on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven, 400°F, Gas Mark 6, for 12–15 minutes, until the salmon is opaque and the fish flakes easily. Transfer the parcels to plates, carefully open up the parcels and serve with steamed rice.

The post Spiralize Now Recipe: Sesame and Ginger Salmon en Papilotte appeared first on Tips on Life and Love.

Are elements in your home and everyday life making you sick? Eliminate them with these simple solutions. From No Grain, No Pain: A 30-Day Diet for Eliminating the Root Cause of Chronic Pain.

How To Minimize Toxic Exposure
It’s scary stuff, especially since with the exception of mold, you can’t see most of these attackers coming. In addition to eliminating plastics from your kitchen and as many other toxic products as you can and minimizing your intake of drugs, what can you do to protect yourself and your family from toxic exposure?

Step 1: Filter Your Water
Most major cities have serious contamination of their drinking water from unmetabolized drug residue excreted in urine or unused drugs flushed down the toilet. There is no perfect way to filter your water. Nor has there been research on how to remove specific contaminants. What we do know is that a granular activated carbon filter works well at removing chlorines, bromines, and certain other compounds, and can remove some toxins. For removing metals and other chemical compounds, KDF (kinetic degradation fluxion), a copper-zinc alloy, is the most effective. A whole-house water filter typically uses a salt to soften water, but a combination granular activated carbon and KDF purification medium improves its quality. The KDF will remove chemical compounds from the water along with fungi, bacteria, chlorine, certain pesticides, and some heavy metals.

I recommend that you filter all the water in your home at the point of entry, rather than simply at your kitchen faucet. When you take a shower, you breathe in roughly a quarter of a gallon of steam, not including the toxins you may absorb through your skin. Nor do you want to wash your clothes in chemical-laden water. That said, a carbon/ KDF filter is not going to remove fluoride. If your water is fluoridated, you’ll also need to use a reverse osmosis (RO) filter to get rid of it, typically in the form of a five-gallon RO tank under the kitchen sink. The RO system usually has a carbon and KDF prefilter on it. Otherwise, the chlorine in the water would destroy the RO filter. On the other hand, if you have your own well, you might have hundreds of feet of earth filtering your water, and may not need certain filters. Nonetheless, your well could be contaminated, especially with slant drilling, aka fracking, by the petroleum industry, so I would still recommend filtering well water with a KDF/carbon filter. It’s also a good idea to have your water tested by an independent company.

Step 2: Filter Your Air
Better-insulated homes have reduced our energy consumption, which is a good thing, but when a building doesn’t “breathe” and windows remain shut, toxins are trapped inside. If your air conditioner uses recycled air, you’re just recirculating those toxins. The result is massive exposure to chemicals leached from your furniture, wall-to-wall carpeting, polyurethane-finished flooring, fabrics impregnated with flame-retardant chemicals, and other volatile organic compounds. Emissions from gas cooktops, heaters, furnaces, and other devices add to the toxic stew. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, off-gassing of numerous products has made the air inside our homes two to five times more toxic than our outdoor environment. In some cases, indoor air is a hundred times more polluted than outdoor air!

Obviously, you aren’t going to do away with your furniture and accessories. So what can you do?

If you can afford furniture made with all-natural organic components, go for it, but it’s extremely expensive and, frankly, may not hold up as well or be as comfortable. Instead, filter your interior air and regularly open the windows to air out the house. An AC system that pulls from the outdoors is a healthier alternative than a recirculating one. Your objective is to filter both the air coming into the home from outside and the air within.

And get yourself a good vacuum cleaner. Again, control what you can and pray about the rest.

Air conditioning creates condensation, which can lead to humidity formation. An air conditioner also acts as a dehumidifier. Try to keep the relative humidity under 55 percent to avoid mold growth. A digital reader available at any hardware store lets you keep it in check. Even in a dry climate, I would advise using a humidifier only if you experience severe dry skin and persistent rashes. (Certain types of mold grow in dry climates.) Any air filtration system should be HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) based, meaning the screen is small enough to capture mold spores. If you then subject them to UV light, you kill a lot of those that create problems for humans. An electrician can install a UV light to reduce the likelihood of mold circulating in the vents. (It’s also a good idea to have a HEPA filter on your vacuum cleaner.) The Swiss-based company IQAir (iqair.com) makes a good whole-house air purification system, which is worth considering if you are building a new house.

Step 3: Clean Up Your Act
Most household and personal cleaning products contain petrochemicals, which again have estrogen-mimicking effects, as do the dyes and artificial scents used to make them more appealing. My patients are more apt to have migraine headaches and other problems triggered by inhaling the chemical perfumes than by the cleaning agents themselves. My suggestions for natural alternatives:

• Instead of ammonia-based window cleaning products, use vinegar and water.
• Instead of hand or facial soaps loaded with chemicals, use a coconut-derived agent or glycerin or castile soap.
• Instead of shampoos made with sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), a sudsing agent, look for organic products and natural ingredients.
• Instead of antibacterial wipes full of triclosan, which plays havoc with our hormones and creates free radicals, which have an oxidizing effect in the body, opt for unscented products without this toxin.
• Avoid household cleaners with chlorine, artificial scents, and any unpronounceable chemicals.
• Seek out brands of toothpaste that are free of SLS, the antibacterial triclosan, and fluoride; or use baking soda.

Rather than provide a list of the chemicals and products currently in your medicine cabinets and under your sink to avoid (new entries are regularly being added), I recommend you use the resources provided by the Environmental Working Group. You’ll want to also minimize exposure to most fertilizers, as well as herbicides, pesticides, and other chemicals in your garage or garden shed. To find more natural alternatives, visit transition-to-organics.org/safe-alternatives.

The post 3 Ways to Minimize Your Toxic Exposure appeared first on Tips on Life and Love.

via Holly Perkins’ Instagram @hollyperkins

A three-year relationship I was in just ended poorly. Now I find myself hoping that my former partner struggles to find the happiness we once shared. John, is this normal? – KM

Dear KM,
I’m sorry your relationship ended. Anytime we lose something or someone important to us, there is a season of grief. So your feelings are not only normal, but also common and expected.

There’s an unusual German word that gained notoriety from its use on Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons and “Avenue Q” called schadenfreude. It means to take pleasure in other people’s misfortunes. KM, it is your right to hope that your ex realizes someday the amazing gift he had in you; however, hoping for his struggles and for those struggles to expedite his return would be a waste of your time.

Instead, I encourage you to focus on and be merciful to one relationship in particular: the one with yourself. Doing so will bring meaning into your struggles, joy into your days, and possibility into your future. It’s also certain to attract a vibrant new love into your life…the reflection you see every time you glance into the mirror.

This is your day, KM. Live Inspired.

The post What Does Schadenfreude Mean for a Broken Relationship? appeared first on Tips on Life and Love.

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