14 minute read
THE DISH
FOOD FOR THE SE A S O N
C R E A T I VE M Z A
BY SIDNEY FRY, MS, RD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY B I G D R E
IMMUNITY-BOOSTING
W S S TE & PS S OU
illing up with these good and good for you get-well winter soups and F stews will strengthen your immune system while also helping you beat those cold weather blues. Cold weather calls for cozy fires and piping hot bowls filled with food that’s good for the soul. But cold weather also brings worries of flu and head colds and fever and yes—likely more COVID. The good news? There are things you can add to your diet to optimize your health and boost your immune system during the depths of the cold winter weather. Immunity-boosting foods like beans, greens and root vegetables plus aromatics and herbs and spices are all rich in micronutrients, antioxidants, amino acids, high-quality proteins and fiber. While it may be difficult to find one single food to cover all of these, it’s not so difficult to build one pot full of a lot of these foods. Soups and stews are a wonderful way to pack many of these goodies into one cozy meal designed not only to warm and fill the belly but also to keep your body healthy and strong. These three soups are simple, delicious and loaded with ingredients that’ll keep you happy and healthy all winter long.
p u o S w Charred Chicken T ortill a
SPICE IT UP.
Add a few fresh jalapenos to increase blood flow, reduce inflammation and + boost those good gut bugs. This dish has antioxidant-rich tomatoes and fiber-filled black beans.
This is real-deal tortilla soup, here.
True to its name, the entire base of the soup is thickened with charred corn tortillas that add a delightfully authentic and deliciously complex flavor to this cold-weather favorite. This is a stick-to-your-ribs dish loaded with antioxidantrich tomatoes, fiber-filled black beans and plenty of lean-protein-packed roasted chicken. Top with a few spicy capsaicin-loaded jalapenos slices and you may even increase blood flow, reduce inflammation and boost those good gut bugs, too! SERVES 8
INGREDIENTS 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1 small onion, chopped (about 1 cup) 1 red bell pepper, chopped 4 garlic cloves, minced 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon kosher salt 2 teaspoons chili powder 1 (4-oz) can diced green chilies 1 (16-oz) container refrigerated fresh salsa 1 (32-oz) carton reduced sodium chicken broth 4 corn tortillas 1 (14.5-oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained 1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels 2 cups roasted chicken, shredded FOR SERVING: shredded cheese, light sour cream, ripe avocado slices, fresh cilantro, thinly sliced jalapeno peppers, hot sauce, fresh lime juice and multigrain tortilla chips
DIRECTIONS Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper; sauté 7 to 8 minutes or until tender. Add garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add cumin, salt, and chili powder; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add green chiles, salsa, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer 10 minutes.
While soup simmers, very carefully toast tortillas on a gas burner or under a broiler until lightly blistered, turning frequently (be careful not to burn).
Tear tortillas into several pieces; add to soup. Simmer 10 minutes.
Using an immersion blender, blend soup mixture until smooth. Alternatively, you can place soup in a blender or food processor (working in batches), processing until smooth. Return soup to Dutch oven.
Add beans, corn and chicken to soup mixture. Stir and simmer an additional 10 minutes. Serve with cheese, cilantro, avocado, sour cream, jalapenos, hot sauce and/or tortilla chips.
Dou ble Chickpea and Sausage Minestrone
PACK IN PROTEIN
Swap in chickpeabased pasta (a double chickpea-punch!) for traditional semolinabased, and you’ll double both the protein and + fiber in each serving! Broth-based soups not only soothe the soul, but they also offer loads of electrolytes, vitamins, minerals and nutrients.
but they also offer loads of electrolytes, vitamins, minerals and nutrients. Nutty chickpeas are an excellent source of fiber, folate and plant-based protein. Swap in chickpea-based pasta (a double chickpea punch!) for traditional semolina-based, and you’ll double both the protein and fiber in each serving! Don’t be intimidated by the large amount of antioxidant-packed garlic here; its flavors will mellow as the soup simmers. Turkey-based sausage tends to have less saturated fat and fewer calories, but sub in pork, venison or chicken sausage if you prefer. Be sure to soak up all those flavors with a crusty heel of whole grain bread!
SERVES 6-8
INGREDIENTS 12 ounces mild Italian turkey sausage, casings removed 5 garlic cloves 1 1/2 cups chopped onion 1 cup chopped carrot 1 (32-oz) carton reduced sodium chicken broth 1 (14.5-oz) can fire-roasted tomatoes 1/4 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 (14.5-oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained 1 1/2 cups chopped zucchini 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley 4 ounces chickpea pasta (or other legume or whole-grain based pasta) 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese DIRECTIONS Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add sausage to pan; cook 5 minutes, stirring often until sausage starts to brown and crumble. Increase heat to medium-high. Add onion and garlic; sauté 5 minutes or until sausage is no longer pink. Add carrots, broth, tomatoes, basil, pepper and chickpeas. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes.
Add zucchini and parsley; simmer 10 minutes. Add pasta; cook an additional 10 minutes or until pasta is done.
Ladle soup into serving bowls; top with cheese. Serve with crusty whole grain bread.
h Smo ky Pancetta & Kale t i w
Sweet Potato Ch owd e r
This simple-but -satisfying chowder
is full of immunity boosters: beta-carotene and fiber-packed sweet potatoes, vitamin-C and K-loaded kale, antioxidant-packed garlic and omega-3-rich walnuts. A small hit of smoky, salty pancetta infuses maximum yumminess into the entire pot full of plant-based goods. SERVES 6
INGREDIENTS 4 ounces pancetta, chopped 1 onion, finely chopped 1 shallot, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 5 cups 1-inch cubed sweet potato (about 2 large) 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth 1/2 cup lite unsweetened coconut milk or half-and-half 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 2 cups thinly sliced lacinato kale 1/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
DIRECTIONS Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add pancetta; sauté 6 to 7 minutes or until crisp. Remove pancetta from Dutch oven using a slotted spoon. Drain on paper towels. Reserve drippings in Dutch oven.
Sauté onion and shallot in hot drippings over medium heat. Cook 5 minutes or until onions are tender, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add sweet potato, salt, and pepper to pan; sauté 10 minutes. Add broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer 20 minutes.
Combine 2 cups sweet potato mixture and coconut milk (or half and half) in a blender or food processer; process until smooth. Return mixture to Dutch oven.
Stir in soy sauce and vinegar; simmer 15 minutes.
Add kale; simmer 2-3 minutes or until kale starts to wilt.
Ladle into bowls; top with reserved pancetta and walnuts. Sprinkle with additional black pepper.
MAJOR IMMUNITY BOOST
This recipe loads up on good-for-you ingredients including beta-carotene and fiber-packed sweet potatoes, vitamin-C and K-loaded kale, antioxidant-packed garlic and omega-3+ rich walnuts. You actually need the fat from the pancetta to help absorb those immunity-boosting fatsoluble vitamins!
THE MAIN INGREDIENT
Meet Sidney
Sidney Fry is a two-time James Beard Award-winning food and nutrition writer who loves creating simple, healthy recipes and thoughtful, actionable content for the hungry consumer. A healthy living proactivist, Sidney is also a registered dietitian nutritionist, recipe developer and mama of three based in Birmingham, Alabama.
When life gets tough, taking the time to search for moments of joy can seem like a futile exercise. According to Susan Reed, Vice President of Oncology Services and Administrator of The Montgomery Cancer Center, it’s not. It’s the way to ensure cancer can’t truly win.
finding
by Jennifer Stewart Kornegay
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BIG DREAMZ CREATIVE
one day at a time
"It’s been the honor of my life to be able to care for him and be with him at the end.”
It was six weeks after her husband’s death when JOY interviewed Susan Reed, and she generously talked about her day-to-day so far. “Some days, it’s just tough to go on. I miss him in the big and small moments. Other days, it’s easier. I talk about him when I can. I know some people are hesitant to talk about family members who pass, but for me, to do that would be to forget, and I don’t ever want to forget him."
BY JENNIFER STEWART KORNEGAY
Cancer has been—and still is—a big part of Susan Reed’s life.
It’s a fact that’s hard to reconcile with her easy smile that appears so often and is so freely given to most anyone she encounters. Reed is a cancer survivor.
Her husband died of cancer in April 2022. And she’s the Vice President of
Cancer’s kinda everywhere Reed looks.
So how does she maintain the hope that’s evident in that aforementioned sunny disposition? How does she provide the care and compassion to others facing cancer that her career demands? And what wisdom can she share about outliving the love of your
life? JOY magazine recently sat down with Reed to find out. Desoto Falls
JOY: What was your journey to your position at The Montgomery Cancer Center?
Reed: I was an accountant working for Price Waterhouse doing audits, and Baptist Health was a client. I spent months at Baptist doing that work, and what I witnessed made me want to be a part of that team. I saw such service. I saw how they shoulder the responsibility to take care of their community, and I felt like I had something to offer that mission. So, I called the CEO at Baptist and said, I don’t know if you have a position open or what that would be, but I want to come work for y’all. They found a place for me, and that was 2010. I was working at a physician’s practice, when in 2015, the administrator at the Cancer Center retired, and they moved me into that role. My husband became a patient here in 2013, so we kinda joked that I was uniquely qualified for the job. It was supposed to be temporary, but here I am. It’s the best job I’ve ever had.
What’s your personal history with cancer?
In 2011, when I was 31, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. At that time, UAB was the closest place offering the surgical treatment and radiation that I needed. The treatments worked, and I’m now 10 years cancer free, so it is really behind me. There are some lifelong implications when it comes to medicines I can take. My salivary glands don’t work so well anymore. So, I do still think about it, but not often. One thing that does stand out though: I sure wish I’d had the resources we now offer at the Cancer Center. Having to go to Birmingham just made everything more complex. I’m so glad we can now help Montgomery patients get treatment here at home.
Tell us about your husband, Darren.
Darren and I met at work; he was the IT guy for Baptist, and I had called the help desk. We got married in December 2011. In spring 2013, he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He was an otherwise healthy 42-year-old. He’d noticed some issues but thought they were just changes due to him getting older or thought maybe he should eat a little better, and he didn’t get them checked out. But when he mentioned them to his primary care doctor, he told Darren to get a colonoscopy, so he did. Before they woke him up, they called me back and asked if we had a family surgeon. I was like, wait. What? Do people have family surgeons? They explained he had colon cancer, and he’d need surgery to remove it. When he woke up, I had to tell him. He had surgery that week, and the surgeon was adamant that we meet with oncologist Dr. Scott McDaniel. We did, and he ordered some imaging scans to make sure the cancer was gone. It wasn’t. It had spread to his liver and lungs. Over the next
Turkey Creek Nature Preserve
nine years, Darren underwent chemo and radiation and more surgeries and was amazing through all of it. He was a quiet, private person by nature, but he opened up about his cancer experiences to others, and I think him sharing his story really helped people. He died this past April.
What do you want people to take away from his story?
The face of cancer is changing. Cancer is developing in younger and younger people. You know your body better than anyone else; if something feels off or wrong, pay attention to that and go get it checked out. Darren said multiple times that in retrospect he should have known and could have found out earlier.
How has Darren’s cancer affected your work at the
Cancer Center? Me watching him go through treatment changed how I manage this place. It hammered home that our job here is as much about the caregiver and family as it is the cancer patient. So much of cancer treatment is outpatient today, and that means families are the ones providing so much of the care.
How has losing Darren impacted your outlook on life?
When cancer goes to your heart, it wins; don’t let it. And you can fight back by looking for the joy in every day. It is there, and it may be hard, but you can find it. We both kept working. We traveled and enjoyed great times together. Life is still moving around you, and it doesn’t have to be over before it’s actually over just because of cancer. This sounds odd, but a cancer diagnosis can even be a blessing. It changes your perspective in a powerful way; it did mine. Things I thought were important, I realized, they’re not. I set my priorities carefully now. I choose how I spend my time with a different mindset.
Darren’s faith was important too. Never once did he question or say, “Why me?”. Because of that, he impacted so many people with his walk through cancer. He was an upbeat force around people who I know needed that, so there are positives there.
And despite what we do here, there is still a lot of joy and hope at Cancer Center. I want people to know that. It is an incredible place providing amazing care. Darren had everything he needed here, and the nine years he got were more than anyone said he would have. He didn’t want to waste a moment of that time though in a car or on a plane, so the Cancer Center let us stay home.
Surviorship Starts on Day 1
I don’t really like the “lost the battle” analogy when someone dies from cancer. Cancer survivorship starts on the day of diagnosis, so every day you survive, you win; you are a survivor right then.
Uplifting artwork, decor and colorful objects throughout the Montgomery Cancer Center bring a sense of joy to the environment.
ADVICE FOR CARE GIVERS
Go easy on yourself. As Darren was coming to the end of his life, I was very distraught by the fact that he wouldn’t eat or drink. I was trying so hard to make sure I was giving him food he liked. A nurse pulled me aside and said, “This is not about the food you are giving him; his body is preparing for the end. You need to let that go.”
Second, just do the next right thing. And what I mean is, you don’t have to know what happens a year from now. You don’t have to know what next month looks like. Just know what you need to do today. You can’t let the future’s uncertainty overwhelm you. You have to accept that it is unknown. Finally, don’t compare your grief to others; don’t judge it. We’re all different.
