"Fruit to Cleanse and Vegitables to Heal" So Barley and Vegitable Soup with Berries and Angel Food Cake Fits the Bill

To quote my friend Mickey who's website, "Top 1000 Natural Remedies"  found at www.top1000naturalemedies.com,  you eat fruit to cleanse the body and vegetables to heal it.  Remembering this I set about to aid the healing of myself and our middle son who have this weekend found ourselves puny.

Starting out at 5:00 AM on Saturday morning I assembled root vegetables, dried peppers, seasonings, and meat bones to roast in a covered dutch oven.  I like to use the top ends of the celery bunch for this and a head of garlic, carrots, onions, and hot peppers dried from last years garden placing the vegetables in the bottom of the pot and the meat on the top.  Roast an hour covered at 350 degrees F.

Then I take the pan from the oven and pick through the vegetables discarding anything I don't want in the soup and adding water to cover and a bay leaf.  Then I bring this to a boil and then move to a simmer while I assemble the other ingredients.

Barley and Vegetable  Beef Soup:

2 pounds stew meat
2 pounds cracked or split beef bones 
1 large onion leave the skin on
1or 2 cups of celery tops in large pieces
1 head of garlic
2 dried hot peppers left whole
3 or 4 carrots
salt and pepper
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Roast for an hour at 350 degrees than cover with water and add a bay leaf,  bring to a boil atop the stove,  and reduce to simmer in the same covered pan.
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Meanwhile assemble:

2 cans tomatoes or 4 c. fresh peeled and seeded
3 C. green beans
2 C. rinsed canned pinto beans
1/2 C. okra
3 C. corn
3 C. peas
4-5 sliced carrots
4 C. shredded cabbage
2 turnips peeled and diced
3 parsnips peeled and diced
4 C. washed and sliced leeks
6 T. pearl barley
2 large potatoes peeled and diced
1 quart beef stock
water
salt
pepper

Using a very large kettle (or cut the recipe in half) transfer the meat and the ingredients you want in the soup into this vessel.  Discard the bones, and onion with skins, garlic skins, hot peppers, bay leaf, and celery tops and carrots.  They are usually cooked to death by now and I do not want the soup to get any hotter from the peppers.

Add all of the rest of the ingredients with enough water to cover well and bring to a simmer.  I let it cook the rest of the day on simmer and add liquid as needed.  Taste and correct seasoning.  Serve steaming hot to cure what ails ya!

Angel Cake

1 C. sifted cake flour
1 1/2 C. sifted powdered sugar
12 egg whites at room temperature
3/4  t. cream of tarter
1/4 t. salt
1 C. granulated sugar
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. almond extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Inspect your tube angel pan to be sure it is perfectly clean and free of any grease or residue.

NOTE: Never use a plastic bowl or utensils when making an Angel food cake because if there is even the smallest bit of grease reside clinging in a crevice it will cause your cake to fail.

Sift together the flour and first amount of powdered sugar in a small bowl and set aside.  Crack each egg and separate it carefully placing the yolk into a vessel and setting it aside for refrigeration.  Then after inspecting each white to be sure no yolk has leaked place it into the bottom of a large mixing bowl made of glass or metal.  Add the cream of tarter and salt to the egg whites and turn the mixer on medium speed mixing until frothy.  Then increase the mixer speed to high and add the second amount of granulated sugar 2 T. at a time beating until stiff peeks hold their shapes when the beaters are lifted out. 

Gently fold in the flavorings by hand.  Then fold in the flour and sugar mixture gently by hand about a quarter of a cup at a time.  Do not stir or beat, fold.  Spread evenly into the pan running a table knife around the edges to deflate any large bubbles before placing in the oven to bake on the lowest rack for 25-30 minutes.

When done hang the cake upside down on a small bottle until it is cold.  (I use a soy sauce or steak sauce bottle.)  Run a knife with a long thin blade around both the outside of the pan and the tube before trying to remove it.  Frost or dust with sugar.  Serve with ice cream or sweetened fresh fruit. We especially like berries and I used them today.