I’m getting a bit of a reputation for my love of soup, so let's just go with it ;)
Let's start with what I'm NOT looking for in a soup:
-Wimpy consommé
-Strange fluorescent yellow liquid with green flecks floating in it
-Canned soup with grey, lifeless veggies and preservatives
-Mounds of ramen noodles with liquid, that won't satisfy me for very long
-Envelopes of powder/particles that get reconstituted with water….blech!
Soup that I AM interested in:
-Filling (almost too filling!) and chock full of whole veggies
-Full of vibrant flavor
-Not much liquid—it's almost an after-thought
-Pureed, super-thick and satisfying
WHY I use soup as a weight management and beauty-boosting tool:
-It's gorgeously delicious to eat for a few days in a row (batch-cook-it baby)
-As mentioned before (it bears repeating!)…. it's filling
-It'll warm you in the winter and cool you off in the summer
-You can pack it up if you have to eat on the go
-You can get most of your veggies in for the day this way
-You can squeeze a lot of nutrition into it, like I do with my morning smoothie. As Hippocrates (often credited as the father of modern medicine) said:
"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food".
You can create a soup to:
-Stay younger looking by using sulfur-rich cruciferous veggies like cauliflower and kale
-Boost digestion by using beets and fennel
-Or feed that sweet craving by using sweet potatoes and butternut squash
Soup isn't the only thing I eat when I sit down to feast.
I also get to eat healthy fats and proteins, along with cultured veggies and a salad or another veggie…or maybe another soup!
The batch soup below contains beets (think good digestion…and you can use the greens in a salad!) and cauliflower (glowing skin).
Bon appetite :)
Xoxo,
Lauren
Bodacious Beet Soup
Ingredients
-4 tbsp grass-fed butter (use cold-pressed, unrefined coconut oil if you're vegan)
-2 large onions, diced
-salt
-1 clove garlic, minced
-Bunch of beets (ex: 2 large, 3 medium), peeled and diced
-1 head of cauliflower, cut into chunks
-2 large carrots, chopped
-4 cups water
-2 tbsp prepared horseradish
-Ricotta salata, sliced thin (you can do this with a veggie peeler) (omit if you're vegan)
-Pistachios, shelled and chopped
Directions
1. Heat the butter in a large pot over medium heat; add in onions and 1/2 tsp salt and cook until translucent (about 5 mins) and then add in the garlic and cook until fragrant (about 2 mins).
2. Add the beets, cauliflower, carrots, another 1/2 tsp of salt and water and bring to a boil; cook until the veggies are tender, about 12 to 15 minutes.
3. Turn off the heat, puree the soup with an immersion blender and stir in the horseradish; top each bowl with the pistachios and ricotta salata.
Makes about 6 servings.