Some of you may look at the picture of this potage à la kale and dill and you start reading, you may think to yourself : “wait a minute, another soup recipe?” Yes, my friends, it is. And there are two very simple explanations for that:
a) I love soup… I mean, I love soup now. I used to hate soup growing up. Cant’ remember why, but I did. Needless to say, I don’t feel that way anymore. Not only do I love eating soup, I just as much enjoy making it, especially when it’s a quick and easy recipe like this one.
b) I live in Montreal. It’s winter. It’s humid cold (you know that type of cold that just gets into your bones through whatever and no matter how many layers of clothes you’re wearing. Yah, Montreal has that kind of cold). Soup warms you up. Period.
And today was particularly cold, although beautiful and sunny, so I thought it would be perfectly fitting to share this soup recipe with you, so you too can feel all warmed up from the inside out. This soup will not only warm you up, but will nourish every cell in your body with killer good-for-you-ingredients like kale, dill and russet potatoes.
Potatoes act as a great replacement for the typical cream in “cream” soups. It offers the same mouthfeel and velvety texture as cream. The key is to blend the soup very well. You don’t need an expensive blender (although that does help and saves a lot of time), most often, any blender will do. I often opt for my hand blender. It’s convenient and handy. But it does take me a bit more time to reach that smooth, velvety consistency I am looking for in a soup like this one.
But once all those delicious potatoes are pureed and blended with the other ingredients, it’s magic. This is plant power at it’s best my friends!
Speaking of plants and their incredible power, I bumped into an old acquaintance of mine the other day and as we were catching up on the important events of the past year or two of our lives, she asked me how I was able to “stay” vegan and not be tempted by my old food favourites like bakery style donuts, lasagna and California sushi roll.
It’s simple I answered: I have an anchor.
She looked confused. I don’t blame her. That wasn’t really a complete answer. An anchor. What does an anchor have to do with Italian baked pasta or fried pastries anyways? Well, actually, it has everything to do with it.
What I mean by “an anchor’ is something that is profoundly important to you, something that you value to your core, a belief, a love, a passion, a promise, that is embedded deep into your heart. So that whatever else is presented or offered to you and is in conflict with that anchor, that love, that passion, that promise, has no impact on you. Like the anchor of a boat. Once a boat’s anchor has been released to the bottom of the sea, the boat will not move. It will not falter. It will not waiver.
Before I decided to transition to a vegan diet, I knew I needed to define my anchor. I needed to identify why I wanted to adopted a plant based lifestyle, what is of the outmost importance to me in that regards and what would guide my decisions and be my rock in times of temptations. I don’t have those temptations anymore but I won’t sit here and tell you I didn’t have them at the beginning, because I did. I’m humane and it’s ok to feel those temptations. But I didn’t waiver. I didn’t falter. Because I had my anchor. Because I had taken the time to identify that anchor at the beginning of my journey. And that is what I encourage everyone wanting to embark on a journey, on any journey, on any path that is different then the current path: find your anchor. Find what speaks to you, find the true motivation for doing what you are setting out to do, find that Loce that will keep you grounded and steady.
Often times people mistaken “willpower” with “anchor”. I’ve often heard: “I don’t have the willpower to be vegan, I love (insert non vegan food here) too much” or “I tried the vegan diet but it was too complicated”. Nuclear science is complicated, quantum physics is complicated, eating a plant based diet is not complicated. But you do need your anchor from which you will source your motivation when it lacks and your willpower to say no to bakery style donuts (or whatever is offered to you that is not aligned with the path you have now chosen to follow) when offered to you.
Willpower without an anchor is not strong enough.
So that’s what I answered my friend: I am “still” on a plant based diet because I have an anchor…and because I make delicious soup like this one!
I hope you guys enjoy this soup and leave me a comment to let me know what your anchor is.
xx
- 6 cups of water
- 2 cubes of vegetable broth
- 2 1/2 tsp cumin, ground
- 1 1/2 tsp coriander, ground
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- 3 large russet potatoes
- 6 cups of kale
- 1 medium red onion
- 2 garlic clove
- 1/4 Cup fresh dill
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Peel the potatoes, remove the ribs from the kale and chop roughly, dice the onion, mince the garlic, chop the dill.
- In a large pot, melt the coconut oil on medium high heat.
- Add the onion and garlic. Cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the water, vegetable broth cubes, cumin and coriander.
- Bring to a boil.
- Add the potatoes and cook for 10 minutes.
- Add the kale and cook for another 8 minutes.
- Remove the pot from the heat and add the dill.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
- With a blender or handheld blender, blend the soup until smooth and velvety.
- Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
EN 
FR