healing soup

 

The title of this post, “healing soup” couldn’t be more fitting: last week, the day before my husband’s birthday to be exact, our son Adriano and I caught a horrible virus that lasted 48 hours. Nothing more, nothing less, just 48 hours… but it felt like a long and horrible 48 hours let me I tell you! Funny enough, when the 48 hours was up, we were all back to normal, as if nothing had happened… except that my husband caught the bug 24 hours after us… as a nice birthday gift!

Even though we were all good a few days later, our stomachs were left a little fragile. So I raided my fridge to find ingredients to make a soup. Nothing, makes me feel better, then a warm bowl of thick soup that I can drink out of a cup. Some kids have fond memories of chicken noodle soup as a loving homemade remedy for whatever ill spell they were under, but me, it’s a dense vegetable soup or a potage as my mom called it. A potage is a French word for thick soup usually made with cream. But my mom didn’t use cream (even back then she knew dairy was a big no-no for soar stomachs – don’t you just miss that old school common sense some times!) She used whatever vegetables she had on hand and added loads of potatoes to thicken the soup. So that’s exactly what I did…

I found some carrots, turnips and a piece of parsnip. I also found some celery, leeks and onions. I was happy to still have some fresh ginger and thyme left to give my soup an additional boost of healing benefits. Sweet potatoes were going to be my thickening agent (I always have some type of potatoes on hand, luckily this time, it was sweet potato, which is my favourite!)

I’ll be honest, at the time of getting the ingredients together, I had no intention on posting this as a recipe or let alone take a pretty picture of it, simply because I wasn’t sure how this would turn out and I don’t want to share with you guys something I’m not 100% in love with. But by the time the soup was done and ready to eat, it tasted so darn good that I changed my mind. I felt like someone else could and should totally benefit from the heart warming, belly soothing and overall healing benefits of this soup. The texture is creamy, almost velvety, and it offers just enough sweetness from the carrots and sweet potatoes and zing from the ginger and parsnips. Luckily, the ingredients were easy to remember and jot down.

Speaking of jotting down, a few days before this horrible virus visited our home, I started reading the book “May Cause Miracles” by Gabrielle Bernstein. Have any of you read the book? It’s amazing! It is a 40-day guide were Gabby (dropping her name like I know her – I don’t – I’m just in love with her work so I kinda feel like I know her somehow!) literally holds your hand and guides you through a day by day journey into your better Self. Not bad, euh! Every day, different exercises are proposed be it meditation, writing, praying, repeating mantras… I’ll be able to share with you guys the impact all of this has had on me once I’m done the 40-day journey (I’m on day 14) but what I can tell you as of now is that this immense feeling of release and ease has washed over me. I never realized just how much I worry about so many things. Even tiny, little, insignificant things. Especially insignificant things! The release is addictive… I’ll keep you guys posted on my progress.

In the meantime, please enjoy this soup with your family and let me know what fond memories you have of your favourite homemade childhood food remedies.

xx

healing soup
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 10 portions
This soup is very easy to make and can be served hot or cold. Makes for great leftover lunches.
Ingredients
  • 2 medium carrots
  • 1 medium parsnip
  • 1 small turnip
  • 2 large sweet potatoes
  • 1 leek
  • 4 celery branches (keep the leafs – they’re going in the soup too!)
  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • 1 Tbs coconut oil
  • 1″ piece of fresh ginger, skin removed
  • 2 tsp fresh thyme
  • 6 Cups of water
  • 2 vegetable broth cubes
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Peel and coarsely chop the vegetables, including the ginger. Set aside.
  2. In a large pot, melt the coconut oil over medium high heat.
  3. Add the onion and cook for 2 minutes.
  4. Add the remaining vegetables and stir.
  5. Add the water, ginger and fresh thyme.
  6. Bring to a boil.
  7. Add the vegetable broth cubes and stir.
  8. Bring the soup down to strong simmer and allow the vegetables to cook for at least 25 minutes.
  9. Once cooked, set aside and allow to cool for 10 mins.
  10. With a handheld blender, blend the soup until you reach a velvety thick consistency.
  11. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
  12. Enjoy

 

P.S. As you guys may have noticed, some adds have been added to my blog and you will now find some affiliated links. I now participate in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites. Please rest assured that the products I link to, are all products I personally use and love.

 

Quick & Easy hearty pumpkin soup

 

 

Hello beautiful people,

I’m just gonna come out and say it: I love Fall! I love everything about Fall. From the crisp cool air in the morning, the colourful leafs, the soft and warm sweaters… I love it all. But what I especially love, is the food. Fall recipes tend to be heartier, filled with root vegetables that are cooked slowly to release their best flavour and fruits that taste like the last few rays of sunshine and cool breeze. I’m getting romantic on you guys here! But honestly, there is nothing I love more then sitting down at the dinner table to a warm bowl of stewed vegetables blended with different spices and finish off with a luxurious apple crumble topped with coconut ice cream. Now you tell me, doesn’t that sound divinely good?

I find root vegetable and Fall fruits also lend themselves so perfectly well to different herbs spices. Herbs and spices for me, are the essence of cooking. They are actually the heart and soul of my cooking. When people see a fruit or a vegetable they like, they usually think of the dish they’ll prepare with it. Like apples for example. When seeing an apple, you’ll think, apple pie, sautéed apples and arugula salad or bean stew with apples. I will think cinnamon and nutmeg that would go well in an apple pie, rosemary and thyme that would compliment the warm apples and arugula, sage and caraway seeds to elevate a bean stew with apples. I see the produce and I let my love of herbs and spices dictate what recipe I’m going to create.

Herbs and spices are also nutrition power houses.They contain an amazing amount of phytonutrients that our bodies need to thrive. Phytonutrients  are compounds found in plants that protect the plant from environmental threats and keep it healthy. When you eat plants, including herbs and spices, those phytonutrients fight to keep you healthy. Although not essential to your health, many believe herbs and spices, due to their phytonutrient density, can cure many diseases that still plague our country today.  In many cultures, herbs and spices are still used to this day as medicine to cure ailments ranging from headaches and soar throats to labor pain and inflammatory diseases. If science is your thing and you wanna read more about the power of herbs and spices, you can start by the following articles here and here.

Why am I telling you all this? Because if you follow my blog, you’ll notice that I use a lot of spices, many of which have incredible benefits to your health, including the ones in this soup. Especially the ones in this soup as 3 of them are in the top 10 healthiest and most beneficial herbs and spices. And those 3 are turmeric, fenugreek seeds and ginger. Here is a little explanation as to why each of these spices are beneficial for you:

Turmeric: according to Joe Leech, MS, over at Healthline, turmeric contains curcumin which is a remarkably  powerful antioxidant, that helps to fight oxidative damage and boosts the body’s own antioxidant enzymes. Curcumin is also strongly anti-inflammatory, to the point where it matches the effectiveness of some anti-inflammatory drugs.

Fenugreek: according to Dr. Axe, fenugreek can help with numerous digestive problems and cholesterol levels. It can also improve you athletic performance, increase milk flow in breastfeeding moms, increase libido in men, combat diabetes and reduce inflammation in the body due to fenugreek’s antimicrobial, antioxidant, antidiabetic and antitumorigenic properties.

Ginger: according to the people over at The World’s Healthiest Foods, ginger has a long tradition of being very effective in alleviating symptoms of gastrointestinal distress. Modern scientific research has revealed that ginger possesses numerous therapeutic properties including antioxidant effects, an ability to inhibit the formation of inflammatory compounds, and direct anti-inflammatory effects.

So not only is this soup very healthy for you, it’s also super quick and easy to put together. I created this with the busy moms and dads in mind. Those who, just like my husband and I, work hard all day but still want to feed their family nutritious and delicious foods. This soup is hearty enough on it’s own to make a meal but is so good when served with some warm bread to dunk it in.

I hope you enjoy this soup and let me know what you served it with!

xx

Quick & Easy hearty pumpkin soup
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4-6 portions
This soup makes for a hearty dinner of 4 portions or 6 smaller portions. You can serve it with some wholegrain bread and a dollop of vegan sour cream. You can also jazz it up a bit with some chopped cilantro or green onions as garnish. I made this soup with organic canned ingredients as I wanted to make it a quick and easy recipe that would take no time at all to put together. However, if you do have the time, you can totally soak and cook the small red kidney beans instead of the canned variety and use freshly cooked and puréed pumpkin. For the coconut milk, use the one in a can, not in a milk carton.
Ingredients
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 1 large red bell pepper, largely diced
  • 1 tsp palm oil
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp ginger
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg, (freshly ground if possible)
  • 2 Cups pumpkin puree
  • 2 Cups coconut milk (if you want a rich creamy taste, use full fat. If you want less calories, use lite)
  • 1 1/2 Cup small red kidney beans, canned
  • 1 Cup vegetable broth (you can use 1 cup of water with 1 cube of vegetable broth)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. In a pan, on medium high heat, melt the palm oil.
  2. Add the onions and red bell peppers. Cook for 3 mins or until translucent.
  3. Add all the spices and coat the onion mixture. Cook for another 2 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent the spices from burning.
  4. Remove the pan from heat.
  5. In a blender or food processor, add all the ingredients.
  6. Blend until the soup has a creamy texture. Our family likes texture in soups so I blend it for 3 minutes and thats enough for us.
  7. Return the soup to a pot to warm up.
  8. Enjoy!