Soup for one. Soup for the Soul.

None of us want to emerge from this self quarantine in diminished health, unnecessary weight gain by being sedentary and not making wise choices on what we eat. As someone who usually only kept a day or two of food in the fridge it’s been a new adjustment to have to shop for a week or two at a time. Now that we’re into this self quarantine a couple of weeks now, I’ve started making large pots of soup to sustain me over several days at a time. There are so many soup recipes and variations to dress them up to suit your personal taste. Soups are super easy, filling and very comforting – not to mention cost effective.

Organic is best, but if budget doesn’t permit just make sure you’re getting fresh veggies, and that you wash and rinse carefully.

Ingriedients:

3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Small Onion or Shallots

1 cup fresh uncooked green beans

6 stalks of celery

6 Fresh Garlic Cloves (minced or chopped)

2 tablespoons – Ginger (grated or chopped)

2 teaspoons Turmeric

1 teaspoon Paprika

2 teaspoons Curry Powder

Cayenne Pepper – to taste

1 Bay Leaf

1 Sweet Potato – chopped

1 cup of chopped carrots

1 cup organic corn (not a necessity)

**Artichokes are a great addition as well, though I didn’t include in this recipe

Tomato – chopped (I take the skin off)

1 cup  Chickpeas rinsed and drained

1 cup Lentils of your choice (red, green or black) – you can substitute the bean of your choice such as black beans

2 cups Kale – de-stemmed and chopped

2 cups red cabbage

1 bundle of parsley – rinsed and chopped

6 cups Vegetable Broth

Cracked black peppercorns or Red crushed pepper (to taste)

1/2 cup water

** you can also add 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice to the pot

Heat large pot

Add 1 tablespoon olive oil, heat – add and saute’ garlic, 1/2 cup chopped celery, onion or shallots, a splash of black pepper, himalayan sea salt, saute’ until transluscent.

Add vegetable stock, additional ingredients carrots, green beans, chopped celery, reb cabbage, lentils, chickpeas chopped tomatoes – season with turmeric, garlic cloves, paprika, cayenne, red crushed pepper, parsley.

Cover and simmer 20 to 30 minutes minutes – stir, give it lots of TLC., add additional olive oil – taste while simmering to determine if you’d like to add more curry, cayenne, turmeric or garlic. Add a bit of water if needed.

Add kale last to not over cook – stir and simmer an additional 15 minutes.

You can also put this soup in your blender or bullet for a creamier version – add a tablespoon of almond mild depending on how much you’re blending.

You can have it  solo or add salad, crackers (I enjoy the multi-seed gluten free crackers) – I don’t keep bread around because it’s too much temptation but would love to dip a nice warm sourdough in the broth!

Before serving cup or bowl, add a bit of the fresh chopped parsley you have have left or dried if you have it on hand.

It’s always a nice touch to light a small tea-light or candle of any kind if you have them around, a nice napkin; really treating  yourself to a restaurant experience – at home while self quarantining though it’s a good idea in general.