Tis the season for soup!

I am bat shit crazy about soup. It's one of the first few things I learned to cook - which is a really great place to start because a little bit of almost every cooking technique is involved in making a fab pot of soup. Sautéing, braising, simmering, double boiling, pureeing, thickening, etc. - I know it's exciting stuff. Anyway, the temperature is dropping here in Texas and I've been souping it up a lot. That being said, there is one soup I make almost all year long & I eat it for breakfast almost everyday. (Why breakfast? Well, because it's full of vitamins, it's easy to digest so it helps wake up your digestive system first thing in the A.M. & eating soup helps hydrate you.) So many of my friends are curious about this morning soup action & have asked me for the recipe. I figured I would just post it here rather than track everyone down and email it out.

Here we go!

*Morning Monster Soup*

1-2 table spoons olive oil (I just eyeball it - like everything else in this recipe)
1 large onion diced
1 large turnip diced small (If you don't like turnips - get over it)
3 garlic cloves smashed or minced (add more if you like)
2 teaspoons thyme (you could use dill, but dill makes me ill so I never go that route)
5 cups veggie broth
*Okay this is important - if you are not making your own broth please use something with low sodium content. If you find yourself wishing that your soup was saltier later on - just put some Braggs amino acids in when you are serving yourself a bowl - cool?
1 large zucchini sliced into half moons
2 stalks celery chopped
6-7 stalks kale rinsed, drained, de-stalked and chopped (say that 5 times fast)
1/2 a lemon - juiced
pepper to taste if you like

In order to dance this mess around you'll want to:

1. Put your olive oil in the pot - let it get hot & add the onion & garlic.

2. Once the onions are starting to get soft add your turnip & thyme. Saute for 2-3 minutes.

3. Add your broth & zucchini - now simmer on medium high for 5-7 minutes

4. Time to add the lemon juice & kale.

5. Once the kale is super green and starting to get soft you'll want to take 1-2 cups of the soup out of the pot and puree it in a food processor, blender, or if you have a hand held blender just pop that in the pot for a few seconds to help spread that hulky green color around.

6. Mix the blended stuff with the chunky stuff and boom! You are done.


*this photo was taken with my phone - it's not the best photo in the world, but you get the idea.

I like to serve my soup with extra lemon & some pumpkin seeds for an additional dose of manganese, phosphorus, iron, copper, zinc & protein. Noms!

Seasoning Alternatives:
If I'm feeling a sickness coming on I will add turmeric, cayenne pepper, the juice of 1 whole lemon & more garlic.

Well, I thought I'd never say this, but that's enough about soup for one day.

Enjoy!
Bonnie Rue