My friend and I were looking for a healthful diary-free, gluten-free broccoli soup that was creamy enough to delight our senses and our taste-buds, sans the diary and gluten. So, off we went, hunting the web and soon found just what we needed at one of my favourite blogs – glutenfreegoddess.
Only problem was – I’m very bad at following recipes. Even when a recipe looks great – I’ll spot a wilting celery stalk in my fridge or some beautifully fresh collards and think ‘let me just throw that in there too.’ Or ‘do I really need to go all the way to the store just for cilantro?’
‘They’re so pretty I’m sure they’ll taste just fine in the soup.’ And they do! But, I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t try.
Truth be told, this is my favorite way to cook and something that I encourage you to try too – use recipes as your guide or your cooking map. This allows you to use whichever vegetables you have in your fridge or whichever are in season, and available at your local farmers market, in addition to, or in place of, the vegetables and herbs in the recipe. Cooking in this way makes it easier for you to be creative in the kitchen, making cooking more fun – you never know how it’ll turn out. Plus, it’ll also save you time and money, since you won’t be constrained to go to the store (or sometimes three stores) to obtain the exact ingredients which the recipe calls for.
With this creative cooking in mind, here is my modified version of…
Creamy Broccoli Soup:
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves of garlic, diced
- 2 medium-sized red onions, diced
- 1 inch of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped (or lazy chef version: 2 tablespoons Organic Pressed Ginger Juice (by the Ginger People)
- 4 cups fresh broccoli, chopped
- 3 cups of collard greens
- Fresh water; enough to cover vegetables
- Basil – about 1/3 cup chopped
- Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste
- 1 tsp cumin
- ½ cayenne pepper
- ½ can of coconut milk
Instructions:
1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot set over medium heat and stir in the garlic, onion, ginger and celery. Cook until onions softened – about 5 minutes
2. Add in the broccoli and greens. Add just enough water to cover greens.
3. Bring to a high simmer. Cover the pot, and reduce the heat to a medium heat. Cook until the broccoli and greens are tender – about 15 minutes.
4. Add the chopped herbs. Season with sea salt, fresh pepper, cumin and cayenne pepper.
5. Remove the pot from the heat and use an immersion blender to puree the soup.
6. Return the pot to the stove, on medium to medium high heat and add in the coconut milk.
7. Enjoy!
Did you enjoy this recipe? Are you hungry for more? I’d love to hear from you: imuahealth@gmail.com
