Life’s been hectic and I’ve been living as though I was being nudged by the throngs of people who wanted me to move out their way. It was a struggle just to keep my breath going but nevertheless, I finally took this week to reset and restore my body.
Juicing has been a phenomenal part of my life, feeding every body cells of mine with the essential nutrients.But juices, on its own, is sweet in nature so when my body craves for something savoury, I had to turn to nuts or soups.
I love soups. Warm,boiling and thick soups, especially. And no other place serves the healthiest,most affordable and best pumpkin soup like The Soup Spoon does. But the point is, I can’t be licking soup off the spoon at The Soup Spoon all the time. As much as silly as it sounds, I wouldn’t want to be seen seated alone at the tables, drinking just soup. I need to create ‘The Soup Spoon’-type of soup right at home.
Traditionally, soup takes hours to prepare and to cook. But these days, soup stock could be prepared by purchasing ready-made soup broth or soup stock cubes. Thus, cooking and stirring a warm pot of soup at home is made so much more easier and convenient.
I’ve found one of the easiest way to serve a vegetable soup made out of roasted bell peppers and steamed broccoli. I wanted the soup to look green and chlorophyll-rich so I simply took out the greens from my fridge, along with some onions and garlic.
It’s really easy to prepare delicious warm vegetable soup once you’ve tried it. To prepare a nice soup base, all you will need is a vegetable stock cooked with chopped onions and garlic. I adore the sweetness found in onions and the spiciness in garlic, so the more of these ‘soup base spices’ the better.
To prepare the soup stock, I bought Kallo’s organic vegetable stock cubes from Cold Storage which has no MSG, artificial flavorings, colours or preservatives. It’s also gluten free and lactose free. And it really adds a nice savoury flavour to the pot of soup – simply superb.
Next, I simply blend the roasted bell pepper, steamed broccoli, Chinese Parsley along with the stir-fried onion and garlic to produce a thick greenish soup. Then, I added some water, put it on a rolling boil and popped half a cube into the mixture. To further enhance the natural flavor of the vegetables, I added a dash of salt and black pepper which also harmonizes all the different flavours together.
It was my first preparing soup and it turns out to be so much easier than I thought. The elements of healthy cooking is simple and easy. Use more natural ingredients and less processed food items.
The highly-dense green broccoli injects a good dose of vitamin C and dietary fibre into your body when eaten. It’s known as the ‘anti-cancer’ vegetable that contains phytonutrients to fight against free radicals as well as sulforaphane, a compound that harbour antimicrobial properties.
Broccoli, which belongs to the family of cruciferous vegetable, is one dense green vegetable which you might want to include it into your daily greens intake. I personally like to steam or boil it till the stem becomes soft but it’s best to consume it raw as it harbours more nutrients. Interestingly, I grew to love the taste of broccoli after meeting this French guy who loved cooking Broccoli at dormitory’s kitchen back in those “crazy and fun-filled” days where I attended summer school at University of Toronto.
Instead of tossing the green bell peppers in boiling water, I decided to roast it so it was a common way of preparing bell peppers for soup recipe. Besides, the caramelized bell peppers smelt and tasted absolutely divine. No wonder they are paired with meat chunks on those kebab sticks. Bell pepper is a must-have for a vegan/ vegetarian barbecue party. No meat? It’s okay! The mind-blowing roasted bell peppers are a great substitute.
Bell peppers are an excellent source of antioxidants, Vitamin C, Vitamin E and carotenoids such as beta-carotene. Did you know that red bell peppers contains more vitamins and minerals than green bell peppers? Grab the red ones when you’re at the supermarket vegetable aisle.
The Power Green Vegetable Soup Recipe
( Serving : 3 to 4)
2 Green bell peppers
1 Broccoli
3 stalks of Chinese Parsley
2 Yellow Onions
4-5 cloves of garlic
1/2 cube of Vegetable stock
250ml of water
Salt
Black Pepper
Step 1: Slice the green bell peppers, garlic, onions into halves then line them on an oven tray. Brush some olive oil over the bell peppers,garlic and onions so that it could caramelized faster. ( I’m mad about garlic so I added several cloves of it into the soup, but I guessed I’ve added too much. My mouth smelt of garlic after drinking the soup!)
Step 2: Cut the broccoli into florets and put it into the steamer. You could also boil the broccoli florets.
Step 3: Pour the roasted bell peppers, onion, garlic and broccoli into a blender. Then add 250 ml of water and blend the mixture together til you get a ‘smoothie-like’ texture. But I really suggest that you don’t serve it as smoothie.
Step 4: Pour the soup mixture into a pot and turn on the fire. When it is boiling, add the vegetable stock, salt and pepper. Stir till everything is mixed evenly.
Now, you’re ready to dig into these thick healthy vegetable soup!
I decided to add some soy milk into the soup for a creamy taste but I find that it doesn’t makes much of a difference. Doesn’t it look like cream of broccoli soup?
Cheers to good health!