Five o'clock.
Winter coat on. Cubicle light off. Wave au revoir to your co-workers and immediately begin to think, "what will I enjoy for dinner?" Opening the door to exit, you are immediately whipped in the face with the frozen-tundra air of winter...
Warm soup has suddenly exponentially compounded in interest...
I was perusing the organic soup aisle at the grocery store and to my dismay, even some organic soups have "hidden ingredients" on the nutrition label. For example: corn starches, unnecessary oils, etc. And who knows how long the "fresh" vegetables have been sitting in the cans...
Ergo, I began blending my own soups and have discovered a "magical land" in new flavors/textures. Not only am I able to create new flavor combinations, but I also save money, time and eliminate all preservatives/unnecessary additives.
Blending your own soups help hide veggies for those "choosy" consumers in your family. It also allows you to use produce before it begins to spoil. Whenever I shop at the grocery store, I keep an eye out for "manager's special" tags, as well as items on special sales. While discounted significantly, the produce is typically on its "last legs" - and thus must be used immediately. Opening my refrigerator, I noticed an organic "party tray" that I purchased via manager's special. Rather than morphing into "bunny mode" and noisily gnawing on raw carrots, I decided to transform the carrot/broccoli/tomato and asparagus into a healthy soup.
In order to create a nutritious meal, I already had cooked quinoa and raw orange lentils on hand. While cooking the lentils (I seasoned with smokey paprika, lemon juice and cayenne pepper), I simply threw the party tray of veggies into my Vitamix (except for the asparagus). Once the orange lentils were tender (they cook fast), I added them to the Vitamix. In order to incorporate more protein into my soup, I simply added 1 cup of quinoa, 1 tsp flax seed and 1 tsp hemp seeds... then hit blend and watched the magical transformation of blended wonderment.
After properly seasoning the soup, it tasted like heaven... but let's face it... it looked like baby food. While bright in color, not exactly aesthetically stunning. Ergo, I added a few asparagus tips, pickled red onion and edible flowers.
Better.
Smokey in flavor, warming to the soul and bright with colors... soups are a brilliant manner of challenging yourself in the kitchen when playing with flavor combinations.
"The thing about creativity is, people are going to laugh at it. Get over it." - Twyla Tharp
J'adore.
sb
No comments:
Post a Comment