cooling green soup

Cooling Green Soup

In need of a detox? Feeling too hot? Is your skin playing up? On a cleanse? Or simply on the look-out for a nice nourishing lunch full of greeny goodness? Then you’ve come to the right place. Feel free to mix up the greens in this soup and add in more greens that you like and that you know make you feel good. Adding more greens to your diet has a myriad of health benefits such as boosting our digestive enzymes, drawing toxins from your digestive tract, cleansing your liver, balancing blood sugars, making your skin glow, supporting bone health (dark leafy greens contain plenty of calcium), relieving stress and fighting belly bloat.

ayurveda

Feeling Vata: feeling very light and in need of grounding goodness? Simply add a carrot or two, an extra potatoe, or experiment with adding half a fennel bulb, or more of the peas or the zuchini.

Feeling Pitta: This is the soup for you. If feeling overly Pitta, leave out the garlic or the onion, or only use half. You can add more mint and you can always add in more greens, as greens are for you!

Feeling Kapha: You can leave out the zuchini if you like, but only if feeling overly Kapha. Leafy greens are great for you, so go for it!!

Weekly Recipe

Cooling Green Soup

Yield: 1 Pot

Cooling Green Soup

cooling green soup

In need of a detox? Feeling too hot? Is your skin playing up? On a cleanse? Or simply on the look-out for a nice nourishing lunch full of greeny goodness? Then you've come to the right place. Feel free to mix up the greens in this soup and add in more greens that you like and that you know make you feel good. Adding more greens to your diet has a myriad of health benefits such as boosting our digestive enzymes, drawing toxins from your digestive tract, cleansing your liver, balancing blood sugars, making your skin glow, supporting bone health (dark leafy greens contain plenty of calcium), relieving stress and fighting belly bloat.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 x small onion
  • 350g fresh or frozen peas
  • 1 x zuchini, choppedĀ 
  • 1 x large potato, diced
  • 500ml stock (try using stock powder without any extra fats and without added yeast)
  • 180g lambs lettuce
  • 180g spinach, chard or other similar leafy greens
  • 1 x bunch of fresh mint, chopped
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 1 x teaspoon olive oil (leave out if doing a cleanse)

Instructions

  1. Add the olive oil (if on a cleanse just use a bit of water) to a medium size soup pot. Add the chopped onion and cook slowly on a medium heat until golden and translucent.
  2. Then add the potato, the zuchini and the peas. Cover all in the stock so that all the ingredients are covered in liquid.
  3. Bring the mix to the boil and then turn down the heat to a medium and simmer until the potatoe is soft for about 10-15 minutes.  
  4. Add the spinach, the lambs lettuce and any other leafy greens of your choice and stir well. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.
  5. Seperate the mint leaves from the stalks and finely chop the leaves. Add to the soup and cook for another minute or so.
  6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  7. Take off the heat and puree everything with a hand-blender until the soup has a creamy consistency.
  8. Serve!

NOTE: Experiment with adding more greens that you like, such as parsley, chard, spinach, collard greens, kale, etc. The more greens the better. Or omit others that you know don't agree with you and simply replace with others.


Gooey Apple and Cinnamon Cupcakes

Sometimes you just need something that satisfies you.
Something that is sweet, tasty, and if possible, has that gooey, tasty sensation to it.
Something that, when you put in your mouth, reminds you of autumn, of your mum’s home baked apple cake,
of gardens and of late summer blooms.
Something that when you eat it, gives you that warm fuzzy feeling,
that peaceful feeling that everything is ok.

And what better way to give into this craving, than with these pretty much guilt free, goeey apple and cinnamon cupcakes?!
Low in sugar, fat, gluten free and vegan, and plenty of apples for your 5 a day. What’s not to like?

Of course I have added plenty of spice again:
cardamom and cinnamon to help you stabilize your blood sugars, to calm you and to nourish you, every little ‘gooey’ bite at a time.

Enjoy!

Yield: 12

Gooey Apple & Cinnamon Cupcakes

Gooey Apple & Cinnamon Cupcakes

Delicious and gooey apple and cinnamon cupcakes, vegan & gluten free

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1/4 oat milk ( or other plant milk of your choice)
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinnegar
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 8 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1 and 1/2 cup ground almonds
  • 2 cups gluten free flour blend (I use Bob's red mill)
  • 2 heaped tsp gluten free baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate soda)
  • 3 tbsp apple sauce home made or store bought
  • 3 medium size apples, diced and cored
  • 1 tbsp flax egg

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees celsius .
  2. Make the flax egg: add 1 tablespoon flaxseeds to a small bowl and add 3 tbsp warm water. Mix well. Put to one side.
  3. Melt the coconut oil in a saucepan.
  4. Once melted, mix the oil, the milk, the vinegar, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, ground almonds and apple sauce together in a mixing bowl.
  5. Add the flax egg and mix well.
  6. Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
  7. Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it’s looking too dry.
  8. Add the apples and carefully stir in.
  9. Transfer the mixture between muffin cases in a muffin tin.
  10. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
  11. The cupcakes should still have a very soft and gooey consistency. I usually eat one fresh and warm (mhmmm, so good) and place the rest in the fridge, they will harden a bit more and keep for up to a week.

Notes

Dust off the Cupcakes with some icing sugar or top with a nice vegan frosting.

Nutrition Information

Yield

12

Serving Size

12 cupcakes

Amount Per Serving Calories 212Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 25mgSodium 19mgCarbohydrates 30gFiber 4gSugar 24gProtein 1g

Please note that nutrition information is based on averages and can therefor not always be accurate.