Creamy Broccoli Soup

So how's your week going so far?  Mine didn't start good. I woke up yesterday with a stuffy nose and a terrible headache. I'm not sure what caused it...but thank God, I'm well now. I guess the fresh orange juice that I made helped. By the end of the afternoon, I was already feeling better...and I got to cheer for Christina Wilson and Christine Ha in the Hell's Kitchen and MasterChef finales last night. I've been rooting for them the whole time, and I'm glad I didn't miss the chance to see them win! 

I'm also glad that I can be here today to share with you a book review and at the same time, this very flavorful soup...

A few weeks ago, I was asked to be part of the Back To School, Healthy Living Recipe Tour which features nutritious recipes from the book, Must Have Been Something I Ate by Registered Holistic Nutritionist and author Peggy Kotsopoulos. As you know, I am always in search of healthy meals that I can prepare for my daughters, so I decided to jump on the opportunity. Well, I'm glad I did! Peggy's book is very informative! The concept she's trying to give emphasis in this book is very simple: what we eat affects the way we look and feel...but is something that's usually taken for granted. If you are interested to delve into this topic, and want to discover the connection between food and your mood, weight, beauty, and overall health, then this is the perfect book for you. Peggy has a very good sense of humor so I tell you, it won't be boring to read. The book is divided into five sections for easy reading: Food-Mood Connection, Food-Weight Connection, Food/Beauty Connection, Food-Health Connection and Recipes. In the first four sections, Peggy clearly discussed the most common health issues and at the end of each, you'll find food suggestions that can help alleviate those issues. In the fifth and last section, she provided some recipes that will help you put everything you learned from the previous sections into practice.

I must say Must Have Been Something I Ate is a good book and is a must read especially for women. Though I noticed that the book has no index and has some typo and grammatical errors, I still like it, especially the section on natural beauty treatment. Now I know olive oil is a good anti-aging moisturizer...and that my favorite strawberry isn't just for cupcakes and ice cream, it can be used as skin exfoliator and teeth whitener too. Of course, I also like the recipe section. There are only 25 recipes included so you shouldn't expect too much. But they all look delicious and really healthy. I tried the BeYOUtifying Cleansing Cocktail which is a simple combination of celery, cucumber, apple, ginger and lemon...and it was really refreshing. I also made Peggy's Creamy Broccoli Soup for the recipe tour, and this is what I am sharing with you today. I must tell you, this is packed with so much flavor! Why wouldn't it be when it has broccoli, celery, yellow onion, garlic, fresh ginger, lemon juice, dried oregano, black pepper, sea salt, veggie stock, olive oil, and avocado? It’s a thick raw soup which is very filling and satisfying and perfect on warm weather. The best thing about it is it doesn't require cooking except for steaming the broccoli. It's so easy and simple to make, and is really very creamy even if it doesn't actually have cream. The creaminess of this soup comes from the pureed vegetables. I didn't have arame and dulse flakes nor kelp granules, so I wasn't able to top the soup with everything Peggy recommended. Nevertheless, the soup was awesome! My daughters both enjoyed it...though they said it's more like a dip so they ate it with tortilla chips. :) 

Here's the recipe! You should try it!

 
Ingredients:
Soup:

• 1 head of broccoli, chopped into florets
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/2 small yello onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1" pc of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• Pinch sea salt
• 1/2 cup veggie stock or water (I used 1 cup veggie stock because it was too thick)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 avocado, diced

Topping:

• 2 Tbsp pumpkin seeds
• 1/4 avocado, cubed into pieces
• 1/4 cup arame, broken into pieces
• 1 tsp dulse flakes or kelp granules
• Pinch cayenne pepper

Procedure:

Steam broccoli until slightly tender, approximately 3 minutes. In the meantime, add celery, onion, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, oregano, salt and black pepper to high speed blender. Add the broccoli and 1/2 cup veggie stock or water. Blend until well combined. If soup seems too thick, adjust  consistency with more veggie stock or water. Add olive oil and adjust seasoning with salt and black pepper to taste. Soak dried arame in water for 5-10 minutes and then rinse. Transfer soup to serving bowls and top with pumpkin seeds, avocado, arame, dulse or kelp and cayenne. Serves four.