Cozy Raw Veggie Soup w/ Peas, Carrots, Ginger & Cilantro-Conscious Eating is Life Changing!

November is starting to feel more and more like winter.  Gloves cover our fingers and knitted hats adorn.  After a nice walk our cheeks are rosy and our tummies ready for a warm, healthy, energizing bowl of soup.  Don’t you love a good bowl of soup on a cool autumn day? I’ve been experimenting with lots of gently warmed soups meaning they are still raw and are super energizing versus nutrient depleted by having simmered all afternoon losing precious minerals and vitamins.  One can still enjoy some of the yummy classic soups that mom used to make and pair them with a hearty salad to be sure your meal is nutrient rich via the salad as the soup will be neutral, not acidic but not overly nutritious either-but no doubt, very comforting.  If soups are made like the Asians do, the veggies are dropped in at the last second into hot broth and served immediately.  This is another ideal way to maintain the nutrients.

Do you eat Consciously?
I have come to think of every single meal based on how it will nourish my body and I choose accordingly most every single time now because I am addicted to how I feel after each meal.  Gone are the days of feeling over stuffed or sluggish after a big bowl of pasta or meat and potatoes because I fully understand and know the benefits of choosing food that is energizing instead.  How about you, where are you in your journey of healthy eating?  Do you manage 50% of your meals to be optimally healthy or more or less than 50%?  What would your ideal be for your current lifestyle?  Could you do better or are you happy with your current progress? How do you feel, energized most of the time or energy depleted? What’s one thing you could do to up the anti?

I found that just starting to double my water intake every single day was huge.  Improving one daily meal and getting in a rhythm, say for breakfast and then adding in healthier lunch options and later an optimally healthy dinner every single day is a gradual way to makeover your life style.   Eventually, every meal you choose will be highly nutritious. Eating consciously is what will change your life if you are looking for optimal energy and longevity.  Of course you will zig and zag now and then but you will find that it becomes less and less once you get a real taste for the “feeling of healthy”.  Even if you go on a “bender” my girlfriend calls it, I bet you will totally notice the sluggish way you feel and will be inclined to do a bit of a cleanse or eat really super clean for a week to empty out the debris!  Has this happened to you?  Can you really feel the difference when you eat less than healthy for a while, say if you are traveling?

I would love to hear your thoughts as I truly believe that our awareness around what is considered optimally healthy food is ever increasing and more and more of us are eating consciously on a daily basis. Lifestyle shifts are becoming more prevalent which I think is quite fantastic!  Many people are seeing improvements in their health and well being by just changing their lifestyle diet and this is what is most encouraging.  On the contrary many people are still unaware that the food pyramid or the SAD, standard American diet, is what’s causing their ailments.  With the internet and many excellent publications, slowly but surely, word is getting out, that you really are what you eat.

Did you manage a walk in the park this week or a few minutes in the garden? I did and it was wonderful.  You can see here that the leaves have almost finished falling to the ground.  They looked all too pretty not to take a snap shot of them this past weekend as my daughter and I explored the park and lake shore.  As much as I am a spring baby and love the cool, sparkling, fresh colours of April and May I have to say that I find these warm gold, copper and rich green hues pretty gorgeous too.  They are the colours that I least gravitate to for my home and wardrobe but in nature they are stunning.  What colours are you naturally drawn to?

I especially love the textures of nature- I have a thing for textures if you don’t recall–so I did another collage for you to enjoy.  Notice the top right image of a tree trunk that has been nibbled and stripped of it’s bark by our resident beaver up at our lake cottage.  We hope he isn’t successful in bringing down this lovely tree.  He’d be better off with the saplings along the shore, more his size, but he’s an ambitious beaver, choosing the largest tree in sight!  Sometimes even beavers bite off more than they can chew!!

Needless to say, after enjoying the refreshingly cool outdoors and the wonderful colour palette I was inspired to create a cozy soup for you to try out this fall.  It requires a high speed blender, like the Vita Mix that I use, to just barely heat the soup to 115f without damaging the enzymes but you can also heat it very gently on the cook top til it is just nice and warm to the touch, not hot.  A food processor or a regular blender may be used in place of the Vita Mix but the soup may not be as perfectly smooth.  If you want to be fussy about the texture just pour it thru a sieve before warming it.

Cozy Raw Veggie Soup w/ Peas, Carrots, Ginger & Cilantro
Yield: approx 4 cups
2 cups carrots, rough chopped
1/2 cup fresh peas or frozen, defrosted
1 tbsp chopped shallot
1/2 ” piece of ginger
juice of one small lime or 1/8 cup
2 cups filtered water
1/2 large avocado or 1 small avocado
1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt
drizzle of hazelnut oil, for garnish
chopped cilantro, for garnish
Method
Place all ingredients except garnishes in high speed blender.  Process on low slowly increasing to high and running blender for approx 3-4 mins checking to see if steam rises from the top opening or if the blender feels warm to the touch.  Adjust seasoning, then pour into warmed bowls garnishing with a drizzle of hazelnut oil and a generous sprinkling of chopped cilantro.

Alternatively, place all ingredients in a food processor or standard blender and process until smooth as possible. Strain if desired and warm very gently on low until nice and warm to the touch, not hot.

Because this soup is raw it packs a healthy punch of live enzymes, vitamins and minerals.  I eat a lot of salads and I love them but to mix it up a little I rather like to have a bowl of this soup, especially on an autumn day knowing that I will still be highly energized.

As for the style props my recent trip to Marrakesh yielded me this lovely antique brass spoon with a yogi embellishing the handle-how cool is that? I just about lost my mind as I rummaged in a dusty ole bin of mismatched cutlery and managed to locate 3 pieces in this pattern–jackpot!!  All for mere pennies too!  Even the fresh celery green cotton throw is a Moroccan treasure.  The lovely bowl and plate are from Anthropology and are currently still available, a pattern called sliced persimmon.

I hope you get a chance to try a healthy raw soup, it whips up quite quickly since you are not cooking it all afternoon.  Try experimenting with your own combinations since you can’t really go wrong if you toss in veggies you love, some garlic and spices. If you already have a fave please share:)  I hope you have a super week.

Julie