Raw Green Veggie Soup w/ Cilantro & Avocado-What’s your 2012 Health Goal?

Yummm…… how delightfully fresh and welcoming is the flavour of healthy green organic veggies especially after a little zig and zag over the holidays combined with a lack of sleep!  It’s completely energizing and uplifting to dine on this pretty green soup knowing full well that it’s what my body is begging for.  I did my best over the holidays to make good choices, enjoy a few treats and make the most of every gathering without feeling like I was missing out cuz I truly do prefer to eat the most nourishing food available without causing any extra fussing for my hosts.  How did you make out? Are you feeling pretty good or do you think need to eat extra greens for a while to cleanse the system somewhat? It’s completely natural to feel sluggish in the new year after all the treats but the best way to ward off the dreaded flu is to get back to your clean eating habits and empty those toxins before they settle in too deep and start causing havoc.  Drinking lots of water, 3-4 liters a day of filtered, preferably alkaline water, will work wonders along with greens powder in your water to gently detox your body.

January is a good time to do a cleanse but it’s important to make the time to do it properly if you are going to do a serious, diet altering cleanse and be sure to give yourself the opportunity to also rest versus work while you cleanse.  A weekend may be long enough but it’s best to just lay low at home and give your body time to rest and detox with out over exerting it.  This juice feast can be done over 2 or 3 days and is a great way to jump start your health for the year.  If you prefer not to do a serious cleanse perhaps adding an alkaline smoothie to your morning routine would be a nice way to detox.

This soup is a wonderful detox potion that tastes delicious and is completely alkaline.  It’s the perfect recipe to follow your juice feast days or to just incorporate into your January routine a few days a week. It makes enough for 3-4 good sized bowls of soup and keeps well in the fridge for 2-3 days.  Blending it in a vitamixer will warm it gently to approx 118 celsius or you can place it in a sauce pan over low heat for a few minutes stiring and watch carefully so as not to over heat it and damage the precious heat sensitive vitamins and enzymes that make it so dynamic.

I can’t resist making food look pretty and when I saw this absolutely gorgeous organic watermelon radish cut in half at the Organic Acres on Granville Island (the only organic produce booth in the market) in Vancouver I had to have it!  Isn’t it stunning? I just adore how vibrant and pretty the pink is with the apple green edging and white variegation.  I know it’s just a vegetable but it’s such a pretty one!  I can’t help myself, I love veggies!  I love how vibrant they are and how they nourish thy body and I love photographing them!  I’ve had this precious radish in the crisper over Christmas just waiting for the perfect opportunity to share it!  Today was the day!  I just used it as a garnish to add a little pep to the colour and a nice crunch to the soup.

Raw Green Veggie Soup w/ Avocado & Cilantro
Yield: 4 servings
Please use Organic Veggies:)
1 avocado
1 small zucchini, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cups raw spinach
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2 slices green pepper
1/8 cup raw onion, chopped
1 small clove garlic
1/4 cup raw almonds, preferably soaked over night and rinsed
1/4 tsp sea salt to taste
1 1/2 cups filtered water
juice of 1/2 to 1 lemon
1 small watermelon radish for garnish, diced small
Method
Place all the ingredients in the blender except the sea salt and process to desired consistency and warmth if you have a Vitamix.  If you have a regular blender you may pour into a sauce pan and gently warm over low heat until just warm enough to enjoy but not hot.  Adjust seasoning further with sea salt to your liking and add a squeeze of lime juice to brighten the flavour if you wish, garnish with radish and enjoy!

You might like to blend it just til creamy, maintaining a little texture or you might just want it as smooth as velvet, depending on your mood.  If you have a Vitamix it will certainly do this for you otherwise it’s lovely with some texture.  I find that a little texture allows your taste buds to notice more of the individual flavours so it’s a good thing!  So don’t panic if you don’t own a Vitamix as an average blender will also be suitable.  You can serve this soup with a slice of sprouted whole grain bread, yeast free if you can find it, or some raw crackers or croutons.  If you are cleansing, a salad with this would be nice too!  Because this soup is blended (pre-digested) your digestive system will be very happy as most of the work to break down the food is already done. This is also one of the reasons you will feel energized after consuming this soup as less energy will be expended to your digestion, with more energy available for other tasks.  More time for fun cuz you won’t need a nap!

I don’t know about you but there’s something so nice about clearing away the Christmas decor. I love decorating for Christmas and as pretty, sparkly and festive as it was with my new theme for the dining room this year that was spiked with bright pink ‘a la Decor 8 influence” (my dear friend Holly’s inspiration, using vintage ornaments from my childhood) it felt good to tidy it away til next year.  Now the clean uncluttered space feels so….January…. so new year….so new beginning-ish and fresh.  What’s your take? Do you feel melancholy upon tear down or are you glad it’s all finish for the season? How does your house feel, empty or fresh? What I usually do if it feels bare and stale is pick up a bouquet of flowers or a pot of tulips and rearrange a few things and then I feel all better again about my house.

What do you think?- pretty? It was fun for a change to have the pink, I think I’ll do it again next year!  I usually do the more traditional silver, gold and white and sometimes a little red but this was more peppy and prettier-I’m partial to pink as you can see in this post!

This is a corner of the living room where all is back to it’s pre-Christmas position.  It’s my favourite corner as this is where I house my very favourite style props for this blog to photograph my recipies with.  I love just peering over my little collection and choosing something pretty like the bowl and the plate that I used for this soup today, both Anthropology finds (but no longer available however there are other lovelies).  It makes me happy just knowing that I can be inspired at any time with a simple bowl and make some magic happen with my camera.

Here’s close up view so you can peek at some of my pretties!

And this is a peek at how nice and organized my kitchen feels with my new spice rack and a tidy counter after all the entertaining that went on in this kitchen!

So I’m feeling ready for 2012 with a tidy and fairly organized house, now I’m not saying….. that all the other parts of the house are perfectly pretty and tidy, it’s a work in progress and there’s lots of de-cluttering to do.  It’s a good thing you can’t see it all!!  Spring cleaning will be on our list this weekend and over the coming weekends when the weather isn’t so nice in between studying of course.

But hey, I wanted to ask you something.  What would you say is your health goal for 2012? I’ve been thinking mine thru cuz I wasn’t successful with my last years goal as I think I made it too ambitious!  Can you imagine adjusting something in your life that would yield a healthier You? Do you feel compelled to think about making a change for the better in some area? I often think that there’s always room for even a small adjustment that can sometimes yield big results!  What about something as simple as adding an extra glass or two of water a day to your routine.  This could be HUGE!  If you feel like you can commit to a small health goal I’d LOVE to hear about it and perhaps we can support each other until it become second nature-usually it takes about 6 weeks for a new routine to stick.  My goal last year was to exercise every single day in some way. This year my goal is to exercise 3x’s a week and anything more is a bonus that I can celebrate.  I really need your help so if you are willing to check in on me I’d really appreciate it. For me the hardest part is accepting it as necessary for health versus feeling like it is an indulgence. I need to make it important enough to spend time on versus only feeling like I can use my time for studying or spent with my family. Essentially it will allow me to be more alert and more vibrant for both of these activities if I can give myself this gift of exercise to improve my overall health now and for the future.  So please share your thoughts and ideas in the comment section for a simple health goal that you could set for 2012 and we can all help each other with a little support thru our comments and even check in if we like.  Sometimes just writing it and sharing it can feel official. So simple goals….it can even be something minor like taking your supplements more consistently-that I also need to do better!

Well…I start back to school on Monday, eeek!  I have a test the first day back, so I had better hit the books pretty quick.  We’re learning about diabetes, gout, hypoglycemia, asthma, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis and what protocols we might suggest for patients who would like to take a more holistic approach and slowly wean off their pharmaceuticals and turn around their health picture, so it’s very exciting for us!

Then we start ‘Anatomy’ on Tuesday, this should prove to be very interesting. There will be a lot of memorization so I’m taking my phosphatidylserine PS to jump start my brain for the journey!  Unfortunately, it just aint what it used to be so I need all the help I can get to drill all this wonderful information I am learning into my brain for retrieval later.

I’m still absolutely loving my program at IHN in Vancouver and can’t wait to get back to class, though I know I’ll miss my kids terribly, my little munckins pies, we’ve had such a nice break together.  It’ll go fast tho, I know it!

I hope you had a lovely holiday and are ready to explore the possibilities for a wonderful, healthy 2012.

A Green Smoothie Cheer to you:)

Julie