Hello My Dear Friends!
If you’ve been following the blog or Facebook, I’m sure you know I just came off of a 10 day detox that started with 6 days of just juicing, and the last 4 days included slowly integrating food back into my body. This allowed me to cultivate positive and healthy food habits, and throw the bad ones in the garbage disposal!
To my surprise, this fast was so abundant that I was also able to become aware of negative habits in my lifestyle and mind, and begin to remove those. I realized some big self destructive mind patterns. By starting to let those go, I have developed more patience and compassion. By growing more in those qualities, I feel more free and happy. YIPPEEEEE!!!!
It’s important to break a fast really slowly and with food that is easily digestible. It’s also important to slowly integrate food back in the body. The first day, I added in just pureed soup (recipe here). The third day I started to add a few things I could chew, but kept everything soft and made sure to chew everything really fine. The fourth day, I added some rice at night to my soup, and the fifth day I added in protein. The first two days I still juiced, and only ate small amounts. You don’t want to add too much to quickly as tempting as it is. I still haven’t added in coffee, anything refined, anything processed, salt, or any unnatural seasonings.
Next week, I’ll have a blog for you more focused on the effects and changes I experienced on the fast, but for now, FOOD…….
Ingredients:
7 cups water or veggie broth (Homemade veggie broth if coming off of fast / Packaged okay otherwise)
2 tablespoons melted Ghee (Leave out to make vegan)
5-7 stalks Kale chopped
5 stalks Celery sliced
1/2 Cauliflower chopped
1 tablespoon chopped Ginger
Handful of Basil
Handful of Cilantro
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Salt to taste (optional)
Roasted Garlic (40 minutes)
Roasted Butternut squash
The Process:
Preheat the oven to 350 – The butternut squash & Garlic take 30-40 minutes.
Prepare the Butternut Squash by cutting it in half, scooping out the seeds, and coating it with ghee. I used ghee because I wanted everything to be natural and pure, and wasn’t ready to add any packaged or refined oils.
Peel the layers of the garlic away, and cut the top off, and coat the top of that with ghee also.
Next, wrap the garlic in foil
Place the butternut squash face down (so, the skin is facing you) on a baking sheet.
Place the garlic on the sheet also.
Cook for 30-40 minutes or until the squash is soft. You can test this by taking a fork and if the fork goes in smooth, the squash is done. If you have to hold to pull it out or if it gives you any trouble – it still needs more time.
The garlic will take the same amount of time or less, so you can check on it 10 minutes before the squash is to be done. The garlic is done when it’s just golden on the top, and you should easily be able to take a clove out with a butter knife.
While the butternut squash and garlic is roasting, prepare the kale, celery, and cauliflower.
And, the basil, ginger, and cilantro
Pour the water or vegetable broth in a large soup pot, and add all of the other vegetables and herbs. I used a homemade vegetable broth that I had frozen for a richer flavor, but you can easily make your own vegetable broth right here. If you’re not breaking a fast you can use any veggie broth from the store. If you are breaking a fast, I recommend using homemade so that there are no preservatives, “natural” flavorings, or anything else silly.
Bring everything to a boil, and then cover and turn to low. Cook for 1 hour to soften everything and let the flavors soak in.
(This picture clearly hates me)
The butternut squash and garlic should be done by this time.
It’s time to mix things up!
Scoop out 1/2 of the butternut squash and 5 cloves of garlic with a butter knife into the blender. Fill the blender with 5 cups of the soup with the veggies making sure it’s full of veggies, but there is enough broth so that everything is covered with liquid. (if a cauliflower head pops up to say hello, I guess that’s okay).
You’ll have some soup left over, so you’ll have to do this in two batches unless you want to save the rest of the soup for something else.
Puree everything really really smooth!
Feel free to add more broth if it’s too thick, and more butternut squash if it’s too thin. Start small and then add as you go.
Garnish with basil, add a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice.
If you feel like you need a pinch of salt, go for it!
Now, you’re ready for some yumminess!
Delights & After Thoughts:
I ate this soup for a few days after the fast, and I have to say, the lemon is really essential. I didn’t want to add salt, but I knew that it needed something, and just wasn’t sure. While I was eating at work, I had a lightbulb above the head moment, and couldn’t wait to get home to try it out. When I finally grabbed the lemon, it was a breath of fresh air and I was able to say ahhhhhhhh yessssss.
I really felt like this was the perfect vegetable soup because it was really light and creamy with a subtle tinge of sweetness from the roasted squash and garlic. You can really experiment and make so many variations with this soup. It would be great to add pureed beets, or even roast some cubed beets to add which would make it a little more hearty.
The balance was perfect because it was full of nutrition and antioxidants, and the garlic and ginger are still helping to detox. The cooling cilantro and sweetness of the squash helped balance out the fiery garlic and ginger, so that I did not aggravate my pitta. I am already a fiery yogini, so the last thing I needed was to get all fired up! I love spicy food and onions, and I add them to everything. Now that I think about it, I wonder if my impatience and inflictions are aggravated by too much pitta foods? I’m going to have to watch for that as I add them back in. Looks like I have another project!
All in all, I loved this soup and can’t wait to keep experimenting with it. It was really nice to eat slow, add some love back into my belly.
I ate right in front of my window, on a gorgeous breezy Florida day without any technology, but you can see I had some help with that!
Until Next Time!
