QUINOA VEGETABLE SOUP RECIPE

This time of year I can not get enough soup. It is an easy way to eat a ton of vegetables without eating a salad and they tend to be really easy to prepare.

If I am being honest I can be lazy in the kitchen from time to time. Since soup is generally a one pot meal it means less clean up so I am generally on board with that.

So on board in fact that the other night my boyfriend specifically asked if we could eat something other than soup. Ugh.

Sorry buddy. Soup is whats for dinner.

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about what I am up to these days..., On this mission to serve others and trasform their relationship to health, food and their bodies.

A quote from Tony Robbins keeps coming up in my mind:

"We are drowning in information, but starving for wisdom.

This could not be more accurate in the world of health and nutrition. There are conflicting studies and articles published everyday and it leaves most of us confused as hell about how to eat and what to do to nourish our bodies.

But if we zoom out a bit and take a larger view of humantiy there are some evolutionary truths about what humans have ate over hundreds of thousands of years to thrive and evolve.

That is: nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs and fish.

Yes depending on the region on where you lived you had access to either more carbohydrates (vegetables and fruits) or more protiens (meat and fish).

All that being said there is absolutely bio-individuality so each person will thrive on slightly different ratios of protein, fat, carboydrates and fiber. However, the template for what to eat is what I mentioned above.

Its actually very very very very simple.

Whole, unprocessed foods. Including some whole grains if they do not physically upset your body, again bio-individuality.

Part of the problem is that in the last 100 years our food quality, specifically animal products and mass produced crops, has greatly decreased and food-like products loaded with sugar, artifical ingredients, processed fats, chemicals, hormones and GMO's have flooded the market that have lead to the slew of chronic illnesses like obesity, heart disease and diabetes that are plaguing the modern human.

The source and quality of our food matters more than ever.

That being said, if we were to check out of the world of nutrition for long enough and just check into what our body tells us about the foods we eat we would be able to start to discover what works for our body. Not what someone else tells us will work for our body.

We have made it is so much a mind game.

We make the way we eat so rational and logical. Eat this not that. Count macros, restric calories, follow this diet and that exercise regime.

When really it needs to be an intuitive and feeling process and body game. I ate this and I feel that. My body is hungry so I eat..., now its full so I stop. My body needs restoritve yoga. My body wants intensity.

This is developing body wisdom.

We over-think the fuck out of everything when really if we could quiet our mind and eat what feels good to our bodies, eat what we intuitively know works well for us and shut out all the external chatter and the little voice in our heads we'd be doing ok.

That is easier said than done, I get that.

It truly is a process that takes time. But it starts with making the choice to let go of the diet dogma and outside nutrition information and commit to listening to your body.

And if you are Los Angeles this Thursday 12/14/17 I am co-leading an event with WeQuilt, that includes a bodily meditation by Erin Rose Ward to help get is into our bodies and out of our heads and then we will be co-leading a conversation about intuitive eating, and the fine line between mindfullness and obsession.

In the meantime, here is the soup recipe to hold you over. With lots of love.

Quinoa Vegetable Soup

serves 4-6

Ingredients:

3 tbsp coconut or avocado oil

1 medium to large onion, chopped

4 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 to 2 cups chopped seasonal veggies like zuchinni, bell pepper or cauliflower

6 garlic cloves, minced

1-2 tsp fresh thyme

1 -28 oz can of diced tomatoes

1 cup quinoa

4 cups (32 ounces) vegetable broth

2 cups water

2 bay leaves

Pinch red pepper flakes

Freshly ground black pepper

1 -15 oz can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 cup chopped fresh kale

1 tsp lemon juice

pink salt to taste

garnish with micro greens

Directions:

In a large soup pot melt oil. Once hot add in the onion, celery and carrot. Cook for 3-5 minutes and season generously with pink salt. Then add in the garlic and thyme. Mix well and cook for another minute.

Add in the diced tomatoes, quinoa, vegetable broth, water, bay leaves and crushed red pepper. Season with pink salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Bring to a bowl and then lower to a simmer, leave partially covered. Cook for about 25 minutes until quinoa is soft, then add in the beans and mix. Next add in the kale and lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Enjoy!

Adpated by the lovely cookieandkate