Saturday, May 24, 2014

Italian Energy Soup

There are several versions of Energy Soup to be found.  The main idea is that it is like a green smoothie, with the exception that it is creamy and savory and eaten like a soup.  Once you know how to make energy soup, it's simple to put together and can be adjusted to suit your individual tastes and needs.

What do you do if you've been cleansing on green juice and smoothies, and you are dying for something savory and satisfying with an Italian flavor?  One option is to blend up a version of Energy Soup with tomatoes, basil and garlic!   It's as flavorful and satisfying as a plate spaghetti, without the pasta.  Note:  Since not everyone can have garlic and onions while on a cleanse, it might be a good idea to ask before serving this.

8 roma tomatoes
1 small shallot
4 small cloves garlic
4 ribs bok choy
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
1 small apple
4 oz alfalfa sprouts
1 red pepper
1/2 lb button mushrooms
juice of one lemon
2 avocado
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 tbsp kelp flakes
4 tbsp lecithin granules

1-2 quarts green juice
made from celery, mixed greens, (spinach, kale, chard) cucumbers, beets with tops, cilantro, parsley, lime, ginger, carrots, apples


Rough chop the first 8 ingredients.  Puree a few of the tomatoes, then add the shallot, sprouts and garlic.  Blend until very smooth.  Next, alternate the tomatoes with the remaining veggies, and continue to liquify.  If more liquid is needed, add some of green juice.  Be careful not to add too many tomatoes or too much liquid all at once, in order to give the blender a chance to liquify the small bits of vegetable matter.  It must be as smooth as possible. 

Next add the lemon, avocado, nutritional yeast, kelp flakes and lecithin granules.  Blend.

Transfer to a large bowl, (I use a two gallon Anchor Hocking jar, which I lovingly refer to as the family juice vat,) then stir in the desired amount of green juice.  Adjust for taste.

I find that if the flavor isn't right, it's easy to pour a few cups of the mixture back into the blender, add additional ingredients, blend, and stir it back into the bowl or container.