A Soup for Feeling Nourished

When you’re physically not feeling your best, chances are that emotionally and mentally you’re not feeling great either. While as a counsellor I focus more on the mental and emotional side of things, it would be remiss of me to not point out that physical health interacts with our psychological health in a myriad of ways.

So when you’re physically not feeling your best, what do you do?

Well, sometimes that means taking some nourishing (not punishing) time to care for your body. Now I am no chef, or nutritionist, but I can tell you that soups made of green things can make you feel so good and can support you in getting back to better wellbeing. If you create some time and space to make the process of cooking FEEL good, that can also help embody the sense of nourishment. I personally like lighting candles and putting on some calming, chill music. Ambience definitely helps in the feel of nourishment too.

So here is my favourite recipe to cook up when I’m feeling in need of some extra nourishment, and I thought I’d share because it’s also super simple.

You’ll need:

-       Olive oil

-       Garlic, 4 cloves (or to your preference. If I’m feeling sick, I’ll use a whole bulb.)

-       1 onion, diced

-       2 stalks celery, diced

-       1 Leek, roughly chopped

-       1 head of broccoli, including stems roughly chopped

-       1 bunch spinach OR 1 bunch silverbeet, roughly shredded (if using silverbeet, strip the leaves from the tougher white stems)

-       1 bunch kale OR chard

-       6 cups vegetable stock

-       Freshly cracked black pepper

-       1-2 tablespoons white miso paste (taste to your preference OR can be optional)

-       Optional 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes

Instructions: In a big soup pot, fry the onions, celery and leek in the olive oil until just soft. Add the broccoli and garlic, give it a quick stir and add the stock 1 cup at a time until the vegetables are just covered. Bring to the boil, and turn down the heat to simmer until the broccoli is fork-tender. Then add all the leafy greens (kale, spinach, chard or silverbeet), give it a quick stir just enough to let the greens wilt. Simmer for another minute and then take the pot off the heat. Add in the miso paste and nutritional yeast flakes if you’re using them, and blitz the soup with a handheld stick-blender until smooth. You’re done! Serve with some nice crusty buttered bread.

This makes enough for 6-8 people.

P.S – This is definitely not an original recipe and I make NO claim that it’s mine. The original I found on another website a few years ago but can’t remembered where I found it, I wrote it down with no reference. Sorry guys!