I love soup. Who doesn't right? If you’ve never considered it before, now may be a good time to acknowledge that souping is the cold-weather version of juicing. Some people aren’t big soupers (a.k.a. soup goers) and I think some reasons for that are because soup is a texture thing and also because it’s not the easiest thing to fall in love with if you have never had high-quality broth. That’s a whole other topic in itself but to put it briefly, the broth makes or breaks your soup.
If you use cheap, processed broth, your soup is going to taste subpar. If you find or make some homemade bone broth from pastured chickens or grass-fed cows, your soup is going to blow you away in flavor, nutrient value, and all-around awesomeness such as minerals and collagen (that is assuming you don’t have problems with high histamine levels).
For the past several years I have been working on healing my leaky gut from years of antibiotic use, then antibiotic use for the terrible acne problems I had much of my life, processed foods, Oreos and refined sugar as a staple food group, hormone birth control methods, multiple rounds of Accutane for my terrible acne problems, and the STRESS I let into my life for way too many years.
Stress from running my own business. Financial stress, too much exercise and not enough recovery time, stress from not eating enough to support living with ridiculous levels of stress, stress from trying to control too much. And sadly, lots of stress from toxic relationships that pulled from me 100x more than they gave back to me. Biological and toxicity stressors were ever-present (but unknown) from having an unsupported MTHFR gene mutation on top of dormant pathogens that had taken over my body years ago including viruses like Epstein Barr, bacterias, parasites, and fungus. Yeah, ridiculous, I know.
So as I have been healing my gut with the purpose of transforming my health, I have learned how much more my body desires the ease of digesting vegetables in a soup vs. gnawing on a salad of raw veggies. My type of metabolism doesn’t support a lot of juicing often and if I do, only a small number of fruits and veggies make the cut. But souping is a different story.
If you quiet your life and your mind long enough, frequently enough, you will hear it tell you what your body needs. My body needs nourishment from high-quality, dense, and earthy foods so I created this fantastic recipe to comfort, warm, and nourish you and me on a cold winter’s, crispy fall, or chilly spring day.
This soup is a great starchy carbohydrate option with a very low glycemic index and can serve as a great substitute for grains in any meal. For more protein, add some ground beef or sausage, roasted chicken, or collagen powder.
This recipe teaches you how to make a simple vegetable-based broth but you can use bone broth instead of or in addition to the veggie broth if you would like. There is great mineral content in homemade broth, period. Let me know what you think about the flavor combination in this bowl of goodness in the comment section below!
You can find this and tons of other fantastic recipes like it in my 7 Day Detox Program.
Happy souping season friends!
Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash, peeled, deseeded, and diced
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
2 carrots, trimmed, peeled, and sliced
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and chopped
6 shallots, peeled and finely sliced
1 tsp sea salt
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
4 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 bunch of radishes, trimmed and chopped
4-6 Tbsp pumpkin seeds
*32 oz. of bone broth if desired (optional)
Instructions:
Bring a large pan half-filled with water to the boil.
Add the squash, sweet potato, carrots, fennel, and shallots.
Bring to boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10-12 minutes.
Remove from heat and add the garlic.
Allow to cool, and then strain the vegetables into a large bowl to keep the stock.
Add half the stock to the vegetables and blend in a food processor or with a hand-held blend to desired consistency.
If you want to use bone broth for the added nutrient and health benefits then this is the time to add it to combine with the vegetable stock you already made. The more broth you add the thinner your soup will become so add it slowly until you reach the consistency you desire. This will yield more servings of your soup to serve as a few more meals for the week!
Reheat the soup gently, adding more reserved stock or bone broth if necessary or desired.
Divide between warmed soup bowls and serve garnished with the parsley, radishes, and pumpkin seeds if desired.
Refrigerate leftovers for 1 week or freeze for 3 months.