American TV series are one of my weaknesses… I have always been a fan of the country in general and after having lived there for two years, there is a romantic nostalgic component that is only satisfied with massive doses of “Americana”. And some series is exactly that daily injection that I need – not all of them!
A few years back there was one that was called “Numbers“, in which some mathematical geniuses helped the FBI solve crime cases. A combination of NCIS with The Big Bang Theory … you can get the picture. One of the “genius” characters frankly was a bit weird in many ways and his eating habits were definitely one of them. At a certain point, he ate exclusively white foods… Literally!
A healthy diet is colorful
With all the information available today, I’m surprised when I find people that still think that it is necessary to do restrictive regimes to eat healthily. Pathologies aside, the truth is that the more varied the diet, the healthier you can be. And a varied diet is a colorful diet!
I have a marked preference for green
And it is not because I did gymnastics in Sporting (a Portuguese sports team), more or less one hundred years ago … 😉
Ingredients as accessible as simple broccoli or some spinach can have a much more beneficial effect than the most exotic (and expensive) powders.
It starts with my gut … When I feel like it’s getting lazier, I eat green soup for a few days and everything quickly normalizes.
There is also the fundamental alkalizing effect. I care a lot about the acidic/alkaline equilibrium in the diet because I usually eat animal protein – meat, eggs, and fish, which has an acidic effect – and I try to compensate it with vegetables in a 70/30 proportion.
I would like to be able to say that I can make 80/20, but besides animal protein, I also eat more chocolate than I should – I’ll be completely honest here…
Green detox and alkaline soup
I make several different green soups. This one is a new recipe, inspired by an original from Natasha Corrett (Honestly Healthy) which fits perfectly into the theme of the week – broccoli.
Unfortunately, it went wrong the first time I made it so I made my adaptations to the method, although small. Natasha’s recipes are quite exquisite and it’s worth respecting them to learn new techniques and “broaden the repertoire”, as Donna Hay would say.
I also added a “topping”. The truth is that a topping makes a soup dish much more interesting, with different layers of textures and flavors. And it allows us to vary from meal to meal, avoiding that sensation “Oh, no! This soup again! ”
Ingredients
for 4-5 people
- 350 grams of broccoli
- 3 celery stems
- 100 grams of spinach
- 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 spring onion
- Half a cup of parsley
- Half of an avocado
- Zest and juice of half a lime
- 1 liter of boiling water
- Sea salt and black pepper
Method
Start by washing the vegetables and parsley very well. The best way to do this is to use a large bowl or even the sink, fill with cold water and leave the vegetables soaking for about 10 minutes. The dirt clinging to the greens eventually loosens and settles on the bottom of the container. Throw that first water out and rinse your greens with clean water.
Cut the spring onion into thin slices and mince the garlic.
Cut the broccoli into small pieces. You can include the stem, as long as you cut the outer layer, which is too stiff.
Remove the stringy strands from the celery stems and also cut them into small pieces.
Cut the avocado into cubes.
Start by heating up 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, the spring onion, and the garlic in your favorite soup pot. Let it soften a little bit, a few minutes, but don’t let it burn.
Add the celery, the lime zest and 100 ml of boiling water. Let it boil for 5 minutes.
Add the broccoli and 500 ml of boiling water. Cook for 10 minutes.
Add the spinach and cook for an extra 5 minutes.
Remove the pot from the heat. Add the parsley, the leftover spoon of coconut oil, the avocado and one tablespoon of lime juice. Blend everything with the stick blender (or any other type of blender that you use).
Adjust the consistency of the soup to your taste by adding more water, if necessary.
Season with salt and pepper. Taste – be careful, don’t burn yourself – and assess whether you need more lime juice or seasoning.
Adjust it until it suits you. This seems vague but in fact what happened to me when I made the soup for the first time was that I added the lime juice and the lime zest all at once, as the original recipe called for, and the soup got too acidic 🙁
Vegetables and fruit are not always the same, we have to improvise a little and get acquainted with our own taste, as well as the flavor behavior of food while cooking.
And the topping?
This topping is quite easy: cilantro leaves and toasted sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, seasoned with tamari.
I also use organic feta cubes, from time to time.
As you see, broccoli is quite the versatile vegetable, which is worth knowing better.
If you want to see more recipes with broccoli, see this post here.
And the good news: most children eat broccoli without a major fuss. And in case yours do not like them, give them brussels sprouts once. You’ll see the preference broccoli quickly rising by comparison. 😉
