Funky Soup!

After returning from a long weekend, family reunion trip several states away, I realized just how much "stuff" was nearing the end of it's life in our refrigerator and on our counter! Yikes! So, I decided to make soup. Let me start by saying I have never really made soup in my life...not without strict adherence to a recipe anyway. Well, today's soup was a complete "winger" and quite surprisingly, it turned out to be a winner, too!

I was going to name the soup Coconut Curried Swiss Sweet Potato Chard Soup with Quinoa, but then decided Funky Soup was easier to say (and remember!). :)

Here's what I did to make Funky Soup:

Got out a huge stock pot. Put a healthy dose of coconut oil in the bottom.

Meanwhile, washed and chopped celery and carrots. I did roughly a whole celery plant (stalks) and about 6 carrots. I was lazy and threw them into my Blendtec on the "Food Processor--Chop" cycle. It turned out just like I wanted. Added this to the stock pot.

Added fresh garlic. I used 2 large cloves and mashed them with my Pampered Chef garlic press.

Turned the heat on the stove and stirred the veggies around. If you have fresh onion, you can add some in this step, too. I only had dried onions (from Just Tomatoes....YUM!), so I added them towards the end of this step so they wouldn't stick to the bottom of the pot and burn.

After the mix started smelling really good (and BEFORE it started burning...), I added in 8 oz. of organic vegetable broth (purchased from Amazon in tetra paks). Stirred.

Added a bunch of whole tomatoes to the Blendtec and pureed. Added about half of the puree to the stockpot. Stirred.

Added a can of organic coconut milk to the tomatoes in the Blendtec. Pureed. Added to the stockpot. Stirred.

Added about a cup of quinoa to the stockpot. Stirred.

Washed, cut into circles, skinned, and quartered two large sweet potatoes. Put the chunks into the stock pot. Stirred.

Added some hefty dashes of curry powder, cumin, and sea salt.

Later added some cinnamon and nutmeg, and some more sea salt.

Over time, added additional water to the pot. Probably in the neighborhood of 6-8 cups.

When the sweet potato chunks started to soften, added in some Swiss Chard (with stems removed). Prior to adding, ran the greens through the Blendtec on chop mode. Stirred.

Waited until greens were wilted. Ate a bowlful...and another...and another. :)

Maybe I was just really hungry. Or maybe I just created a kitchen masterpiece. I guess we'll see when DH gets home whether this Funky Soup winger is really a winner or not. :)

Swiss Chard Smoothie!

We visited two new Farmer's Markets in our area today and were stoked that we finally found local AND natural/organic produce! We came home with bags and bags of greens (spinach, swiss chard, beet greens, bok choy, lettuce, arugula), tomatoes, strawberries, green and sweet peppers, fresh baked bread, free range eggs, and even strawberry creamed honey! Yum!

When we got home, I proceeded to make our first Swiss Chard smoothie ever. I wasn't so sure after the first sip, but it quickly grew on me and by the end I would say I was maybe not loving it, but definitely heavily liking. DH went so far as to say it was delicious and that I needed to write down the "recipe."

So, here is what I put in my Blendtec blender, per DH's request:
*1-1/2 frozen bananas (you could use fresh)
*2 cored apples (peeled b/c they weren't organic)
*10-15 frozen blackberries (it was the amount we had left in a bag in the freezer)
*healthy dose of chia seeds
*Swiss Chard (probably 8-10 large leaves with stems)
*about 1/2 of an 11oz. tetrapack of coconut water (I used Zico brand)
*about 1 cup of water

I packed it all in and blended on the Whole Juice setting for one round. It made two full tall glasses with enough leftover for me to fill up my 2-year-old DS's Safe Sippy 2 straw cup. DS drank it all and asked for more! I've found he drinks "green" smoothies better when he can't see what color they are! I learned this after I discovered he was drinking the smoothies that came out a pretty pink or purplish color, but wouldn't touch the ones that were green or brownish, even if they weren't all that different in taste. In his Safe Sippy 2 straw cup, he drinks whatever smoothie I put in there because he can't see what it looks like! lol)