Green detox soup

Today I spent most of the day at Koç University, where I am taking a course on Nutrition and Health. Hopefully I'll learn some exciting things to share with you guys. 


Since I'm kind of beat, today's recipe is short, easy and perfect for this weather. This green soup recipe is inspired by a recipe I saw on GOOP, Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle website. What's nice about it, is that you can basically throw in whatever green veg you've got lying around and it'll taste fine. 


Green vegetables, especially leafy greens like kale, spinach and swiss chard, have lots of phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals. They're also rich in Vitamin K which can help prevent atherosclerosis (or the clogging of your arteries). It's much easier to consume the amount of recommended fruit and veg everyday in a soup, which is why I love them so much. The problem with many restaurant soups is that they're loaded with cream, milk or fat so be sure to ask when dining out. 


Detox green soup
2 heads broccoli
1 cup frozen green peas
2 stalks celery (with leaves), chopped
1 bunch arugula
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 cups water


Directions: Saute the onions in the olive oil until soft. Add the garlic and saute until just fragrant (you don't want to burn the garlic!). Add the broccoli and cook until bright green. Add 4 cups water (or as many as needed to completely cover the veg), celery (without leaves) and peas. Cook until soft (about 10 minutes). Add the arugula and celery leaves at the end. Puree until smooth. 


Note: This soup is not gonna be super smooth unless you have a very strong hand-blender. If you prefer, you can strain the soup once it has cooled, however, doing so will eliminate all the wonderful fiber, so I don't recommend it. And then it really wouldn't do the 'detoxing' we're looking for here, if you know what I mean. 


I like to enjoy mine with a sprinkling of nutritional yeast (I'll have a post on it later) and Sriracha.