If you—and your digestive system—feel like a little break over the next couple of days, a clean vegetable soup is the way to go. It’ll give your body a break from all the sugar, alcohol, meat, and simple carbs that made their way into your diet over the past couple of weeks.
Here to share three easy-to-follow (and not to mention, delicious!) vegetable soup recipes is nutritionist and Instagram influencer, Lee Holmes.
Tomato Soup
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 cans chopped tomatoes no additives
1 cup tomato sauce (no additives)
1 small bottle sugar-free tomato puree
2 fennel bulbs wash and chopped
2 cups filtered water or stock
1 large leek, washed sliced
1 brown onion diced
3 garlic cloves chopped
1 red capsicum chopped finely
2 TBS freshly squeezed lemon
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1 bunch celery sliced thinly
½ cup coconut milk
Celtic sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste
Tsp stevia to taste
Method
Sauté onion, garlic, pepper and celery in a large stainless or enamel soup pot, keeping a few fresh basil leaves aside.
Place the remaining ingredients into the pot and pour in water so veggies are covered.
Sprinkle in the stevia.
Cook on high until boiled and then turn temp down and simmer with a lid on for 45 minutes.
Garnish with fresh basil leaves and a squeeze of fresh lemon.
Vegetable Soup
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 celery stalks, diced
140 g (5 oz.) sugar-free tomato paste (concentrated purée)
400 g (14 oz.) tin chopped tomatoes (sugar and additive free)
150 g (51/2 oz.) green beans, topped, tailed and cut into 34 cm
(11/411/2 inch) lengths
1/4 cabbage, coarsely shredded
1 bunch kale or 1/2 bunch silverbeet
1/2 cauliflower, roughly chopped
2 zucchini (courgettes), diced
1 red capsicum (pepper), diced
1 green capsicum (pepper), diced
(Swiss chard), stalks trimmed and leaves coarsely shredded
1 litre (35 fl oz./4 cups) additive-free vegetable stock or filtered water
1 handful herbs, such as parsley, thyme, rosemary and basil, chopped
Method
Heat the coconut oil in a large heavy-based saucepan and lightly brown the onion, garlic and celery over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
Stir in the tomato paste and chopped tomatoes and cook for a minute or two.
Add the beans, cabbage, cauliflower, zucchini, capsicum and kale, and cook for 12 minutes more.
Add the stock or water and, if necessary pour, in enough extra filtered water to cover the vegetables.
Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour.
If you prefer a smoother soup, transfer to a blender or use a hand-held blender and whiz until the desired texture is reached.
Serve hot, sprinkled with the herbs.
Cauliflower and Turnip Soup
Serves two
Ingredients
2 tbs olive oil
1 head cauliflower
2 small round turnips, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 sticks celery chopped
1 TBS fresh ginger, crushed and sliced into 2 or 3 chunks
2 TBS nutritional yeast flakes
Handful of continental parsley
1 1/2 tsp. ocean sea salt
1/4 tsp. cracked pepper
3 cups homemade or no additive chicken stock or filtered water
Method
Warm oil in a large pan and add onions, celery and garlic.
Sauté over medium heat and stir until well coated with the oil then add cauliflower and turnip and cook for 10 minutes.
Add ginger, ocean sea salt and pepper, yeast flakes, parsley and stir well.
Add chicken stock and bring to boil stirring a couple of times.
Reduce heat and cover, cooking for 20 minutes.
Transfer to blender and puree.
Once pureed return to pan to heat.
